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Anonymous wrote:unless you are just a true baller and can put a hurting on the top kids from ECNL/GA clubs in the top bracket at JefCup, CASL or Bethesda Cup.
This is almost impossible even if you are "a true baller". One kid, no matter how talented, cannot operate outside the constraints of his team. The best striker in the world does not win a game unless his teammates can deliver him the ball.
Exactly—sums up Jody Altidore’s career with USMNT
Altidore is the best striker in the world? I assume you’re being tongue in cheek?
As far as a true baller, I do think at younger ages, and the fact that soccer is such a low scoring sport, that a kid that has a knack for beating defenders and scoring can make a big difference.
Yes - up to say U10 a single player can take over a game, and even older than this at lower levels of play. BUT the poster here is not talking about those ages since he is referring to YNT, ECNL/GA, JefCup etc. all of which imply older age groups. At those ages, the best player in the state on a medicore team is not going to accomplish much. And - as the best player he is likely to be playing in a position where he may well even not get noticed if his teammates cannot get him the ball.
Hmmm... you think France ever wins a World Cup without Zidane or Mbappe? You think Spain wins without Iniesta? You think Argentina wins without Maradonna? Barca without Messi? Madrid without Ronaldo? Time after time, a great player lifts their team over the edge. Clearly they can’t do it alone, but a great player makes the difference at the very top of the sport. Always.
Of course these players make a difference - and I wasn't saying they didn't. In your exampes the players are the icing on the cake of very good teams - the players that put a talented squad over the top. But they are effective because their teammates are playing on the same level as the opponents.
What I was saying is that such a player cannot - by himself - beat a whole team. So if you add Messi to DC United, they still don't stand a hope in hell of beating Man City because Man City would utterly dominate the game and Messi would hardly see the ball.
The same thing is true of an exceptionally talented 15 year old - one who might be good enough to play for the YNT - playing on the squad of an NCSL team against an DA/ECNL team.
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