FootyFreak

[FootyFreak @DrAbeGame]

Source: The Ringer’s profile, “Matt Turner Isn’t Done Proving Himself.”

Worth reading if you want the fuller version of Turner’s path.

[FootyFreak @DrAbeGame]

Matt Turner’s first real college moment was an own goal on SportsCenter.

Years later, he became the USMNT’s World Cup goalkeeper.

The path between those two points is messier than most soccer parents realize.

1/9

[FootyFreak @DrAbeGame]

The tape. The emails. The camps. The ignored messages. The awkward chances. The third-string seasons.

None guarantee anything.

But sometimes they put a player close enough for the right coach to see the right thing.

9/9

[FootyFreak @DrAbeGame]

@CWadnerer43321 Exactly. Talent matters, of course, but his path seems like a series of coaches giving him real minutes, and him proving he could handle the next jump.

[FootyFreak @DrAbeGame]

1/
This was Max Arfsten's MaxPreps profile.

Fresno high school player. Regional NPL club. No U.S. youth national-team history. UC Davis walk-on.

Now he's on the U.S. World Cup roster.

That path is worth paying attention to.

[FootyFreak @DrAbeGame]

I wrote a longer version here for soccer parents and players in the middle of the recruiting grind:

https://t.co/VECBlB1XDx

[FootyFreak @DrAbeGame]

11/
As of now, Arfsten has not played any World Cup minutes.

But if his chance comes, that would fit the whole story.

He has spent his entire career proving he knows what to do with one.