MLS struggling to get young players on the field, hurting U.S.soccer’s development

http://www.washingtonpost.com/sport...-development/2012/06/11/gJQAK4tjVV_story.html

Here are a few quotes from the article. What are peoples thoughts on this? I posted it here as a) it effects the NT program and b) if I posted it in the MLS forums most responses would have been "well, the MLS is not responsible to the USNT program", which is often the simple responses over there. Some MLS clubs have stepped up and are doing a good job with younger players, but here I'm more interested in talking about the effect it has on the USNT.
Clearly something needs to be done and I'm glad more attention is being payed to the problem, and the more media attention paid towards this issue the quicker we hopefully see some results. I commend the MLS clubs who have resident academies and are investing heavily in those academies, but too many other clubs are simply lacking in this department, but still this doesn't solve the issue that the majority of 19 and 19 yr olds do not have a place to play nearly enough games, and that is really hurting us. The best of the best might find time on an MLS pitch, such as Gil or Kitchen two pick two well known guys, but most hit a wall in their development in KEY development years.

I agree something has to be done and fast! I like how RSL are developing Gil so far so good.

As you said, the best of the best are playing and frankly those are the ones who stand a chance of making it to the USMNT anyways. It's not like if every rookie drafted played 20+ games their first 3 years that we'd get more than one or two marginal USMNT players out of that group beyond the ones who are aleady making a name for themselves...at best, of those who aren't playing regularly already, MAYBE a guy per cycle makes the 23 tickets to "name of WC country goes here" list.

So basically my point of view is this, that MLS is in fact developing our star worthy youngsters, those who aren't getting playing time probably don't deserve it, and will never be much of an impact to the NT in any case.

This. In one thread people throw a fit that scoring a bunch in MLS doesn't mean anything. And now I'm supposed to care about kids who can't even make the cut in the same league. Which is it?

I said it before and i continue to say it... MLS needs to work with the NASL (and maybe USL) to implement their reserve teams in that league.

Instantly, we could have this:

West
1. LA Galaxy II
2. Chivas II
3. SJ Earthquakes II
4. Portland Timbers II
5. Vancouver Whitecaps II
6. Seattle Sounders II
7. Real Salt Lake II
8. Colorado Rapids II
9. Sporting Kansas City II
10. FC Edmonton
11. Los Angeles Blues

South
1. Houston Dynamo II
2. FC Dallas II
3. San Antonio Scorpions
4. Puerto Rico Islanders
5. Atlanta Silverbacks
6. Carolina Railhawks
7. Tampa Bay Rowdies
8. Ft Lauderdale Strikers
9. Antigua Barrucuda
10. Charleston Battery
11. Orlando City SC
12. Wilmington Hammerheads
13. Charlotte Eagles
14. Richmond Kickers

North
1. DC United II
2. Columbus Crew II
3. Chicago Fire II
4. Toronto FC II
5. Montreal Impact II
6. New York Red Bulls II
7. New England Revolution II
8. Philadelphia Union II
9. Minnesota Stars
10. Pittsburgh Riverhounds
11. Rochester Rhinos
12. Dayton Dutch Lions
13. Harrisburg City Islanders
14. Ottawa

however, i envision a system that would promote a safe way for investors to test the MLS market. More, allow teams to cut down on travel costs. Third, allow their young players to get competitive minutes against competitive teams.

If you are good enough you will get minutes. I think the main problem is that most young players just aren't prepared to be pro's in the first place and most don't have the talent to make up for it.

good idea to post it here and not the MLS forums.

in my opinion what is hindering our youth development is that we don't have enough teams across the country for young players to begin their careers. If you look at successful soccer nations a player doesn't have to go very far to join a club that is in the soccer pyramid where there is a clear path to rise up the ladder. So there is a very point A to point B structure there.

but how do most players enter MLS? Through drafts. There is the Super-draft, the re-entry draft, and supplemental draft. This is just dumb and inefficient. It may suit MLS's parity goals but it is regressive for our growth as a soccer nation and our youth development.

Players should either be beginning their careers at lower division clubs or at the youth academies of MLS. And MLS needs to change its policy of not paying transfer fees so we can begin to develop a proper soccer pyramid where the lower division clubs are developers and sellers of talent and the top D1 is the buyer.

I repped you jfalstaff but there is not enough rep for your post.

We need the pyramid for a few reasons one of the major ones being player development.

I do think the draft hinders commitment to development in a way because you're simply handed a couple/few top prospects each year. When you can count on the draft every year, why put as much resources into development/academies as you might if there was no draft and you either had to attract/sign talent, or develop it yourself? It's an outlet other leagues do not have and ultimately it effects our NT player pool, and even though some break through more would and we'd have more to choose from if every club had to rely on developing young talent to the best of their abilities, which they aren't.

And a guy like Salgado. Why the hell can't/won't Van loan him out either here or abroad? There were offers this past winter. I'm skeptical about any MLS/NASL effective partnership given how little they currently work together regarding loans. Gil, a youth NT player and member of RSL obviousy, was loaned to St. Louis his first year as he wasn't going to get much playing time. With Slagado(pre-injury), we have another youth NT player who isn't getting near enough time. He needs to play, and while some may say we he just isn't good enough for playing time now, which might be or not be true, than loan him the F out and expedite the time until he is ready? He'll improve faster that way. Other clubs abroad if a young player can't break in are considerably more willing to send the player out on loans.

And guys like this should be members of our full NT team next cycle.

it's also not fair to the player who, if he wants to play in MLS, must live and play in a city that MLS tells him to. Nowhere else in the world of soccer is this done. Especially not successful soccer nations.

It's a global game and when you tell player X where he must play,what city he will live in, and who owns his rights, before a contract is even signed its no wonder so many young Americans are ditching MLS to go overseas to play in lower division clubs. This is a huge waste of an opportunity. We should be putting money into coaching and developing these players then selling them to Europe and then repeating the process.

The problem is that the players don't have FIFA-style overall ratings hovering over their heads when the manager shows up at practice in the morning so that he knows who is better than who. Player evaluation is imperfect, particularly for young players who aren't playing anywhere and getting a chance to show what they can do.

What a tiered structure would do is allow these guys to actually play in a competitive environment, and not only show their skills to their own coaches (who get to see them in training), but to other coaches who otherwise would virtually never see them.

Look at Chris Wondolowski: he spent five years riding pine with the Dynamo before winding up on the Quakes and suddenly becoming a top scorer and national teamer. Is Dominic Kinnear an idiot who doesn't know soccer talent, or did he simply make an ordinary mistake in evaluating one of his players?

Yes, leaving aside the late bloomers issue, from another perspective, IMO, it is also important to build depth - not necessarily USMNT-caliber players. Maybe they reach it, maybe they don't. Maybe they have a regular career where the peak is to be a full time starter for a bit.

But it creates a culture and a broad standard of quality among American players that is important for filling up the rosters, for being examples of the home-developed player (and as examples, they also show how and what needs to be improved in development based on how they progress), for creating a baseline among American players that can be steadily improved, which will eventually help the USMNT too.

After their playing time is done, they know what the style is, what it takes to become a pro, and they bring those ideas back to their communities and so, now there starts to be a consistent culture where kids grow up with it.

It's the same problem we've been talking about ad naseum for years on the youth boards.

The USSF/MLS is addressing the age levels under 18 via the Development Academy.

However, there's still a "dead zone" for 18-20 year olds. The overwhelming majority of players at that age aren't ready for MLS games, and the college level isn't satisfactory.

It has to be addressed either via the expansion of the reserve league or D2 soccer.

The problem is that the NASL/USL-Pro DOES NOT consider themselves a developmental league for young MLS players. (PDL does) Sure, there are a couple of teams like Harrisburg that do. But for the most part those teams are gonna take 1 or 2 players on loan MAX. There are still some delusional NASL/USL owners that think they're competing with MLS.

It has to come via the expansion of the reserve division in MLS. Everybody knows it.

I noticed no one mentioned that this most recent college draft class was the strongest in a while, and next year should be stronger.

I'm not a huge fan of college soccer and there needs to be a better alternative, but at the moment it's producing the best classes ever. It appears the academies have aided college soccer tremendously.

Nothing is stopping USMNT fans from buying tickets and attending PDL and NASL games, which will financially support those teams, make them stronger, and improve their training/coaching.

I am a season ticket holder for the silverbacks. it isnt the best but its fun.

I think MLS should consider loaning players to the 2nd tier more often and then pulling them back if they need to. it would help the quality of the NASL as well.

Great, important point. It's great what RSL is doing with Luis Gil. You know what else will be great? For the 20 year old Luis Gil to be playing against the best opponents possible. He'll be a better player if (for example) DC United is able to develop Connor Shonoasky to become a solid MLS starter, a Jeff Larentowicz level player. DC doesn't have to develop Connor to be Osvaldo Alonso in order for the Nats to benefit. They just need to produce a solid MLS player who is better than the alternative coming out of college.

It's all about fertilizing the garden. Not every watermelon in the garden is going to be big enough to win a prize at the state fair, but the better job you do tending the garden, the bigger your watermelons are going to be.

One last note...if you asked me to sum up the difference on the field between MLS 2012 and MLS 2002 in one word, that word would be competence. MLS had many incompetent players who started in MLS 2002. Today, unless it's a sub filling in for an injured or rested starter, you don't see very many incompetent starters. Yes, there are more foreigners allowed, but there are many more teams, so the US has made alot of strides in the field of developing competent pros. Obviously, that's not going to win the World Cup, but it was the next step in the process of winning a World Cup, and MLS/the USSF accomplished the mission.

This article is about taking the step after that.

MLS teams would need to figure out how serious they are about the Reserve League. Often teams don't have enough players to field a full squad without guest players so it's understandable why they are reluctant to loan players. Increasing roster sizes would solve both problems but that is not to be expected before a new CBA.

I think the responses in this thread have been terrific. I agree 100% that (1) there aren't enough opportunities for 17-21 year olds to get high level games; and (2) MLS coaches should not necessarily shoulder the blame for that.

It is a complicated situation that will take time to resolve and is slowly getting better. It seems to me young players got more playing time in MLS 6-8 years ago. You know, when the league was crappier. I think it is actually a sign of the league's growing strength that highly touted youngsters are having a hard time cracking the starting 11. This is called progress.

I also think that MLS teams do not have enough incentive to really invest in quality player development. I think if the league loosened the reigns a bit and allowed all homegrown players to be salary-cap exempt forever and to let teams keep more of transfer fees paid for homegrown players, you'd see more teams take development more seriously, and you'd see more players that truly are ready to make an impact in MLS at 18, 19 and 20.

Its really not an issue. MLS has become (compared to when it started) a very good league & in terms of quality can be compared to quite a few european leagues now & has. That being said, how do we expect youngsters that arent ready or dont deserve it to get time in a competitive league. Its not some dreadful league needs every youngster with the slightest potential to play. Truth is, most of the talents coming right out of the youth system & collegiate system arent ready right away & some never will be in terms of being top quality MLS, Europe, or USMNT players. Its not MLS, its just that we arent developing enough youngsters that are actually good enough. Money has something to do with it. Countries a fourth of our population use three fourths the profits we use in developing youth systems (Germany)...

Yeah, I think we are seeing the first wave of players that have spent time some time in a DA. The biggest problem these rookies are having is that they just aren't use to playing games every week for an extended period. I think the draft will be able to provide MLS with very capable players in the future.

...

Again, I don't think it's as bad as many say. If you are good enough you will play. The MLS 'lifer' gets replaced by the more competent and cheaper draft pick that easily.


On to Wondo, He was a stud in the reserve league. People knew about him. That is why San Jose picked him up. Honestly, during the time he was at Houston there were beter players in front of him. Wondo also needs to be played in a specific system to be successful I believe.

I do agree that some type of tiered structure would help players develop. But the League probably needs to raise the salary before that can ever happen.

I'm not so sure about that. In 2004, the following players were among those drafted out of the college ranks by MLS:

Clint Dempsey, Clarence Goodson, Chad Marshall, Ramon Nunez, Seth Stammler, Chris Wingert, Ned Grabavoy, Matt Pickens, Andy Dorman, Jeff Parke, Josh Gros, Jeremiah White, Will Hesmer, Matt Taylor, Olivier Occean, Alan Gordon, Josh Gardner, Ryan Cochrane, Khari Stephenson, Adrian Cann.

In the same year, Vedad Ibisevic left college to join PSG. That's a pretty good showing for one year.

International stars: Clint Dempsey, Vedad Ibišević, Clarence Goodson

Solid MLS (or equivalent) players: Chad Marshall, Chris Wingert, Ned Grabavoy, Matt Pickens, Andy Dorman, Jeff Parke, Will Hesmer, Olivier Occean

Struggling for PT or at lower level: Alan Gordon, Josh Gardner, Khari Stephenson, Adrian Cann, Ramon Nunez, Jeremiah White


This 2012 class could easily reach those levels. There are quite a few guys with really high ceilings and about 18-20 already playing a significant role with their clubs. I expect at least 15 solid MLS starters and 2-3 guys capable of moving to Europe.

We need competition. We need teams acting in their own interest rather than a league acting in every team's interest. The team with the single best situation to mine and exploit youth soccer talent in this country hired Kenny Arena and Chris Klein to run it's youth academy. Uruguay shouldn't have a better U-17 team than the Galaxy much less the U.S. as a whole (granted the Galaxy team wouldn't necessarily be all U.S. eligible players).

But they don't care. Arena isn't judged by player development so he doesn't care, the club doesn't need player sales to fund operations so the owner doesn't care and the league wants to keep things "competitive" so not only do they not care, but they encourage the status quo. And all of the structural improvements you force upon teams is not going to change that. You can't force people to care, all you can do is make it in their interest to...

...and we haven't done that, or at least haven't done it enough to make a difference.

This league is no better now than it was eight years ago. Fewer and fewer US National team players play for it, despite the US National Team being worse than it was eight years ago. The league has doubled in size and the player pool has not. We don't do any better in the Champions League.

The game itself is better, the stadiums, broadcasts, field conditions, etc., but the players and teams aren't any better as a whole.