By Mark Vincent Lincir

The last time I wrote about Ethan Zohn, he was recovering from tearing his ACL and I was recovering from rupturing my Achilles tendon. Flash forward to the present and I catch up with the Everyday Health host (Premiers Saturday, September 3rd on ABC and its affiliates) while he is on the road and well-recovered from a battle with cancer last year and I am back to playing soccer after suffering a heart attack. Who says getting old isn’t fun?

Besides his hosting duties, Zohn has also written a series of soccer books and is back to travelling the world, helping people and playing the game he loves. I caught up with the fellow author just long enough to talk about his dreams of being a field player, goalkeeping and of course…Hope Solo.

If you had to pick one current goalkeeper in the world to build your team around who would it be?

As old as he is, I hate to admit it…but I’m like the biggest Brad Freidel fan in the world. I’ve always liked the guy…he’s been so good for so long. The Cosmos picked him in their match vs. Manchester United. I mean, he’s still got it.

Who is your favorite goalkeeper of all time and why?

For some reason I’ve always been a Walter Zenga fan. I think the first World Cup I went to I got to see him play live and he always seemed aloof and dressed well and is one of the cocky goalkeepers. My senior year in high school I wore the silver Diadora Italy goalkeeper jersey and we won state and so I’ve always been a Zenga fan.

If you had to do it all over again…would you still be a goalkeeper?

That’s a great question…I’m torn to tell you the truth. The reason I was a goalkeeper I was always the tallest kid growing up (I think I hit puberty early and was 5’7 when I was thirteen years old then stopped growing the same year)…so they stuck me in goalkeeper then and it just stuck. For me, I achieved good success as a keeper, but having said that, in my older years and the more I’ve played on the field I’ve done pretty good and my fitness is better than everyone else so I think I could have been a good central midfielder. It’s tough for me to answer; I don’t know what I would do! Maybe I’d be a field player and a back-up keeper if I had to do it all over again.

The way you play on the field is like…?

Probably Michael Bradley. I would probably lead the league in assists. I’d control the ball, slow the game down, distribute well.

You recently played with Mia Hamm and a bunch of celebrities in a charity game benefiting her Foundation. Who impressed you the most?

Kobe was by far the best non-soccer player. I imagined him to just kind of jog around, but he was going in hard and shooting and going up for headers…I was like “that’s a multi-million dollar header buddy…be careful!” My team was stacked I had Mia, Harkes, Alex Morgan, Kobe, Pep Guardiola (he’s good)…nobody was trying really hard, except Harkes…he was going in on every ball. Mia’s husband Nomar had some good skills.

Did you ask Alex Morgan out on a date?

No, but she’s definitely the upcoming star of the…world I guess. She got a big cheer when they announced her name.

If you had to choose between Alex Morgan or Hope Solo to take anywhere in the world on an all- expense paid vacation who would you choose? Oh Alex I think…Why?

She’s just younger and hotter.

But you and Hope could have the goalie thing going on…

Yeah…we could play goalie wars. (Laughs)

Mark Vincent Lincir is the author of A SOCCER LIFE IN SHORTS available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.co.  You can follow him on his blog Escaping Eddies