My first realization of how much better they were over seas was when I was in college I took a summer job at a sports camp up north here in Wi. I was the art director and in charge of track. I had played soccer in the summer for fun before club soccer was real. I was asked to play in an exhibition soccer game with the camp counselors. Most were from germany, england and various places over seas. I thought hell yeah, lets play as I was fast and a striker. Right when the game started, I thought to myself wth and where did these guys come from. I distinctly remembering a corner kick coming to me and all of the sudden I had 2 tall guys all over me knocking me down heading the ball out. It was at that point that I realized soccer over here is absolutely nothing like compared to over there.