Korbin Albert: PSG’s American Trendsetter Part II: Abandoning the Traditional Route#1958
Continued….
Korbin Albert shows College Soccer is a Dying Breed for the Elite
Korbin Albert has abandoned the traditional route. Historically speaking, the USA women’s national team has gotten its players through the collegiate system. It is a system that certainly has lost its sizzle. It has been designed as a pathway towards the NWSL. The American youth system has been broken for a number of years. While the college system can be effective for some players it turns out it can be very damaging for others. Korbin Albert went from the being the rising star of college soccer at Notre Dame to PSG. A Sensational young talent that was the biggest difference maker for Notre Dame. She was one THE star of the show. Only to leave early for greater pastures. We very rarely have seen players do this in fact she may be first. In Europe they have youth academies that is how all the big stars have gotten their name. Korbin Albert followed the untraditional route in terms of what in the norm in Europe, but she started with the Traditional one fully being aware of what that route leads to playing in the NWSL. A league without the best players on the planet and that's putting it nicely not very many players in the league would even be capable of a move to Europe. World class player is hard to come by in a league that doesn’t have that substance. I’m not simply trashing the NWSL as a product. It is competitive and some of the games have an exciting element. However, that simply is not the point. The best players are elsewhere. The same players that they will compete against at the World Cup are another countries. The route is effective for girls that want to play professional football. However, it is not an effective route for national team players. Yet they all fall into this trap because it is what is available to them and it’s the easiest thing to do. To do what is difficult is never truly the encouraged option, especially in American society. Young footballers go through the tribulations to become great high school stars. They become college stars and then then get drafted to the NWSL. This is how it’s always been done. This is also primarily why a large portion of American players are not at the best leagues because this entire route and pathway is designed to get to a league that the top players shouldn’t want to be. However, change could be on the horizon. Korbin Albert whether she wants to or not, she is the face of this new movement. She is a trendsetter that could absolutely change college soccer and the NWSL forever. This league is a safe haven for the up-and-coming stars. In reality, particularly for national team players, it certainly should be a last resort. If you are a national team player or someone with the ambitions to be on that stage, this should be avoided at all costs. You can't be an ambitious player with big objectives and end up in the NWSL as their first choice. However, if you don’t have any national team pedigree in your future but still want to play professionally, the NWSL is a fine place and I would encourage it for those in that camp but for the ones that vow to be great it will only kill the career you may have even if you get found out and it doesn't work for you at least you had the courage to take that chance. Occasionally some of Europe’s premier stars as they age come down here to experience all of this at the end like Martha and Andressa Alves. However, the objective of any young woman striving to do great things for their country and their club should follow the breadcrumbs that is being left by Korbin Albert.
The Face of the Movement
The rising Star went from being Notre Dame’s Golden girl to be playing on Champions League nights against the Italian champions and in Munich against the German champions. She used to wear Notre Dame colors Now she wears PSG colors. In a very short amount of time She became a superstar in college and in the very next moment she was on one of the best teams in the world. She’s already been someone that the national team has had their eyes on. She has played on the youth teams of the United States national team. She was one of the ones selected at the u20 World Cup She started two matches of the tournament. She has earned this enormous move. Being the face of this movement is a very polarizing position. There has been a lot of sacrifices that she has taken to make this dream a reality. PSG is a huge club, particularly in the women’s game. They have world-class players at every single position. The interest of PSG was certainly too strong to ignore or turn down. She understood the sacrifices with what she was given up. Every player on the national team currently has gone through the same route. It has been more or less a rite of passage. However, she isn't everyone She has gone a different way to the ones that came before. In fact, you take it a step further. Very few players on the planet would have been granted the opportunity that was bestowed on her feet. Jordan Morris was given similar opportunity but he turned it down to be comfortable. Whether or not he could have made it in the Bundesliga when Bremen gave him an opportunity is unclear. However, we haven’t heard much from Jordan Morris in a big way after making the wrong move. Maybe he never would have lasted. Maybe he would have found himself right back where he was initially. However, he wasn’t willing to take the risk and sacrifice to get there. However. Korbin Albert, not only was willing to make the plunge at PSG but it was done without hesitation. It’s not like she wasn’t giving up everything to do this because she was. Her departure from college soccer and Notre Dame may have opened up the door for others to follow this. If she hits College soccer will become a launching pad instead of a stomping ground. It completely different conversation. College soccer has always been the stomping ground for professional. However, maybe that doesn’t have to be the case anymore? To reach the very best, maybe college soccer isn’t the most necessary. College soccer for special players could be used as a launching pad to Europe. The more moves like this we tend to see the more change could be on the horizon. Perhaps less importance will be put on it and on top of that we could see academies starting to be developed on pro teams or we could see the young stars of the future skip college altogether and get themselves opportunities in Europe a place that would set them up better at the next level. There will always be a place for college soccer, but the elites may find themselves within a different bracket. Even though it’s always been done this way a player sacrificing multiple years of eligibility to sign for a European team is a rarity. This may be the first time this has happened. With all the reason behind why the United States got eliminated from the world cup. There’s not been beacon of hope. The young up and coming players that have already established themselves on the national team recently. Very few of them seem to be swaying towards taking a swing at Europe. Albert has been the first one to do something like this. It has paid off with some impressive performances this season. She took a plunge for PSG. She was willing to throw everything forward the entire kitchen sink to do this. People don’t realize she was a superstar Notre Dame maybe even the best player in the country. Not only was she nominated and won many awards for her collegiate career, but her statistic would match the hype and the explanation for why Paris took an interest. She only played two seasons at Notre Dame. She threw away the other two so she could sign for PSG. As a true freshman She had 16 goal contributions. 12 goals and four assists. Her sophomore season she exploded even further with 20 goal contributions. 16 goals and five assists. In her two seasons at Notre Dame, she compiled 37 goal contributions with 28 goals and nine assists in 44 matches 44 % as a shot on goal percentage point with eight game-winning goals for Notre Dame. Had this PSG opportunity not come to light. She could have gone down as Notre Dame’s greatest player in school history. She probably would have collected more awards broken more records. Maybe could have gotten as much as 70 goal contributions before her graduation. Not only that, she would have been the overwhelming favorite to be the number one pick in the NWSL draft. So much more was coming down the pipe. However Korbin Albert surrendered everything signing for PSG was worth more than any of the other opportunities that could have come her way. Inevitably considering her quality and her level, she would have found a way to get into Europe. However, it probably would not have been immediate. The financial advantages of the playing in the United States would have been something difficult to turn down. She turned 20 years old in October. At the beginning of this season she was still 19. Had she continued her college career and seen it through, she probably would have ended up playing in the United States for a couple years before making the jump to Europe. This very move could have still come together down the line. However, she wouldn’t be playing in the Champions League at 20, but maybe 24. The fact that she makes this move now vindicates herself as a critical piece of the national team going forward playing against the best on a regular basis but more so than ever understanding and knowing in her heart that she made the right choice. Not only did she make a brilliant choice for her career, a choice that many of the US women’s national team players would not have made,but She may have transcended American soccer by doing this provide somthing meaningful to follow. The impact of this move is unclear this moment. However, the more Americans that do this and the up-and-coming ones that are witnessing this from the distance could change the perspective of the approach to professional football. She not only joined one of the best teams in the world, but she may have just revolutionized and change the conversation surrounding Europe. If she continues to be a success in PSG and becomes a pillar of the national team, more and more players will start to make the moves to Europe. Something that is more needed than many realize.
