Mind Over Body: An Interview With Ogo Sylla

Mind Over Body

By: Mike McCann

New to Syracuse University, Ogo Sylla sat in Newhouse 3 wearing something fitting of his new school: an orange shirt. Sylla is from the West African country of Senegal, where hot weather is quite normal; the temperature there normally doesn’t go below 65° Fahrenheit. Those are prime conditions to play soccer, and one need only spend about two minutes with Sylla to learn of his passion for that sport.

Sylla learned his love for the game from his father, who still lives in Senegal. Soccer is huge there; after all, the country declared a national holiday after Senegal beat France in the first round of the 2002 World Cup. Having a father who lives in another country can be difficult, and perhaps could lead a son to losing his father’s interests. Thus is not the case for Sylla.

Sylla moved to the United States when he was eleven years old. He left his parents behind to live with his aunt. He did not, however, leave behind his love for the game. It may seem easy to assume that Sylla is a big time player. But for Sylla, enjoyment of the game comes in a different form. Listening to him talk, his love for the strategy of soccer is evident. “I’ve always had a better mind for the game than I’ve had feet for it,” Sylla said.

It will be that mind that could potentially land him a job covering the sport. More often than not, analysts are former players. Sylla doesn’t have that on his resume. But in about a year, that resume could show a Masters' Degree from Syracuse, a pretty good step for someone who doesn't have "feet for the game." 

Mike McCann/Ogo Sylla Interview

M: Ok Ogo…Ogo is a name that is not common. Where are you from?

O: I’m from Senegal.

M: And the sporting culture in Senegal is…?

O: It’s soccer. Soccer all the way. We do basketball, there’s that. But it’s mostly just all soccer.

M: So for you, soccer has been important for a long time?

O: Yeah, it’s been THE important sport in my life, and the important event in my life, yeah.

M: Why do you think that is?

O: My father, mostly. My father is a huge soccer fan. I remember when I was a little younger, maybe 8 

or so, I stumbled into his office and on his shelves he had a bunch of videos of taped games, and I wasn’t quite sure what it was. But I took one off of that, and there were a bunch of games from back in the 70s and 60s and such. And I talked to him about that, and he said, “Oh yeah, these are just games I’ve taped.”  And that’s kind of where my affinity for it came from, yeah.

M: Now you obviously live in New York…how long have you lived here, or in the states in general?

O: I moved to the states when I was eleven. So back in 2000. I lived in New York most of my life. I did two years in DC, and four years of college in Atlanta when I was at Emory.

M: And mom and dad?

O: They’re both in Senegal. I live here in the states with my Aunt. But all of my family is in Senegal.

M: What kind of impact has your aunt had on you, in terms of sports? Is she a soccer fan?

O: In terms of sports, no. She certainly has had a very, very big impact on my life. In fact, this whole “come here to Syracuse and sports journalism” is very much down to her. When I was in college, I wanted to be a Poly Sci major.

M: As did I…

O: Yeah. I wanted to be a lawyer as well. And just, one day I had a break right before my senior year, my aunt sat me down and asked me, “What do you want to do?” I told her I think want to do something Poly Sci or be a lawyer and she told me, “Ogo, just stop your bull s***,  don’t tell me what your mother wants you to do just tell me what you want to do. So I sat down and thought well I love sports, I love soccer, that’s what I want to do.

M: So you watch soccer how often?

O: Every weekend, and whenever I can on the week days when the Champion’s League is on. I’ll wake up at 7 am and start watching the first game, until the last game if I don’t have work. So I’d say from 7 am to 6 pm if time allows me to do so?

M: What’s your favorite team?

O: AC Milan, it’s an Italian Soccer team. That’s my favorite one.

M: How bout a player?

O: Maldini is my favorite player. But the most recent one is Kaka, who is a Brazilian player. He left, but my favorite Milan placer of all time is definitely Maldini.

M: So you seem to know a lot about soccer, and that’s expected when you have such a good passion for it. How much playing have you done?

O: Very little. I’ve always had a better mind for the game than I’ve had feet for it. When I was in college I played recreational with my friends obviously, but I played IM when I was in college. I was doing more of a player manager like thing.

M: Do you enjoy it?

O: Yeah, I love the coaching aspect of soccer.

M: What about the coaching aspect do you like?

O: I love the game and the tactics of it. What I love most about soccer is that it’s a game where you do two things: you can run with the ball or you can pass the ball. But within these two choices, there are so many intricacies about it. You can run with the ball to try and beat your man, you can run your ball to get in a space. When you have the ball at your feet, you can pass with the inside of your foot, your heel, or your toe. With the outside of your foot, there are infinite possibilities, and that’s what I love about it.

M: Okay let’s shift gears back to your dad…he’s in Senegal?

O: Yeah, he is.

M: Do you see him ever?

O: Yeah I do, whenever I’m back there for the summers and the last couple years I’ve been in Senegal it was nice to get back with my dad. Every weekend we would be there during the season and watch our games together, it was really fantastic.

M: Does he have a favorite team?

O: Not right now. He kind of bounces from teams, it’s kind of weird. He never really latched to one in particular.

M: Do you like that? For some, you can go with one team your whole life, and others it shifts, is that okay with you?

O: It’s okay with me because my dad started watching soccer, (and has been watching) for such a long time, he’s seen a lot of different eras. And within those eras, he’s preferred a team then. Today, I guess Barcelona would be the one he prefers the most. To him, that’s the one that symbolizes a new shift in soccer the most. That’s usually how he goes about it. But ten years ago, he had a different one. 20 years ago, he had a different one.

M: Okay let’s get to the end goal. I would imagine that work for you would be most enjoyable for you in the soccer industry. Is that fair to say?

O: Yeah, definitely.

M: What kind of job?

O: I’d love to be a correspondent/analyst, you know? Maybe a traveling correspondent for a European team, not just to cover European soccer, but cover American soccer with the MLS. I think there are a lot of very interesting things to do with the MLS today.

M: Well then let’s go there last…what are your thoughts on the MLS?

O: It’s a league that when you consider the fact in ’94 when the United States went to the World Cup, there wasn’t even a professional team. When you compare it to how the MLS has grown, the players they’ve attracted, I think that American fans don’t realize how much of a jump it was then. And I think that it’s a fantastic industry, and a sport that’s grown a lot. There’s still more to do obviously. But it’s gone leaps and bounds.