[Mick]

I wondered how and why Akron was such a men's soccer power. I see they have quite a long history of success but also while watching the game I saw a player from Brazil, then Spain, Portugal, Eritrea, New Zealand, England, and Israel.

Three years ago, my son played volleyball against dominant NAIA power Cal_Baptist.  It was loaded with players from Brazil, Italy, Poland, Russia and Hungary.  The five foreigners played the entire match (most were in their mid-20s), and two mentioned to my son that they were semipro back in Europe/SoAm.  Fast forward a few years, they wanted to join the NCAA and the MPSF with Stanford.  They hit the benchmarks and now have just one foreign player, from Spain.  They also have a 2-20 conference record and are last in the conference.

[Mick]

I wondered how and why Akron was such a men's soccer power. I see they have quite a long history of success but also while watching the game I saw a player from Brazil, then Spain, Portugal, Eritrea, New Zealand, England, and Israel.

Three years ago, my son played volleyball against dominant NAIA power Cal_Baptist.  It was loaded with players from Brazil, Italy, Poland, Russia and Hungary.  The five foreigners played the entire match (most were in their mid-20s), and two mentioned to my son that they were semipro back in Europe/SoAm.  Fast forward a few years, they wanted to join the NCAA and the MPSF with Stanford.  They hit the benchmarks and now have just one foreign player, from Spain.  They also have a 2-20 conference record and are last in the conference.