Tyler Adams and Chris Richards both played basketball their freshmen years of high school before going 100% soccer. Charlie Davies was an accomplished h.s. wrestler, which is why he was built like a tank and was impossible to move off the ball. Bocanegra was an FBS level football recruit if he had chose that route. If Tessman is trying to do both sports at Clemson this fall, that'll be hard regardless if he's a kicker. Their seasons overlap and college soccer plays a condensed schedule of usually 2 games in 3 days around the end of the week while college football games are going on.
I fundamentally disagree, and maybe that’s where we just end up, to agree to disagree. But soccer and football/baseball are so wildly different comparisons. Soccer is a year round sport. Players around the world are spending 365 days perfecting their game to give them that edge they need. It’s not just, oh I play football in the fall, and baseball in the spring. Which, both sports help me stay in shape year round. Now, could a player play another sport for fun? Sure. Could they enjoy another sport? Without a doubt. But I seriously doubt there will ever be a player who specializes in two sports and still manages to ever reach that NT level of player that would make any real difference to us. Rather, what is most likely to happen is that if he does pursue another sport? His growth as a soccer player is going to stagnate to right about the level that he’s at now... which is not good enough to be a high level professional soccer player.
...in high school. Not college. Hell, I can add to that. Josh Pynadath just recently spoke about his love for basketball and that he spends much of his rec time playing basketball. Point being, I’m not saying a player can’t mess around with or enjoy another sport. More so, I have never said if a kid ever enjoyed another sport ever in their life they won’t make it. But when it comes to developing the game to the next level... it would be pretty damn hard for any player to take their game to that next level if they’re also trying to take their game to the next level in a different sport. It’s probably also why we don’t see Adams and Richards playing basketball. And why Davies didn’t wrestle after high school.
He isn't at Clemson to play QB or middle linebacker, he's trying to be a kicker. Have you ever seen a college football practice? Do you know how much time a kicker actually kicks during a football practice? He could literally get his football kicking practice in by stopping by the football field and kicking 30 balls in his soccer gear.
I understand that point but the actual games would overlap. The football team could be playing a home game the same weekend the Clemson soccer team plays a road trip against Boston College and Syracuse.
Beyond playing football in college, just going to college is the end of any serious pro soccer career. He might kick for Clemson and play some soccer, but he is not coming out of there in 4 years and be on the radar for the USMNT. He could then kick in the NFL or play USL possibly, and maybe get to MLS at 25 or 27, and have a few years at that level. We will see. He could go there for the Fall and leave school and sign with an MLS or European team.
I don't understand this. There are countless players in MLS that have played in college. I guess I would agree with you if he is there for 4 years, but none of us know if that is his plan. I would lean toward thinking he will play one season at Clemson and go the route of Cannon and Servania.
Understood, but college soccer has very few games on Saturday...although there may be a few. Daniel Hernandez would play on a Friday and then hop on a plane in time for the football game. I am sure Clemson would do the same thing. For me, it will be very telling what he does in case of a conflict - but those should be few and far between.
That's really not true. There is a lot of chemistry between the snapper, holder, and kicker. The timing that it takes to make those kicks takes some time to get down. It's also a lot different kicking with a helmet and pads on. Not to mention kicking in front of 80,000 people with a game on the line. I don't see this at all where a kid who has never kicked footballs in his life goes to a place like Clemson and joins the team for a short term. If he is planning to be there for multiple seasons, it is much more likely to work out, but his soccer career takes a bigger and bigger hit the longer he does that. I chalk this up to a gimmick/pr stunt/leverage move/favor more than a true football opportunity. There is no way Dabo is putting Tessman out there is a pressure situation with as little experience as he has. Place kicking is much more than just kicking a football a long way (I did it for a season in high school). These points don't even touch on the scheduling conflicts.... [Was trying desperately to stay out of this conversation] FYI, Clemson's kicker this season was a sophomore. This makes less and less sense the more you think about it.
All of what you have said still doesn't equate to the hours upon hours and thousands of reps people on here are making it sound like he needs. Yes, there is some practice involved, but its nothing like an offensive or defensive player. As to the sensibility of it all, I am with you. It is not out of the realm of possibility that Dabo just did a solid for the soccer program by essentially giving them an additional scholarship. He may never kick a football for Clemson, but his talent warrants the program paying for school to see if he can do it.
As I said, 4 years in college is not a pro path. One year you can get by to some degree. Yedlin had one year. The Americans playing in the Champions League did not go to college at all. You see it every year with he Superdraft, college kids are ready for the USL if they are ready for anything. The game is a different game than what is played using FIFA rules. As this is a U20 Qualifying thread, no college players were on the last U20 team. One guy had played a year and left (Rennicks), and he doesn't seem like a real prospect for even MLS. https://chasingacup.com/germany-saves-the-usa/
Sorry, maybe I took this statement the wrong way. Thought you were talking about just setting foot on a campus.
I think the jury is out on that one. If the NCAA moves to a two semester schedule and gets rid of the unlimited substitutions, it could become a development path again. The facilities and money are there. I think they will change the schedule (to a schedule MLS says is impossible in North America), but I haven't heard any discussion of going to limited subs. With unlimited subs, it is just a different game than the pro or DA game.
Yes, we're going to have to agree to disagree. The amount of skill that it takes to go pro in soccer is not higher than the amount of skill it takes to go pro in the NFL, in major league baseball, or in the NBA. And our athletes are capable of doing all of that, while not specializing in one sport. The fact that some players, overseas or not, may specialize in soccer does not give them any type of insurmountable edge. What is ironic is that in circumstances like this, we point out: "Well, the rest of the world does it this way", when in many other circumstances US Soccer refuses to do things the way the rest of the world does them... As I mentioned, the people pushing soccer specialization, are those coaches that want to get paid when their players are busy playing another sport. This is a factor, that really needs to be taken into consideration, because the specialization recommendations are often completely biased by self-interest.
Soccer involves a lot more skill than football and basketball, which are predominantly based on size and athleticism. Baseball ability is based mostly on a single relatively isolated skill. Therefore, aspiring soccer players need to be seriously focused on their relationship with the ball and their understanding of the game from a pretty early age. They don't have to have a singular focus on soccer, but they need to have a serious commitment early. Soccer is the most complex skill sport due to the facts that it requires the use of the feet (not an intuitive/efficient way to control a ball for humans), it combines the physical aspects of strength and endurance, and it requires a higher degree of decision making and more complex problems due to the numbers and fluidity of the game compared to other sports. **Can we get these posts moved to the appropriate place, wherever that is?
It's hard to be two sport between soccer and other American sports simply because most of them are hand eye, and soccer is foot eye, so to speak. The rest of this is a fan claiming superiority like I see fans of every sport doing. The sports are almost impossible to compare, for example, I find it odd you claim soccer decision making is a higher degree when baseball players usually need to make theirs in a 10th of a second, or football players in two seconds while someone is about to plow into them. They are different skills. Soccer is not special. It's done with the feet; very different. It's more of an endurance sport; very different. It doesn't allow for detailed planning; mostly different. But to say it requires more skill or decision making to hit a long diagonal than to thread a pass into a tiny space while getting hit and reading 11 defenders... I mean, I don't think so, but to be generous, how can you really compare?
What decision does a baseball player make? Swing or not. What variables are at play in his decision? They are always relatively the same (made slightly more complicated by modern defensive shifts). Conversely, a soccer player has a crazy number of decisions to make and a crazy number of variables affecting those decisions. Moreover, these decisions are compounded because of how the game is constantly unfolding around the player. Baseball is mostly static. Football is mostly scripted. The quarterback has to make split second decisions based on reads and variables similar to soccer players, but that is one player of the 22, whereas soccer has 20 of the 22 having to make that similar thought progression and execution. Soccer does require a lot more ball skill than other sports. The number of body surfaces that are in play in terms of controlling the ball alone make it more complex than games where the ball is only controlled with the hands. Take dribbling a basketball compared to dribbling a soccer ball, for example: basketball dribbling is done with virtually the same surface (the fingers) over and over. Soccer dribbling is done with no fewer than three-four surfaces of the foot. Also, a soccer ball cannot be held safely like a basketball player can do with a basketball. The soccer player does not have the bailout strategy of picking up his dribble. Athletically, soccer is much more than just an endurance sport. Speed is vitally important for some players. Strength is important for most players. Leaping ability is important for some players. Etc., etc. This could be taken a lot further, but we're already ridiculously off topic.
If anyone thinks Kyler Murray would not be a good soccer player if he played it his whole life, you are insane. Athletes like that can be good at whatever the hell they want to be. Soccer today is mostly dominated by extremely athletic beings...There’s these people that think players slow as molasses with great touch dominate the game. The ones that say what about Xavi, but forget his touch and mind is in the top 1% of people that ever played the sport. Soccer is trending to athleticism more than ever.
It’s pretty clear you don’t know much about baseball or football if you think a baseball player just swings or that the quarterback is the only position that reads the play and makes decisions. I don’t get sports supremacists at all.
Baseball is mostly static. That's a fact. Football has one position that is a "ball player." That is a fact. It's not about supremacy. Those are simply facts. They don't make soccer a better game -- that's a matter of opinion -- but it's a fact that, generally speaking, it requires a higher degree of skill and decision making (on the whole) than other games that are based more on athleticism and size or more isolated skill sets.
If you think the defensive side of baseball is not very complex and intricate and requires a high level of knowledge you're a fool. Literally every sport at the high level requires you to read the play and adjust at a very high pace. The only people who really don't for the most part are offensive and defensive lineman in Football.