For most elite soccer players, retirement means coming to the MLS and making a bunch of money playing with diminished skills. For at least one, it could mean becoming an NFL kicker.
Via ESPNFC.com, Leicester City defender Christian Fuchs, 29, aspires to take up a different sport, at some point.
“I have ambitions to become an NFL kicker,” Fuchs said. “Seriously. . . . If they want a footballer in their team but I am very much up for it. . . . I know I can kick 60 yards or so or 65 yards field goal. Let’s see. Dreams can come true, you know. If you don’t dream you won’t reach anything.”
The draw for Fuchs comes in part from the fact that his family already lives in the United States.
“I’m already thinking about what’s after my career,” Fuchs said. “I will be in America and I will move to be with my family. I simply want to do something. I can’t just be laying on the couch because that’s so not me.”
A lot more goes into being a kicker than having a strong leg. Kickers must be accurate, and they need to be able to quickly get to the point of the kick, aiming at a target that isn’t there until an instant before the holder puts the ball in place.
Still, having a naturally strong leg is the hard part; Luchs presumably possesses that. Whether he can develop the rest remains to be seen.
