fullname clubs birth_place nationalteam height position nationalcaps nationalyears birth_date article_title name nationalgoals
albert ferdinand zerhusen los angeles kickers brooklyn , new york , united states united states 6 0 midfielder 10 1956-1965 4 december 1931 al zerhusen
 al zerhusen 2
al zerhusen

al zerhusen -lrb- born december 4 , 1931 in brooklyn , new york -rrb- is a former u.s. soccer midfielder who played extensively for the u.s. national team .
he is a member of the national soccer hall of fame .
when zerhusen was five , his family moved from new york to germany where he learned to play soccer .
he moved back to the u.s. in 1950 and settled in cincinnati , ohio .
however , he was soon after drafted into the army .
after a period stationed in germany , zerhusen was transferred back to a base in cincinnati .
in 1954 , he played for the armed forces soccer team in cincinnati .
at the time soccer was not a truly professional sport in the u.s. so when zerhusen left the army , he remained an amateur with the cincinnati kolping soccer club .
in 1956 , he was selected for the u.s. team which competed in the 1956 summer olympics .
the olympic tournament in 1956 was single game elimination and the u.s. lost 9-1 to yugoslavia in the first game , zerhusen scoring for the u.s. however , in preparation for the games , the u.s. had played several exhibition matches and zerhusen scored seventeen goals in nine games leading up to the olympics .
while many sources show zerhusen 's national team career beginning in 1954 , none of the u.s. games played during this year are counted by ussf or fifa as full internationals .
it was n't until the april 7 , 1957 6-0 thrashing at the hands of mexico in a 1958 world cup qualifier that zerhusen earned his first official cap with the u.s. national team .
after losing all four qualifying games , two to mexico and two to canada , the next u.s. game was an 8-1 loss to england in 1959 .
however , that year saw greater success for the u.s. at the pan american games .
in the 1959 pan american games , the u.s. took the bronze behind ten goals by zerhusen , including four goals in the game against haiti .
a month later the u.s. began qualifications for the 1960 summer olympics , but was quickly eliminated with a loss and a tie to mexico .
in 1960 , zerhusen scored his only goal in a full international when he tied mexico 3-3 in a 1962 fifa world cup qualifier .
however , mexico won the game in mexico and the u.s. had yet again failed to qualify for a major tournament .
zerhusen continued to play for the u.s. into 1965 , earning a total of nine caps , but never again scoring .
by this time , zerhusen had established himself as one of the top amateur midfielders in the u.s. .
he was the captain of the los angeles kickers for ten years .
in both 1958 and 1964 , the kickers won the national challenge cup .
the kickers also made it to the 1960 national cup finals , but fell to the ukrainian nationals that year .
in 1961 , zerhusen was with the los angeles scots who also fell to the ukrainian nationals in the title series .
the scots lost 7-4 on aggregate , with zerhusen scoring all four of the scots ' goals .
over his years with the kickers and the scots , zerhusen was the greater los angeles soccer league 's leading scorer 13 times .
in 1978 , zerhusen was inducted into the national soccer hall of fame .
he is still active as the director of the los angeles soccer club .
he also coaches several of the club 's teams .
