New possible homegrowns?

Discussion in 'MLS: Youth & Development' started by ATLGunner, Dec 1, 2009.

  1. ATLGunner

    ATLGunner Member

    May 8, 2005
    Atlanta
    Anybody have some possibilities of who is to come? The changing of the rules seems to mean we will see more. Here are the ones I know.

    RSL:
    James Rogers: young, short, but has been lightening for RSL. Probably too young.
    Okita(sp): 18 or 19 at a JC, athletic striker
    Saldana: Had a good summer in Europe with the team. About 18.

    NY:
    Matt Kassel: the obvious option, M from Maryland. Maybe could get a call in 2010 since Agudelo was 09.
    Walter Hines: Hasn't been great with St. Johns

    Dallas:
    London Woodberry: Think he went to Maryland and haven't heard anything about him.
    Luna: Has been fantastic, but I doubt Hyndman wants yet another youngster.

    Columbus Crew:
    Michael Green: Has been great with New Mexico. This would be logical.
    Ben Speas: Big recruit for Akron. Been on a fantastic team, nearby still.

    LA Galaxy:
    I remember they had two very good wingers, but the way Bowen has been buried, I don't know if they would consider a call up.

    So who can fill in the many many gaps?
     
  2. Stan Collins

    Stan Collins Member+

    Feb 26, 1999
    Silver Spring, MD
    Keep in mind that because these players aren't necessarily projected to play right away, they may well not tend to be signed on the normal season schedule--i.e. guys may get signed late in the season like Hamid, Chirgadze, and Leyva were.

    They signed Chirgadze for '09. Haven't signed Agudelo yet AFAIK, and he's younger than the rest of them.
    Kassel will be an interesting case study because right now he looks like an OK MLS player but not much more. Is there much motivation to sign a guy who probably won't ever be either a dominant player or a big transfer?

    He was a frosh this season and didn't get a whole lot of PT. Tune in next year.
    Probably right. A little young and a little small to get signed this season. He's on the FCD U18s now, playing with somewhat older kids, so we'll see how he finishes out at that level (though I thought he should have spent most of his time at that level last year, kid was just too damn good for U16s).

    Gotten some PT, but not a main player on a powerhouse Akron team. I suspect he'll be there another year.

    --

    Closest player for DC United is probably Samir Badr. . . problem is he's a goalkeeper, and DCU just signed one of those, Bill Hamid. So I don't know. In a year, maybe Michael Funes and/or Julio Arjona might be ready to get signed, but probably not this year. Andy Najar is a couple years away.
     
  3. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Buzz would know more, but I thought Victor Ulloa was one to keep an eye on for FCD. If I remember correctly......Leyva, Luna, and Ulloa all practiced with the FCD first team on ocassion last season. I don't know if any of those 3 are eligible for the US youth programs, and sometimes those kids fly under the radar nationally.

    The FC Dallas academy competes with some of the best youth clubs in the country for talent. In the recent Soccer America article ranking the top 40 youth programs in the country............4 of the top 15 were in North Texas.

    1. Baltimore Bays Maryland
    2. Dallas Texans North Texas
    3. Michigan Wolves Michigan
    4. PDA New Jersey
    5. Andromeda SC North Texas
    6. LAFC Chelsea California-South
    7. CASL North Carolina
    8. Arsenal FC California-South
    9. Carmel United Indiana
    10. FC Delco Eastern Pennsylvania
    11. Chicago Magic Illinois
    12. Solar SC North Texas
    13. Chicago Fire Illinois
    14. Real Colorado Colorado
    15. FC Dallas North Texas

    All 4 of those clubs are in the Dallas area, and FCD is ranked below the other three. Hopefully, the allure of working with the MLS club will funnel the talented kids in that direction. And that's more likely to happen if more kids like Leyva are signed by the team, and get playing time.
     
  4. SonicDeathMonkey

    Atlanta United
    Jun 24, 2008
    Conyers, Ga.
    Club:
    Fulham FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  5. boomersooner027

    May 13, 2004
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    Bahamas
    Ruben Luna will be the next FCD homegrown, it's just a matter of time.
     
  6. Werdman89

    Werdman89 Member+

    May 27, 2008
    Boston, MA
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  7. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    This is already happening as FCD Juniors is by far the best team for U16's and U18's and now this year have added the U15's which is actually a U14 team playing up getting ready to be the new core of the next group of U16's. I think FCD is also doing well at the pre-select league academy level and the first few years of select. Wait a few more years and they will be the top team at all levels.
     
  8. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Now that Koroma has left Bradenton, are there any rumors that he could be joining the FCD youth program? I believe he's been Solar until now.............
     
  9. pwip

    pwip Member

    Jul 10, 2004
    Dallas
    I don't think so. he's planning to play with South Lake Carroll per the Star Telegram article. Can't play with FCD if you play high school soccer. I suspect he may rejoin the Solar Adacemy team. head coach for Carroll is a Solar coach also.
     
  10. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Let's be honest. That makes little sense. If he's the type of elite prospect we think he is.........he shouldn't be playing for South Lake Carroll.
     
  11. pwip

    pwip Member

    Jul 10, 2004
    Dallas
    Well, so far the question have been pretty softball. I chuckled at the quotes from the SLC and Marcus coaches like they just got a cross town transfer. I think one consensus we are hearing from the Bradenton experience. You give up your childhood to be there. Can only stand the lockdown culture for so long.
     
  12. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Pretty much. We have set up as close to a professional training facility down there as we can get...........and expect a kid like Koroma to "grow-up" real fast. When Koroma got there he was what? 14? It's a tough adjustment going from your junior-high existence of school, Lite-Bright, and pizza.......to a professional soccer environment. Not everybody can handle it.

    But hey, kids still have a great opportunity to suceed outside of Bradenton. Plenty of ways to skin a cat. I'm just surprised he'd be at a high school team, as opposed to one of the elite club teams in the area. (Solar, etc.)
     
  13. boomersooner027

    May 13, 2004
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    Bahamas
    Let him have a conversation or two with Oscar and he'll be playing for FCD in no time :D
     
  14. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    PWIP started a rumor that a certain former Bradenton U17 will be starting shortly with FCD juniors.............

    But he didn't tell us who? :)
     
  15. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
  16. USvsIRELAND

    USvsIRELAND Member+

    Jul 19, 2004
    ATL
    According to 3rdegree.net Ruben Luna has been training with FCD:

    http://www.3rddegree.net/2010/02/03/practice-observations-kick-start/
     
  17. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Luna could be next. If I remember correctly, Buzz reported lat year that Leyva, Ulloa, and Luna were all practicing with the first team at times. And they didn't look out of place.

    Leyva got good reviews from his performance in the first FCD scrimmage against Memphis this past weekend.

    Let's be honest. Pareja and FCD are doing something right. First off, they're clearly doing their homework with regards to the Mexican/hispanic community in DFW. I mean, take a look at their U18 roster:

    http://web.mlsnet.com/t104/youth/juniors/u18.jsp

    Every single US youth team seems to have kids from FCD Juniors involved....and now we've got one of their kids playing for Mexico youth teams. They're doing an impressive job. If they can actually grab the top young talent in the area away from the other really good youth programs in the metroplex (Dallas Texans, Andromeda, Solar, etc.)......this could become a youth soccer powerhouse real fast. And one of the ways to grab those kids is to have a couple of them "graduate" to FCD in a high-profile manner. And if those kids continue to play with FCD......perhaps it's a way to recapture the hispanic community back to PHP.
     
  18. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
  19. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
  20. yellowbismark

    yellowbismark Member+

    Nov 7, 2000
    San Diego, CA
    Club:
    Club Tijuana
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I don't know much about these youngins but it seems Dallas and New York are churning out players at a blistering pace...

    are there any other MLS teams besides these two bustling with academy players?
     
  21. PhillyMLS

    PhillyMLS Member+

    Oct 24, 2000
    SE PA
    Both DC and Houston have players from their youth academies trialing right now. DC has Andy Najar, who turns 17 this year, playing in matches and Houston has Francisco Navas, a 17 year old, playing in preseason matches.
     
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  22. thetank123

    thetank123 Member

    Dec 28, 2009
    Washington has some very good players coming out of their Academy systems (all of whom probably would have played for the Sounders if it existed). At least 6 will be either on Crossfire or the Sounders FC Academy team come next year.

    Palodichuck, Troy Peterson, Ugo Okoli and Jacob Bechtel are all top 60 TDS for 2011 and play for WPFC (which is folding into Sounders Academy).

    DeAndre Yedlin (top 20 TDS) plays for Crossfire and will be playing with the Crossfire PDL team this summer.
     
  23. boomersooner027

    May 13, 2004
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    Bahamas
    Ruben Luna scored two more goals for the first team today in a friendly vs UCF in Orlando.

    Hell it speaks volumes that Luna was even taken to Orlando.
     
  24. AeroNaught

    AeroNaught Member+

    Atlanta United
    Feb 14, 2007
    Birmingham, AL
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Doesn't Colorado have a good youth team/reserve setup as well? I remember back in the days of the Reserve League they won the title a couple times, and many of those players are now playing first team ball.
     

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