I'm definitely not a parent, not old enough yet. I am just relaying information. Peretz has normally hit the nail on the head when it has come to the so cal scene, that is all. Any other questions you will have to ask him/her about. CalBlue also had some posts earlier in this thread talking about our team not looking like they had any ideas when up against a bunkering team. Of course this is all hearsay. I could say I go to all the games and you still would be a little skeptical, right? That's the nature of e-boards. You find posters you trust and the rest you just enjoy. And we aren't through if we win if de anza also wins. We need them to tie or lose and then our win sends us through.
No offence taken. I'm not a complaining parent. My point would be that this squad has, in my opinion, has some of the best player in there age group in the country. Many of the squad were on the winning team last year at U16. McBean, Howe to name two of many. The squad is arguably stronger with people like J Villareal. For me, to lose to De Anaza in a competition is under perfoming and that is Tactics and coaching when you have a better team. Fact is we lost and we shouldn't have. Unfortunately, if De Anza win their last game we come home? De Anza are playing the team we hammered on Monday so that's a worry. On academy: I think Galaxy are going in the right direction but have a long way to go. Final point. McBean was signed after spending 6 months or so in the academy when he was with the U16's. Villareal came from Pat's I think, and also spent very little time with the academy before signing, but cedit for attracting them. Also, for McBean; good progress from training and playing with the professional squad and game time with the academy. We need to have more players go this route.
I feel bad for the other kids, what are they learning by parking the bus for the whole game? Winning means nothing if the kids aren't developing their game properly. Its not as if the Barca youth teams go around Europe winning every competition, in fact they've lost a few by a large margin. They still have many players come through good. Praise them when they do good, teach them to improve their play, and hope the formula provides for the team and the kids. One thing to implement in time is tactical consistency from the academy to the reserve to the first team. Develop a style of play that we want to see our first team perform, starting with the kids.
And the u18s are out. They ended up tying their last game and the last score I saw had de anza up. Let's see how the u16 finish up the tourney. And if you want to see how bad of a loss de anza was, just look at this: There's always another side to this. In a couple years if we end up signing 4-5 players who are giving us major minutes then all this will be forgotten. Hell, this will probably be forgotten in less than a week. But, the pedigree was there to make it to finals week at least. That has to be classified as a disappointment.
Very good point. I think over the season the kids have developed a good passing game and that's good for the longer view you mention. But the tactics are too predictable and if I wanted to win a game I would do what this team did. This is a competition that Galaxy wanted to win. So if you want to win you have to solve the issue of tournament play. We didn't adapt our style and lost the game. We just tied the last game so we head home and will not be going to Huston. seems teams have figured out how to play against us.
The last game was a tie. At least the opposition played against us. Went down to 10 men and that made it tough. Hope the U16's can get through. Again with all that talent (at U18) in the team and frankly the squad, they really should be winning this. There's was something missing in spirit with these kids this week.
New update from galaxy. I wonder what takes them so long to put these out. http://www.lagalaxy.com/news/2012/06/la-galaxy-academy-weekly-update-june-27
Good article highlighting our U-15/16 team... http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Develo...on-LA-Galaxy-Utilizing-Depth-and-Defense.aspx According to this article we're without captain Rolando Munoz for this tournament.
Not Galaxy related really but South Coast Strikers smoked Tottenham in the Milk Cup 7-1. Our youth side has been pretty good the past couple years, though I'm not sure about the current group we sent. Considering we beat them on all levels recently, the bodes well for us possibly.
For people who know a little about our academy this isn't really news but this is a quick synopsis of some of the better young talent on our team. http://www.buzzsprout.com/4890/56918-the-stars-of-the-la-galaxy-academy
I take it that Raul Mendiola, Gyasi Zardes, and Oscar Sorto are our top three HG eligible players. Anyone else developed enough to sign to the 1st team soon?
Nope. Those are definitely the top three I would think. We will have to see as the new DA year unfolds. The roster for the upcoming season of u16 and u18 DA play should be out in a couple weeks and those will allow us to see any new recruits. I do know the Paul Arriola is playing for galaxy this year and he is highly rated. He's from SD and I hope that we can continue to make inroads there because there is a lot of talent in that area. As long as we continue to keep investing in our youth development it will almost be impossible for us to not "fall" into a couple of talents every couple years. Socal is up there with the most talent producing areas of the country and I hope we can eventually get it to rival some of the best in the world. But, the infrastructure and coaches necessary for that are a long ways away. I would love for the Galaxy to eventually have a setup like FC Dallas where they basically signed an agreement with a school district to have their kids days built around training. That way they are able to train multiple times a day and 5 times a week. I would love for that to be the next step in our youth program's evolution, other than developing the "Galaxy" style for development.
The insider blog just posted an article about the developments on new coaching hires. Also, one of our youngsters made residency and hopefully is able to make it to the u17 world cup next year. http://www.lagalaxy.com/blog/post/2...finalize-coaching-staff-muñoz-joins-residency
I've got real mixed feelings about letting Ante Ratface coach our kids. Well, at least it's not El Spitador.
Yea, me too. Of all the players who have played for us I would think we would install a great at least. Why not let Cien take a crack at it since he is already the "technical director" of the u12s and u13s, whatever the hell that is?
Two thoughts: First, you have to find a qualified player who actually wants the job. Many of our best have moved on in their careers or moved out of the area. Second, I think (hope) that Cien as Technical Director has a say in the hiring of age-level coaches. It may be that Cien sees technical and teaching skills in Ratface that we don't. We (or at least I) see Ratface mostly as an arrogant SOB opposing player. And I hold grudges.
I just have to comment on the most recent reserve game lineups. It was just amazing to look at those lineups. It seems like just yesterday that the reserve league was disbanded, and when they did play teams were scrounging for players - we'd have true walk-ons playing like an equipment manager playing. Now take a look. There's a host of first team ready players trying to round into form, backup trying to stay sharp, young kids looking to improve with game minutes. The floating spots are trialists, academy players - actual soccer players. Sure their not world-beaters, but I hope the growth continues. LA Galaxy: Brian Perk, Oscar Sorto^, Andrew Boyens, Tommy Meyer, Bryan Gaul; Christian Wilhelmsson* (Hector Jimenez 58’), Kenney Walker, Rafael Garcia, Michael Stephens (Raul Mendiola^ 70’); Jose Villarreal, Edson Buddle (Jack McBean 46’).Subs Not Used: Brian Rowe, Drew Murphy^.^ - Galaxy Academy Players* - Galaxy Guest/Training PlayerSan Jose Earthquakes: Evan Newton; Jacob Hustedt, Brad Ring, Josh Suggs, Jordan Stewart*; Sam Garza, Mehdi Ballouchy, Khari Stephenson, Elisama Padilla^ (Johnny Knutsen^ 87’); Sercan Guvenisik (Jesse Morales^ 87’), Matt Fondy*.Subs Not Used: David Bingham, Irving Ventura^.^ - Earthquakes Academy Players* - Earthquakes Guest/Training Player
It's clear the Galaxy are pretty high on Oscar Sorto. Hopefully this means we can sign him to a HG contract next season. As long we're having AJ play CB, we don't have a backup to Sean at RB. HG players don't count against the teams cap. So the more guys that we have the are HG, that can contribute when called upon, the more money we have to sign quality players.
What players do you give up on to sign these youngsters, though? Going into this offseason I think the Galaxy will hopefully sign at least 2 and possibly 3 HGs. But, with the roster bursting at its seams as it is, we will have to trade a couple of the young players on the team right now. After the PRI game, I would hate to not allow those guys more of a chance to continue to develop. I wish the roster size is expanded during the offseason but I highly doubt it will happen.
Who says you have to get rid of youngsters? Noonan Keat Jordan Boyens Lopes There is 5 slots right there.
We are talking about Arena, right? You really think he is going to get rid of his cheap veterans and sign only kids as back-ups? I could see maybe 2 or 3 of those guys gone next year but not all of them.
I'd be ecstatic if we cut Lopes & Keat and signed HG Gyasi Zardes & Oscar Sorto in their place. Plus that would give us two IR spots that we could either use or trade.
I'd much rather give any minutes that would have gone to Bryan Jordan to someone from the academy. BJ seems like a great dude, but he's never going to be good enough.
Sadly the writing is already on the wall for him. He hasn't gotten on the bench in a while and doesn't even play in the reserve games when he used to start. Those minutes have probably already gone to other players.
He's a cheep #29-30 guy to have on your team. He trains hard during practice, and is a good locker room guy.
