Sitting beside Paul Mariner amid a steady drizzle of rain at the National Sports Centre, one couldn?t help but notice the distinctive air of calm about one of England?s former top football strikers.

Drenched from head to toe, with the occasional rain drop dripping from his trademark long hair, you would?ve figured the former Ipswich and Arsenal poacher would have preferred to rejoin his team on the waiting bus for the ride back to the comfort of their hotel in a hurry rather than be held hostage by a reporter in awful weather conditions.

But not once did the player who fired England back on to the World Cup stage after a 20 year-absence by notching the winning goal against Hungary in 1981 appear agitated or make any fuss.

Mariner also shares an England International scoring record along with boyhood hero and former Chelsea, Tottenham, West Ham and AC Milan striker Jimmy Greaves as players to have hit the target on six successive occasions wearing the jersey of their beloved country.

So after enjoying a successful playing career in the UK, one couldn?t help but ask: ?How on earth did you get involved in football in the US??

His answer was a simple one.

?I?ve been over in the US since 1996. I had my own youth club in Phoenix, Arizona and a good friend of mine was the head coach at Harvard University (John Kerr),? the former striker began to explain.

?I was a guest coach at a special event and he (Kerr) asked me would I be interested in going to Boston to be his assistant coach at Harvard. So I moved over to Boston to do that job and I was there for six months before Steve Nicol called and asked me would I be interested in working with him.?

Mariner was then faced with a difficult decision having been asked to walk away from Harvard.

?I enjoyed working at Harvard with the kids,? he said. ?But Steve said this would be a great move for me as he and I do work very well together.?

It?s a working relationship which remains a far cry from the days when the two professionals battled it out on the pitch in the UK and a new chapter in Mariner?s long-time relationship with the sport.

?Football is in my blood and I always look to be involved no matter what level it is,? he said. ?I still get a lot of enjoyment in coaching and football in the US is very interesting. I don?t think people in North America really appreciate how good the game really is and it?s coming along very, very well.

?We?ve had a few British players come over and they are trying to make it in the MLS (Major League Soccer). It?s a very physical game and strong and the players and coaches are getting better while the game itself is progressing very well.?

During his playing career, Mariner won a UEFA Cup and English FA Cup winner?s medal with Bobby Robson?s Ipswich where he scored 97 goals in eight seasons before moving on to the Gunners.

He also earned 35 caps for England and served as director for the FC Greater Bolts, one of the top youth football clubs in the US.

Mariner, who scored three hat-tricks during his career, ended his playing days at Portsmouth in 1988.

The former Ipswich striker said making the transition from professional football in the UK to the US was an easy task.

?Steve and I have talked a lot about this before,? he added. ?Our playing days are now gone and it was a fantastic experience. But now we are moving into other parts of our lives where we can help a few players to be successful. So we never dwell on the past.?

With the Revolution set to begin the new season in early April, Mariner said he fancies his team?s chances of going one better this campaign and reaching the MLS Cup Final after exiting the competition in the semi-finals last season.

?It all depends on injuries,? he quickly pointed out. ?Now we have actually expanded the team roster to 28 players which should make it a little bit easier for us. Last year we found ourselves with about 13 fit players and we lost a lot of our starters which made it very difficult for us.

?But if we can stay clear of injury then I think we will be pretty close. We?ve upgraded, the team is gelling very well together and what we want to try this season is get off to a better start. Living in the area where we are (Boston) it?s very difficult to get on grass (during winter pre-season training) and so it is a little bit of a handicap for us. We tend to get out of the box real slow but now we want to try and get out really quick this year.?

Mariner rates playing at Arsenal, winning a UEFA Cup and FA Cup with Ipswich and scoring the goal against Hungary which thrust England through to the 1982 World Cup Finals as some of his finest moments experienced as a player.

?Winning the UEAF Cup which is a really big and strong tournament was great,? he recalled. ?On the international front obviously getting my first cap and scoring the goal that got us to the World Cup in front of 100,000 people at Wembley Stadium were also great experiences. I also enjoyed equalling the goal-scoring record for England with Jimmy Greaves for consecutive games and playing in the World Cup.

?I was very lucky. Could I have done things better? Yes, I think I could?ve. But I overall I think I did okay. And I loved playing around Bryan Robson, Kevin Keegan, Ray Wilkins and Ray Clemence and all the great Liverpool players.

?They all really knew how to play the game and were really great players and great people as well. And I had the time of my life.?