Cooking With Perry Kitchen

[Z.I.P.]

As I mentioned on Saturday, the second goal of the Tulsa game was more than a "nice shot" by Akron freshman Perry Kitchen. To the average fan, it may have looked that way. To the experienced fan of international and high level football, that was one of the best goals you will ever see in a college game. Perry wasn't just standing there, waiting to put the ball into the net. He had to find an opening between defenders, and most importantly, he had to have a sense of when and where the ball would appear. This is the instinct that develops from years of play at the highest level. Kitchen's right footed reach to get the outside of his foot on the ball and expertly kick -- not just deflect it, into the goal was the sort of play players in Major League Soccer, and even the English Premier League hope they are able to make when the opportunity occurs. Kitchen, I am confident, will score many more goals at Akron before he goes on to play professionally in hopefully no less than two more years. Perry Kitchen also has a future playing for the full US MNT.

Top Drawer Soccer has an article on Perry Cooking Up a Good Start to his college career.

[Zip_ME87]

Thanks for your insight Z.I.P. Not quite as easy to see all the action involved in Perry's score from beyond mid-pitch as it probably was on tv. Great article, too.

GO ZIPS!

[w00t]

I couldn't say enough about how well he's done so far. I expected him to be good, but not this good. Great in the air, wins 50-50 balls, keeps possession, and demonstrates leadership... oh, and he's leading the team in scoring.

We'd better enjoy it while we can, I can't imagine he'll be around too long.