In Reply to: Best soccer player in world? 5-7, 148 pounds posted by ClockBlocker on July 27, 2026 at 12:19:07
These are nice to have but they are not essential to the sport at all -- What you need is coordination, vision, sense of position, stamina, and loads and loads of skill in terms of accuracy. None of these indicate a body type, or demand athleticism.
(Just realizing that these are kinda like the qualities of a good drummer: coordination, the audio equivalent of vision, sense of timing and accuracy, stamina in the sense of being able to hold a beat for an extended length of time, and sh*tloads of skill. Speed is a nice to have, and you'll wow your audience by going superfast, but it's not an essential quality in a drummer.)
Sure, you want keepers to be tall so that they have a better reach, but keepers can also play well into their early 40s, at a point where their reflexes have likely slowed down, and they are not as agile anymore. They make up for it with their improved sense of position and anticipation.
Clearly if more people (= players) adopted soccer as their primary sport, the US will be able to field a formidable team, but that's not because of athleticism, but we'll find a lot of people with these qualities ... kinda like how the country keeps producing top-notch drummers. :)
About Messi: I heard that he started out with a growth hormone deficiency and that part of his move to Barcelona was the notion that the club would help him with his growth hormone injections that allowed him to get at least to a 5-7 frame. (What do you know? Apparently the story is correct: wikipedia)