Miles Byass is a U.S. Soccer youth national team player, a former Top 100 club prospect and a two-time member of the Discover Europe travel squad.

His weekly blog is an open and honest take on his thoughts during the ups and downs of his freshman year at San Diego State.

Today, we learn about Miles’ odd affinity for the defenders who have the task of stopping him.  

See here, for last week’s entry on the ‘pain of losing.’

Defenders grow up knowing they won't be getting much glory. They will do all the dirty work with the knowledge that people will only remember when a striker scores. That's what will be on the highlight reels - the game-winning goal.

Why is the goal “game-winning?” Why isn't the tackle the center back made in the 89th minute the “game-winning” tackle that's all over YouTube? Soccer players and spectators need to realize that just because someone scores the game-winning goal doesn't mean they should automatically be player of the match. A goal takes one second to score but a winning performance takes 90 minutes.

A striker can miss nine breakaways, score one and still have a so-called “game-changing” performance. On the other hand, if a center back gets beat once out of 10 times and the other team scores, then they lost the game for their team. Never mind that the center back came up big-time when his striker couldn't finish nine times; we look at that one time that "lost the game" - that one second, one mishap or perhaps one slip from the center back that led to the goal.

We won’t even think to blame the striker that messed up nine times or applaud the center back who was perfect nine times. Am I the only person that thinks there is something wrong with this view on game performances?

I have had this argument many times with my friend Lee Nishanian, a center back from my club team growing up. We used to talk for hours, defending our personal positions. He didn't believe I deserved so much credit just for scoring while he played underrated positions his whole life – he started as a goalkeeper then changed to a center back. We both came to the conclusion that goalkeepers deserve the most recognition and glory, just above center backs. I'm sticking with that conclusion throughout college soccer.

This past Sunday my school beat Stanford 1-0 and I happened to make the right run at the right time to score the goal that people see as the winning goal. I was recognized as player of the match for that game, and in my mind that was wrong. Everyone seems to forget all the hard work both center backs put in. They forgot the fact that Daniel Steres put in countless battles in the air to win headers and Tyrone Martin injured himself in the last 30 seconds trying to ensure we would win. The fact of the matter is that defenders are underrated and deserve more glory and recognition.

I know this is weird coming from a striker but I have a weird relationship with defenders. I love them and hate them at the same time. I hate them when they stop me from doing my job on the field (scoring) but have a certain type of admiration when I'm 1v1 with a defender and he hits me with a beautifully crafted slide tackle to win the ball. It’s the type of admiration that makes you get up and say ‘good tackle’ to the enemy. It leaves you with that bittersweet feeling of a loss, but not completely, because you know someone was just doing their job superbly.

In the end, all players have to do their job and should be credited the same. My good friend and college roommate, Memo Licona, asked me why I thought professional strikers were paid more than defenders. I told him simply, ‘because strikers get more recognition.’

If I'm the only person that thinks this is wrong then shun me from the world, but all I want is for defenders to be recognized a little bit more and get the respect they deserve. That's all.