http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...-become-latest-mls-franchise-launch-u-23-team The team will not be in a league this year but will play games and tournaments from mid-May through mid-July. That includes the Copa Alianza at HASP May 24-26 and the U-23 Cup in Horsham, PA in June. The team will be coached by James Clarkson, assisted by Eddie Robinson and Tom Harris. Confirmed players: Goalkeeper Fernando Pina (Akron), defender Alex Ochoa (West Virginia), and midfielders Bryan Celis (Kentucky), Christian Diaz (West Virginia), Juan Lopez (Purdue Calumet) and Miguel Zapata (Houston Baptist).
Btw, I'm very curious to see how Pina has grown up at Akron. Kid was great while in the Academy. Hopefully he's learned more and will be ready in another year or two.
I don't know about this. I think college soccer players lose their eligibility if they play with professionals. They can play against them but not on a team with them. NCAA rule: Not clear to me if this team would be considered professional if it has some professional players on it.
The PDL league allows teams to have professional players but if they do they are in the PDL-Pro category and cannot have active NCAA players on the same team.
Hmmm. It is hard to find a list. These teams are for sure: Kitsap Pumas Whitecaps FC Residency Houston Dutch Lions Laredo Heat apparently was in the past. It is not clear whether they still are or not.
Thanks New, much appreciated...do you think that there is any chance that the Dynamo might take this new U23 program into the NPSL next season?
PDL is more likely. That's where most of the other MLS teams have gone. Montreal Impact U23 Orlando City U23 Chicago Fire Premier Portland Timbers U23 Seattle Sounders FC U23 Vancouver Whitecaps Residency San Jose Earthquakes U23 A couple have went NSPL: New York Red Bulls U23 DC United Academy U23 BTW, apparently the MLS affiliated teams do not go PDL-Pro because they want to remain an option for their home-grown players to come back from college and play during the summer. Vancouver is an exception since the Canadian colleges do not have the same rule as the NCAA.
In NCAA mens and womens tennis players can easily play in pro tournaments and still retian their eligibility. So with NCAA soccer players it is a gray area as it appeared the NCAA moved away from treating soccer like gridiron or basketball about 7 years ago. Having more U-23 type set ups around our nation should make it easier for these guys to get more games in over making things MORE challenging for them to play all year round.
http://www.scotsman.com/sport/football/latest/dundee-working-on-everton-partnership-1-3379699 i dont remember dundee and houston ever saying anything publicly about cooperating when it comes to youth players
Apparently Dynamo Juniors of Central Texas has a partnership with Dundee. http://www.djct.org/about/DJCTPartners/index_E.html That appears to be the only connection between the Dynamo and Dundee FC. Those Dynamo Juniors organizations are affiliated with the Dynamo but not owned or directly controlled by the MLS club.
This is really exciting and if used properly could really help the first team. However, I do have some questions (which are pretty similar to those above), so please excuse my ignorance. Does this now mean that a youth academy player can forgo college soccer to stay in the system year round? Are these players getting paid or is housing taken care of since they are "almost" professionals? (I'm assuming that they don't get paid). How does this impact our connection with Pittsburgh (who by the way are massively bankrupt, as stated by soccer america)? Are we going to be sending less players since we can now keep them close and give them play time (aka, Salazar)? Can we sign players specifically to play for this age group and if they pan out they can then be moved to the first team? Last one, does this mean Jozy can come and play for our U20-somethings too? Joking. But kinda serious. Thanks.
I don't know all the rules but here is my understanding: 1. A kid could forgo college all along. But most chose to get an education on scholarship. This U-23 team only plays for a few months in the summer. This is not a residential system. Some of the players on these types of teams are not in college but they would have to have some way to support themselves. 2. It is likely that the Dynamo U23 will stay an amateur team so that the players can keep their college eligibility. That means players can not receive "compensation that exceeds actual and necessary expenses (such as travel or lodging, etc.) when competing as an amateur." Which means housing and meals when not traveling would not be allowed. 3. The Pittsburgh Riverhounds are not "massively bankrupt". They are reorganizing their stadium debt. They seem to be functioning on a day-to-day basis. Our affiliation with Pittsburgh only involves loaning them players that are on our professional roster. This U23 team, being amateurs, should have no bearing on that. 4. Our affiliation deal with Pittsburgh is for 4 players. That amount seems set no matter what we do with a U23 team. As said above, these are completely different players. 5. Players will be signed to the U23 team, not to the senior Dynamo team. If we want them on the senior team we would have to offer them a contract subject to the MLS rules and salary cap. If they can be considered "home grown" players then that has less impact on the cap. Signing them to a pro contract would make them ineligible for the U23. 6. Jozy Altidore is professional player. If he was added to our U23 team then he would make all of the current college players ineligible.
Your reply is greatly appreciated, and clears up alot. As for my Jozy comment, he played for the U21's at Sunderland last week (sadly) because he is in the doghouse / "hurt". Other countries use their youth academies to give 1st team players who are rehabbing play time, like Stu (also sad). I guess this would be out of the picture based on the way everything is run. I'm also assuming that the difference between our U23's and the Galaxy II would be that they are getting paid and can have overage players? This may be out of the scope of the Dynamo, but can a Galaxy II player play for the Galaxy I under their current contract or would they need to sign with first team before making an appearance? I'm also assuming that a Galaxy I player can play for the II's like we send players to Pitt? Whatever the rules are with the U23's it seems like a big step in the right direction. I would be concerned that if you have too many rules the Dynamo really aren't getting enough "bang for their buck."
The Galaxy II team is a USL Pro team, not a U23/PDL/NPSL team. USL Pro teams are fully professional. That last line is the heart of it. The Galaxy I can loan players to Galaxy II just like we loan players to Pittsburgh. For a MLS team to use a USL Pro player in a MLS match they would have to sign that player to a MLS contract, it doesn't matter if they own the USL Pro team or just affiliate with them. The non-loaned players on Galaxy II are just like the non-Dynamo players on Pittsburgh as far as availability in MLS matches. The primary advantage of owning these PDL/NPSL and USL Pro teams is that the team controls the development of players. And, in the case of the USL Pro, to function as reserve league. It is not a backdoor way of adding more active depth to the MLS team or sneaking guys in around the cap. All MLS players are signed to contracts with MLS. Just because you sign a guy to a U23 or USL Pro contract doesn't mean that you can automatically use that player in MLS matches.