For college and country
May 17, 2016 | Men's Soccer, Andy Baggot
Wisconsin standout freshman is an up-and-coming player for New Zealand
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BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — Sam Brotherton has traveled a good chunk of the world in his 19 years, so the little 30-hour journey he took last week is not out of the ordinary.
With his award-winning freshman season with the Wisconsin men's soccer team behind him, Brotherton flew from Chicago to Houston to Oakland to Brisbane, Australia, in a quest to expand his horizons.
Brotheron is taking part in a two-week training camp with Team New Zealand as it prepares for the Oceanic Football Confederation Nations Cup, which will be held May 28 to June 11 in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
This a guy who's been to China and Ireland, Uzbekistan and Myanmar, Oman and England — all in the name of international football — so Brotherton knows how best to use the time aloft.
"Sleep," he said with a grin.
This is a big moment on multiple fronts for Brotherton, who grew up in Auckland and is regarded as a rising talent in in his homeland.
"To be selected to play for my country is a pretty big deal to me," he said. "It's something I value highly."
The prestigious invitation gives Brotherton a chance to further immerse himself in an elite culture.
"I'll be in a very professional environment with lots of good players that are involved in the national team, so I'll just try to learn from them and develop my game," he said.
The assignment also puts Brotherton under a brighter light for New Zealand coaches as they plot a course for the World Cup in 2018.
The winner of the OFC Nations Cup earns a spot in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup. That event will also serve as the second round of '18 World Cup qualifying for the Oceanic region.
"Obviously I've got the opportunity to compete in this camp, but that doesn't mean going forth that I'll get the next opportunity, so every time I go into camp it's about putting my best foot forward and gaining the trust of the coaches," Brotherton said.
"Personally I want to train well day in and day out. I'd like to hopefully get some game time in the tournament and be involved. Basically prove that I can play at the high level and stay in contention to go forward."
Brotherton has been making a name for himself for a while now.
Last summer he played for New Zealand in the under-20 World Cup. In addition to playing all four games, he accounted for a key goal that helped his club advance out of group play for the first time in history. That gave way to a call-up to the full national team for a friendly vs. Korea in March.
In between, Brotherton started 17 of 19 matches for the Badgers and helped anchor a back line that produced three shutouts.
"He's had a whirlwind 18 months," Wisconsin coach John Trask said. "I mean, he wasn't even in their national team program.
"He made the under-20s, which they thought he might. Then he ended up starting and playing every game and (New Zealand) got to the second round.
"Then they moved him up immediately to their under-23 team, which would be basically their Olympic group and then moved him up to the full national team."
That Brotherton was assigned to his full national team before playing a match at the U.S. collegiate level is quite rare. Trask checked around and could find only one case in the last 40 years.
"Kids have gotten on their full national team once they got to their university," Trask noted, "but for him to already be in with their full team last summer before he arrived is amazing. It's almost unheard of."
According to Trask, Brotherton has already been offered lower-level professional deals, but his focus is on academics. Brotherton had a 4.0 grade point average his first semester and was close to replicating that in the second. He said he's applied to the UW School of Business with the idea of majoring in finance.
Brotherton, a sturdy 6-foot-1 and 200 pounds, was named to the Big Ten Conference all-freshman team, but felt his overall performance was too inconsistent.
"Personally, I was probably a little disappointed with my form," he said. "I thought it was up and down."
Trask said some of that had to do with adjustments all freshmen have to make to the college life, especially international student-athletes who are making cultural transitions.
For Brotherton that also meant having to play multiple matches in a week — he's used to one — and two international assignments on behalf of New Zealand. One was to China at the beginning of the season. The other was to Oman at the end of the season.
"It just took him a while to get used to it," Trask said.
Brotherton got enough exposure to the college game to measure its differences to the international level.
"College soccer's at a good level, but obviously there's differences in international football that make it a little different," he said.
"You've got some good players at the college level, but obviously going into a national team environment there's seasoned (players) with a lot more experience under their belts."
Brotherton left the U.S. last week happy to be focusing his energies almost exclusively on soccer. After playing for New Zealand, he said he'll return to and play for the Des Moines (Iowa) entry in the Pro Development League, a proving ground for many collegians.
"I think I've got an awesome summer ahead and I just really can't wait for it," Brotherton said.
When Brotherton begins training with the Badgers in August, Trask expects to see a more confident kid with a heightened potential for leadership.
"He's a great kid," Trask said. "He's a competitor. He has the respect of his teammates."
Trask said he's not fond of individual comparisons, but he sees Brotherton having a similar presence — sturdy, left-footed, smart and tenacious — and career arc as AJ Cochran, who was the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and a Hermann Trophy semifinalist for UW in 2013.
"If we can get some clean sheets, he's going to be a big part of that," Trask said of Brotherton. "He really controls our defense."
In the meantime, Brotherton will enjoy seeing the world.
"It's an awesome experience," he said. "I'm very grateful for what soccer's given to me."
Brotherton said he tries to embrace the cultural and social opportunities of each location. He said his most enlightening experience came last year.
"We were in Myanmar and we got the opportunity to work with some of the orphans there and see a different side of the world and just appreciate how fortunate we are," he said.
"Traveling to different corners of the world you get a chance to see how the people live and just it expands our horizons.
"It definitely makes you grateful."
