2021 USC All-American Teams

[jknezek]

Nice story on Adrian Zimmerman:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/adrian-zimmerman-on-a-roll-for-w-l-soccer/article_923e37aa-5375-11ec-a6a1-57ed165994a4.amp.html

Zimmerman had two goals in a 3-1 win over Messiah in the quarterfinals.

"Their center back was just bear-hugging him all game, yet he scored twice," Singleton said.


Well, at least his parents aren't smart

One thing I do find interesting, all 4 schools in the Final Four are at or toward the top of the academic schools in DIII. While that's going to be true of a lot sports considering how much the NESCAC and UAA hover over the DIII landscape, to see Conn, Amherst, Chicago and W&L.... there probably isn't a young man on those fields that didn't graduate in the top 20% of their h.s. class, and I'd wager a fair amount that most were inside the top 10%.

Impossible to play this game well at a high level unless you are smart.
Now  not every smart person applies themselves, thats a different thing, but to be good at this game brainspeed  > footspeed.

That is why Usain Bolt never made it in the game despite having a decent touch.

I'm not so sure. I know plenty of soccer players who were game smart but not real intelligent or book smart. Granted I think that's more common in football, which is a sport almost geared toward a specialized physical savant, but there are lots of pro soccer players that I'm not sure could blow their own nose if their brains were dynamite.

[Hopkins92]

So, I won't go on some long (and probably boring) diatribe on this topic, but...

IQ does not equal Soccer IQ.

One of the things that is "interesting" about American soccer is that, for the most part, it has rolled out in (mostly) white, affluent suburbs. And I'm talking post-1970, not those gritty American leagues and teams that emerged at the turn of the 20th century and produced a team full of scrappers and immigrants that beat England at the World Cup.

But post-70 up until really the last 10-15 years or so, the development of soccer in this country has been very much comprised of middle and upper middle class white kids.

Pele, Messi, Wayne Rooney, MARADONNA, Ibrahimavich... (ETA - If I list Messi, it would seem problematic to not also note Christiano Ronaldo on this list). The list is, literally, endless of guys that emerge out of poverty or blue collar families and go on to become soccer stars/legends. Most of those guys barely set foot in a classroom.

So, not trying to be pedantic, but having a bunch of academic all-americans in the F4 is cool and all, but it sure doesn't track with (necessarily) what you would look for as successful teams or players in the rest of the soccer universe.

[Saint of Old]

Nice story on Adrian Zimmerman:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/adrian-zimmerman-on-a-roll-for-w-l-soccer/article_923e37aa-5375-11ec-a6a1-57ed165994a4.amp.html

Zimmerman had two goals in a 3-1 win over Messiah in the quarterfinals.

"Their center back was just bear-hugging him all game, yet he scored twice," Singleton said.


Well, at least his parents aren't smart

One thing I do find interesting, all 4 schools in the Final Four are at or toward the top of the academic schools in DIII. While that's going to be true of a lot sports considering how much the NESCAC and UAA hover over the DIII landscape, to see Conn, Amherst, Chicago and W&L.... there probably isn't a young man on those fields that didn't graduate in the top 20% of their h.s. class, and I'd wager a fair amount that most were inside the top 10%.

Impossible to play this game well at a high level unless you are smart.
Now  not every smart person applies themselves, thats a different thing, but to be good at this game brainspeed  > footspeed.

That is why Usain Bolt never made it in the game despite having a decent touch.

I'm not so sure. I know plenty of soccer players who were game smart but not real intelligent or book smart. Granted I think that's more common in football, which is a sport almost geared toward a specialized physical savant, but there are lots of pro soccer players that I'm not sure could blow their own nose if their brains were dynamite.

Again, application is key. Those players are perhaps not really applying themselves well or have time management issues etc...
@ the end of the day intelligence, true intelligence is assessing a situation, seeing all your options and making the right decision more times than not before the average person.
That is the real definition of a good footballer.

[Saint of Old]

So, I won't go on some long (and probably boring) diatribe on this topic, but...

IQ does not equal Soccer IQ.

One of the things that is "interesting" about American soccer is that, for the most part, it has rolled out in (mostly) white, affluent suburbs. And I'm talking post-1970, not those gritty American leagues and teams that emerged at the turn of the 20th century and produced a team full of scrappers and immigrants that beat England at the World Cup.

But post-70 up until really the last 10-15 years or so, the development of soccer in this country has been very much comprised of middle and upper middle class white kids.

Pele, Messi, Wayne Rooney, MARADONNA, Ibrahimavich... (ETA - If I list Messi, it would seem problematic to not also note Christiano Ronaldo on this list). The list is, literally, endless of guys that emerge out of poverty or blue collar families and go on to become soccer stars/legends. Most of those guys barely set foot in a classroom.

So, not trying to be pedantic, but having a bunch of academic all-americans in the F4 is cool and all, but it sure doesn't track with (necessarily) what you would look for as successful teams or players in the rest of the soccer universe.

Seting a foot in the classroom has nothing to do with intelligence.
Diego Armando maradona,the best who has ever done it sait it best "Football is a game of deciet".
Its brain power, brain speed, forward thinking, anticipation that makes a player brilliant.

Intelligent men stuck in poverty dont often graduate Yale, but they still have big brains that solve difficult problems.

[Another Mom]

Exactly! I would not equate blue collar, or poverty with being unintelligent.

[camosfan]

Nice story on Adrian Zimmerman:

https://roanoke.com/sports/college/adrian-zimmerman-on-a-roll-for-w-l-soccer/article_923e37aa-5375-11ec-a6a1-57ed165994a4.amp.html

Dude! who ever made the transition from another sport to soccer at age 30? be serious!


Zimmerman had two goals in a 3-1 win over Messiah in the quarterfinals.

"Their center back was just bear-hugging him all game, yet he scored twice," Singleton said.


Well, at least his parents aren't smart

One thing I do find interesting, all 4 schools in the Final Four are at or toward the top of the academic schools in DIII. While that's going to be true of a lot sports considering how much the NESCAC and UAA hover over the DIII landscape, to see Conn, Amherst, Chicago and W&L.... there probably isn't a young man on those fields that didn't graduate in the top 20% of their h.s. class, and I'd wager a fair amount that most were inside the top 10%.

Impossible to play this game well at a high level unless you are smart.
Now  not every smart person applies themselves, thats a different thing, but to be good at this game brainspeed  > footspeed.

That is why Usain Bolt never made it in the game despite having a decent touch.

I'm not so sure. I know plenty of soccer players who were game smart but not real intelligent or book smart. Granted I think that's more common in football, which is a sport almost geared toward a specialized physical savant, but there are lots of pro soccer players that I'm not sure could blow their own nose if their brains were dynamite.