Former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee produced the assist for arguably the goal of the 2024 edition of The Soccer Tournament so far. The ex-NFL man played in a sensational cross from the right of the field which was volleyed in by CBS Sports Golazo’s Mike Grella in The Concafa’s first game. Here’s the goal: The goal has been one of the main highlights from the competition in Cary, N.C. so far and Grella paid thanks to McAfee for his expert vision and execution. “Pat MacAfee — shoutout to him for the assist because the ball to me was perfect,” Grella told his CBS Sports Golazo Network colleagues on Morning Footy. “I slipped in behind the midfielder that was covering me and I was far enough away from the right back or whatever position you want to call it. I then saw that it was Pat and I was worried if he was even going to be able to see me and then execute it. “I just gave one really loud, sharp shout and he looks up, chops at it like a pitching wedge so that it hangs in the air. The ball just floats there for what seemed like forever and for me, it was easy to strike it. I got the left leg up there to give myself some equilibrium and I have that strike in the locker and have been doing it my whole life. “The ball was fantastic, all the boys were going nuts and it was nice to be in that team atmosphere again. People probably do not know but I played with Pat back in 2003 for Region 1 ODP which is actually a really high level. Pat is not like some guy who just started playing soccer for the PR — he was a footballer back in the day and is a pretty good player.” The 2024 group stage at TST finished on Wednesday evening with McAfee and Grella’s Concafa SC poised to advance to the knockouts thanks to their plus-five goal differential in beating Chad Johnson’s Nati SC. “After the first game, we were a disaster,” added Grella. “I had a thousand phone calls from all different Pep Guardiolas — Nigel (Reo-Coker) being one of them — saying, ‘You guys are trash, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, what are you doing down there?’ And then at night, it was funny because it was totally quiet. There was nothing anymore — all the Pep Guardiolas went away.” A win against fellow CBS Sports personality J.J. Watt’s Burnley SC will keep McAfee and Grella in contention for the tournament’s overall $1 million cash prize. “Charlie, it is a grind, dude,” Grella told former USMNT man and colleague Charlie Davies. “I said yesterday that it is a young man’s game and it is, man. It is really difficult. The field is big. If you do not have shape and work together then there is no way. In the morning session, we were all over the place, very individualistic, doing our own thing. Everyone had their own ideas and for the afternoon/night session we were more organized, a lot of communication and we were able to work together and we were able to go from that position and it helped a lot of our play. Charlie, it is a grueller — make sure if you come next year that you are super, super fit.”
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