"I find it very ignorant of the American public to just assume Adrian Peterson is wearing 9 for the United States national team, we win the World Cup." Taylor Twellman isn't tiptoeing around it.
The former US international, now a prominent soccer analyst, was asked on Ryen Russillo's show what would happen if NFL and NBA athletes committed fully to soccer. His answer was a long-overdue reality check on one of American sports media's laziest takes.
"Oh my god, it drives me nuts," Twellman said — and then got specific. "Chris Paul dedicates his whole life to soccer. Barry Sanders dedicates his whole life. What position is LeBron going to play at 6'9'' and 260 pounds?"
The Messi argument that ends the conversation
Twellman didn't just push back on the premise — he used Lionel Messi to dismantle it entirely. Messi has 921 career goals and 818 career assists. He's done that at 5'7", in a sport that supposedly rewards the kind of raw athleticism America mass-produces. If sheer physical dominance translated cleanly to soccer, Messi wouldn't exist at that level. He does. The argument collapses.
"Why does Lionel Messi have 921 goals in his career and 818 assists," Twellman asked, "and he wouldn't play any other sport because he's too small?" That's not a rhetorical flourish — it's the actual answer. Soccer rewards a different set of skills, built over thousands of hours, not a different gene pool.
Antonio Freeman's son is living proof
The irony is that the 2026 World Cup itself offers a counter-narrative to the crossover fantasy. Alex Freeman, a defender/midfielder for the USMNT, is the son of former Green Bay Packers wide receiver Antonio Freeman — a man who played at the highest level of American football and still watched his son gravitate entirely toward soccer.
"I had dreams of coaching him in football and basketball," Antonio Freeman told ESPN. "But his joy was on that soccer field. It was soccer every day, all day."
He described going to his son's games and hearing the crowd chant "Freeman, Freeman, Freeman" — and watching Alex smile in a way that no other sport produced. "Even though he was good at other sports, that one seemed to come the easiest."
That's the part the crossover debate always skips. It's not just about who's the most physically gifted. It's about specialization, early development, and the kind of touch that only comes from years of deliberate, obsessive practice. Alex Freeman had an NFL legend for a father and still chose the pitch.
The USMNT wraps up its group stage against Turkey on June 25 at 10 p.m. ET. Freeman will be part of it — not because of his dad's sport, but despite it.
