CHARLESTON, S.C. – If Ben Olsen's coaching career doesn't work out, he very may well have an alternative in mind.
After Tuesday morning's training session at the Citadel's Johnson Hagood Stadium, Olsen gathered nine or 10 balls, positioning them at the 40-yard line. He knocked the first three into the goal with relative ease, then proceeded to drill the next six or seven through the football uprights behind it.
"They pay these guys $2.5 million to put it in from there," Olsen told MLSsoccer.com afterward. "Bring me an oval ball."
Though ankle injuries ended Olsen's playing days years ago, D.C. United's head coach still regularly knocks the ball around in practice, showing flashes of the skill that made him a national-team regular. There just usually aren't football uprights around.
And don't think for a second that Olsen limits himself to using his feet to kick the ball. He'd like a taste of the end zone, as well.
"I have dreams," Olsen said, chuckling. "I haven't dreamed about soccer since I retired, though. You would think I'd dream about it every night or something. It's always a fake, a bad snap, right to me. They're just coming at me. And I'm doing my thing, you know, some spin moves and stuff. It always ends with me on my back. In the end zone.
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"I'll give you different options, too. If you want to give it to me, I'm quick enough to get around the outside, too, against those big fellas. I would just pray every time."
It isn't the first time Olsen has demonstrated his pointy ball skills. In this video following a US national team training session in 2006, he shows off his quarterbacking abilities.
