The Full Autopsy - U23 Qualifying

Peter Bonetti · Nov 18, 2012

Balerion said: ↑

The four-year college players drafted 2012 would have been high school seniors during the inaugural DA season (07-08), so I think it's doubtful that the DA would have made much of an impact.

Some of the GA guys had a little more experience in the DA: Wenger, Rowe, Jean-Baptiste, Hoffman. But the rest of them are international (Mattocks, Dwyer), former U-17s (Polak), didn't play the DA system (Martinez), or were four year players who red-shirted (Garza).

I think it's hard to conclude that the DA specifically had a big impact. Hopefully there will be further improvements in future years with more DA veterans filtering through the ranks -- assuming the DA is doing its job.
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This is the first season that I have seen the DA jump significantly in level of play, and I am only judging from the division where I live. I have no idea what has been going on in the rest of the country. To be honest, I was disappointed in the level of play of a lot of DAs at first. It has taken a while for it to improve and it will continue to be a work in progress. One thing that I will say is that I think that it was the right thing to do at the time. Both club and high school soccer were hodge-podges with no accountability and no way to systematically move people forward. I kind of see the DA as a similar concept to Bradenton. It isn't ideal, but it is the best solution at the time for us. Eventually, just like Bradenton will probably make way for the DA within the next few years, the DA will make way for a better solution down the road. But for now, the DA is the best solution we have.

Clint Eastwood · Nov 18, 2012

Peter Bonetti said: ↑

This is the first season that I have seen the DA jump significantly in level of play, and I am only judging from the division where I live. I have no idea what has been going on in the rest of the country. To be honest, I was disappointed in the level of play of a lot of DAs at first. It has taken a while for it to improve and it will continue to be a work in progress. One thing that I will say is that I think that it was the right thing to do at the time. Both club and high school soccer were hodge-podges with no accountability and no way to systematically move people forward. I kind of see the DA as a similar concept to Bradenton. It isn't ideal, but it is the best solution at the time for us. Eventually, just like Bradenton will probably make way for the DA within the next few years, the DA will make way for a better solution down the road. But for now, the DA is the best solution we have.
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The level down here in Texas jumped last year.
However, we've still got the have's and the have not's amongst the Texas teams. Just take a guess which Texas teams are ahead in the U17/18 division right now? It's FCD, Dallas Texans and Solar that are the best.............with the Houston teams in the middle............and Lonestar/Andromeda/Classics Elite brining up the rear. Surprise, surprise!

This season is a little more interesting with the Colorado teams plus SKC joining in the fun. So far they're doing more than holding their own.

What's interesting, of course, is that the group of players we're discussing in this thread (the failed U23s) didn't come up thru the development academy for the most part. And if they did, it was a new experience.

The group we're looking at with the U20's right now, what we can call the "next generation" is heavily influenced by the development academy. And with the U18's it's even more severe (21 of the 24 man roster at the currently running U18 camp).

I'm not of the opinion that 21 of the best 24 U18s in the country are at DA teams. But kids at these programs, particularly the MLS ones, can get heavily scouted.