http://union.american-soccer-news.com/?p=2183 Don't know if anyone posted this but it's a very exciting step forward.
To clarify, are these really the Union's U-17's? By that I mean if a true stud emerges from this team can the Union sign them while bypassing the SuperDraft? Or is this team just basically wearing Union jerseys in this tournament?
MY GOD!!!!! (outrage anger disgust) It isn't bad enough that you Songs of Brad or whatever you're called spread your awful foul language at the pro-level but now you're using this kind of language on the Union's CHILDREN team!? I'm going straight to President Obama about this! I'VE HAD IT!
Neither. Kind of. This is a team that was put together just for this tournament from local youth club players; they haven't been training together before the match and presumably won't be training together afterward. But even if the Union had put together a true U-17 residency academy program with dorms and coaches and lovely green soccer fields, it probably wouldn't have done them any good under MLS rules, which require a player to be in a team's academy for (IIRC) 24 months before college to sign them as "homegrown." The Union does have real academy teams for U-8 or so through U-14 or so, but those are "club-neutral" programs, meaning the kids play games with their regular clubs, but also come to the Union program for training and coaching. They've said there will eventually be full-time development teams at the U-15 and U-17 level, but they're not going yet. So this is kind of a stopgap for now, but under MLS rules, having a more "permanent" youth team wouldn't have helped us anyway.
This is the same thing RSL has been doing for several years. Just mesh a bunch of top prospects in their market (and AZ & FL). However RSL just established their actual USSF Academy this year, so any of these current U-17s pan out they should be in RSL's academy and then they can sign them. I am sure Philly Union will probably be in the same situation by this time next year if not sooner. Oh BTW RSL U-17s won this with their "mixed group of youths" in 2008 and went to Spain. So there is hope for Union even this year.
It has been my understanding that in addition to the requirements of (a) living in the team's home area w/ parents for X months and (b) being a member of the club's youth program for X months... that there was also another catch to the whole 'homegrown' rule. Namely, I think once a kid gets capped at U17 or above Youth National Team then he can't be claimed as a 'homegrown' prospect any more. If you have claimed him and THEN he gets YNT capped then he's still yours to have and to hold but you can't claim him after he's capped. At least that's my understanding, hopefully no one here is too shy to correct me if I"m wrong . clicky If that's the case then you really need to be grabbing these kids by 14 years old or so in order to have any time to get a feel for their prospects and claim them prior to their getting a U17 cap.
But if it's 24 months that they have to be in the academy, why didn't the team start an official one soon after being named a new franchise? Wouldn't that have put them into a position to start signing home grown players sometime this upcoming year? Now, maybe that 24 month clock could only start once the team actually existed and was in play (i.e. March 2010). I could see it. But even then, wouldn't you want the academy up and running from day 1, not still setting it up still. There's probably some nuances that I don't understand, but it seems that Union has been dragging their feet on this unnecessarily.
Update: Pos. Group B W L T SO Pts GD 1 Columbus 0 0 1 1 2 0 Seattle 0 0 1 1 2 0 3 FC Dallas 0 0 1 0 1 0 Philadelphia 0 0 1 0 1 0 So Philly tied but lost in the shoot out to Columbus. They face Seattle tomorrow and Dallas on Monday to finish the group.
It is actually 12 months, according to this article by Brian Lewis: http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/soccerblog/mls_expands_roster_loosens_academy_ZMR4yz1khl7pKIAykE3wXN The money quote: "Now, players registered for at least 12 months in an MLS youth program become eligible to sign a professional contract with that team without entering the MLS SuperDraft. That's a significant loosening of the rule..." Also, I've started a general Union youth development thread since there seems to be a lot of interest in this topic. One of the kindly moderators is going to move some of the relevant posts from the past week into that thread. Maybe we could continue the discussion there. I'll copy this post in that thread as well.
I was thinking the exact same thing. MLS must have certain minimal prerequisites that must be in order to create an academy. Practice and game locations, coaches, maybe USSF training BS. Does anyone know how players are selected and what kind of contracts exist between youth players and clubs. Also, will any youth players receive any kind of compensation?
I'm guessing that the brick and mortar and land are going to require financing. That may take time. If nothing else, The Union appears to be establishing relationships with existing youth programs in the area. A necessary long term strategy.
http://www.yscsports.com/learn-it/features/ysc-union-juniors/index.cfm HOW TO SET UP A YSC UNION JUNIORS TRIAL: Interested players should have their club team coach and/or club DOC contact YSC Union Juniors in order to set up a trial for the player. YSC Union Juniors will require a conversation with the coach and/or DOC before accepting anyone for a trial. All requests for trials should be directed to YSC Union Juniors Operations Manager Joe Levan at jlevan@yscsports.com or call 484-678-1432.
If Philly can beat or even draw Dallas they can assure that Cup favorite Dallas doesn't even advance. Thats nice.