I'm curious- if you went back the last 15-20 years, and each year picked one player at UCLA- and then tracked their career. Would you have better than 50/50 odds of finding a real top notch pro...often times a player that wound up with a Men's Nat team appearance, and also likely an overseas contract at some point in career. Off the top of my head, I remember K. Hill, Wynne, Feilhaber, JMM, Vanney, Fridel, Cobi, Razov (?) but surely the list of last 2 decades is twice that long (I'm not talking just making pro- but impact player). In this respect, shouldn't we have pretty high hope for Sal Zizzo, who seems to be coming into his own at the right time. I know some have questioned how elite a player he is, but the resume looks pretty good at this point. He's got to be one of the best players on a very good UCLA (which lost some major pieces the last 1-2 years- imagine them with Feilhaber, Wynne and Hill!) Sidebar: Which program has produced the most top-flight pros (last 2 decades): UCLA, Virginia or Indiana. I'm thinking (1) UCLA (2) Indiana (3) Virginia
UCLA has a great history of producing pros and certainly their top player each year has tended to on to do good things at the pro and national team levels. I think Sal Zizzo will follow in their footsteps. But I think that because he is very good and not because he is currently UCLA's best player. For all the Bocanegra's and Feilhaber's and Joneses and Caligiuri's and Fridel's that UCLA has had, some years their top player was Matt Taylor or Taj Jakins or Nelson Akwari, players who didn't do, or haven't done, much as pros. Still, UCLA has a tremendous track record producing talent, certainly the best of any college. As for who is second between Indiana and Virginia, I think the nod goes to UVa. How many players has Indiana sent to the World Cup? Brian Maissonneuve (98), Jurgen Sommer (94 and 98 but didn't play in either) and John Stollmeyer (90). None of them even made the 02 or 06 WC teams. UVa has had John Harkes (90, 94), Tony Meola (90, 94, 02), Claudio Reyna (94, 98, 02, 06), Jeff Agoos (98, 02), Ben Olsen (06) and Chris Albright (06 but didn't play). That's 6-to-3 in favor of the Cavs. Look in MLS. UVa has had two players taken first overall in the draft, Jason Moore in 99 and Alecko Eskandarian in 03. IU has never had a player go first overall. They've had two Rookies of the Year, Ben Olsen in 98 and Kyle Martino in 02 No IU player has been RoY. Agoos was Defender of the Year in 01; No IU player has won that honor. Meola was GK of the Year and MVP in 00; No IU player has won either honor. Overseas, Juergen Sommer had a nice run in England for awhile, but nowhere close to the run Harkes had or Reyna is having. IU has Lee Nguyen right now, but so far that's just reserve team ball. So, I think the edge for No. 2 goes to UVa, but it's nowhere close to UCLA.
Just to add a few more names to the discussion. Frankie Hejduk needs to be near the top of the pantheon of UCLA greats. And Steve Shak needs to be at the top of the pantheon of UCLA busts. And I believe Chad Deering should be added to the list of Indiana players who went to the World Cup.
I´m glad you mentioned our FRANKIE..!!! We love him here in Leverkusen!!!...and I like him especially.
Thanks for that. My view is likely skewed from the 80's when Indiana dominated soccer (albeit with only MISL around to send players to)
I think the problem going forward is that at least a relative handful of our "Zizzo's" will be bypassing college altogether, and many more we'll do just a year or two. We can debate whether a given player was helped or hurt more by their college stay*, but it's hard to imagine the top prospects playing college ball for four years. We should keep an eye, therefore, on the players UCLA (and the other top programs) recruited (and maybe even got a commitment from) but failed to land, as well as those who left school early to go pro and/or for NSR reasons. ---------- * My guess is that in strictly soccer terms college is not very helpful, but in larger life terms it is, especially for the guys bypassing MLS and going straight to Europe.
It appears that the weakest time for UCLA to 'create' top-notch pro players/National teammers, etc- was in the period from 1999-2003. Off the top of my head, I can't think of a UCLA player during that period who has really shined since. Interestingly, isn't that also the time that Sigi left UCLA? (1999/2000?) Of course, things picked up again with Feilhaber, Wynne and K Hill- starting around 2004. If you look at 1987-1999, my 'pick 1 guy each year at UCLA, and he'll be a top pro/Men's Nat/mostly World Cup performer' comes true each and every year. Also this was also the time Sigi was coach. (I think all those years). So maybe we should give Sigi some credit for identifying talent during such a long period, and getting talented players to really expand on their abilities. Pretty impressive acheivement.
Zizzo strikes again! (2 goals vs. Duke, 5 now in the post-season!) Could this guy be a Joe Montana-type (not necessarily overwhelming physically, but does what it takes a win?). At a minimum, I picture him as an excellent MLS player.
While he's not overwhemingly big (he's about 5'10"), he is fast. Definitely has potential, but like most players it will be a few more years until we know where he stands.
In the right situation, I wouldn't be surprised to see him have a Bornstein-like rookie year. So I don't think you necessarily will have to wait a few years.
Saw Zizzo 'buried' in a larger story ... http://www.venturacountystar.com/vcs/sports/article/0,1375,VCS_134_5179890,00.html .... The Ventura County Fusion, an expansion franchise in the United Soccer League's Premier Development League, will debut this spring at its home, the new Ventura College Sportsplex. The team, whose territory is Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, will be made up primarily of college-aged players honing their abilities in the leading Under-23 league in North America. .... Current UCLA star Sal Zizzo plays for Orange County Blue Star, which once had former German superstar and perhaps future U.S. men's national team coach Jurgen Klinsmann line up in its colors. Blue Star finished second to the Southern California Seahorses in the Southwest Division last season, but progressed deep in the playoffs before falling to the eventual champions, the Michigan Bucks, in the semifinals. One rung below Blue Star in the division standings last season were the San Fernando Valley Quakes, who included former Thousand Oaks High stars Jason Leopoldo (UCLA) and Diego Barrera (Loyola Marymount) as players. Former U.S. international and Westlake High product Eric Wynalda is the technical advisor to the Bakersfield Brigade. "The Fusion is a dream come true for all soccer fans in Ventura County and surrounding areas," said Hoffman. "With well over 30,000 players in our area, I know that our community will support the team." ********** Nice 'soccer growth' story - nice playing facility - nice all the way around.
I wish there were more like Zizzo- good athletes in other sports who opt for soccer. In Sal's case an injury derailed his baseball career and sent him to us (soccer fans). http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sp...0C16E423355D1854862572370015CF9E?OpenDocument