So, for all the detractors of college soccer... Here are some names who played NCAA soccer (Mostly D1) Cherundelo, Davies, Guzan, Clark, Feilhaber, Bocanegra, Demerit, Edu, Dempsey, Onyewu. It may not be always the best route to big teams and to the national team, but this is a pretty solid group. I thought of this because of all the hype around Onyewu, Davies, and Dempsey in the transfer market the past few days. I'm sure i'm missing a few very good US players and a few from other countries as well who played college soccer before. We've had good ones in the past too such as Balboa and Harkes and Keller and Friedel. College soccer is clearly not the kiss of death Eurosnobs make it out to be. Feel free to add any high profile US or foreign players you can think of to the discussion. This is just who I thought of off the top of my head.
I actually thought about this while watching the US beat Spain the CC. Six of eleven starters played in college with four of six playing at least three years (I think). All three subs played in college as well.
They are not Yanks, but Vedad Ibisevic (SLU) and Rob Friend (UCSB) have been successful in Germany so far (they went one-two in scoring in the BL2 two years ago as they led their teams to promotion), and both guys are still relatively young (24 and 28 years old).
Great points. I remember watching Friend play a game in the NCAAs at UCSB. Wasn't Ibisevic one of the top scorers this year too in BL1 or at least he was one of the better ones earlier in the season?
Ibisevic scored 18 goals this year in 17 matches before injuring his ACL. I can't readily find this year's numbers for Friend (I think he bagged 7 goals), but he also did not complete the year due to injury (and will miss the start of next year), but I am pretty sure he was his team's top scorer this past year unless someone caught him at the end when I paid less attention
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2009/apr/30/a-life-changing-trip/ From College (club) soccer to the Premier League, not bad, eh. Even if he only does a year, it's a great opportunity for the kid. Good luck to him.
Ryan Nelson (Blackburn Rovers) played at Stanford David Wier (Rangers) played at University of Evansville