http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club-soccer-articles/boys-commits:-april-26_aid24218 Some interesting commitments from DA stars were just announced. Trevor Haberkorn, defender on Solar and the US U18s, has committed to Furman. He's ranked as the 15th best 2013 according to TDS. Big-time "get" for Furman. Derek Vogel, a defender on Pateadores & recent U20 camp invitee, is going to the Naval academy. Interesting................. Other players in the article.
http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school...5828/hard-working-howe-delivers-for-la-galaxy An article from ESPN Rise about LA Galaxy U18 midfielder Grady Howe.
Article about Fire's academy teams dominating the great lakes division... http://www.socceramerica.com/article/46471/chicago-fire-is-on-roll.html They got some interesting prospects like Pineda, Gulley, Andrew Oliver.
I think that's a pretty accurate description of his play. The one technical area he needs to improve on is getting the ball off his feet more quickly, but I would guess he's been made aware of that.
Thought I'd mention that Furman just got another top recruit from the Dallas area. Tony Santibanez, a kid who was recently training with Club America in Mexico, has committed to them. Not really DA related I guess, but I thought it was interesting. He plays for AYSES, which is one of the top non-DA clubs in DFW. He's also one of the Dallas finalists of MLS Sueno right now............ http://espn.go.com/blog/dallas/soccer/tag/_/name/sueno-mls-2012 THis is one of the long list of kids down here that soccerphiles now about in DFW, that aren't in the DA. He has a long list of accomplishments in high school and non-DA club ball.
Grady is a great player. It helps that he is heading to UCLA and that means Soto, as usual with UCLA bound players, favours him as well. It's a pity Grady can not stay with the Galaxy. I fear he is one of those players who will not get better at college level and that would be a shame. I hope he proves me wrong and he thrives and comes back in a few yeas the complete player. He has huge potential. development point for him; get the ball away quicker - get's caught in possession. Not every ball has to go side ways or less than 15 feet - needs to learn that a cross field ball can change the play and that a defense splitting ball is also a good thing to have in you armoury.
Got to watch a bunch of future Bruins square off in Casa Grande today. Galaxy vs RSL 18's. Nagy on RSL, played mid, hard tackle immediately on Grady, foul, no yellow, all good after that. Javan, Grady, Nate, Juan all in for Galaxy. Tight game for the first 25 minutes, advantage LA for sure, LA went up 1-0. RSL got it back shortly after, then added 2 more to win 3-1. Interesting game, Javan ia a true leader, offers a lot of feedback to his teamates, mostly very positive from what I could hear. Grady played well, I agree with the comments earlier about his game, definitely works hard on the field, generally positioned well. Botttom line, should be an interesting camp at UCLA when this crew shows up (with Holden). NO Mario for LA, word is he is in Europe, maybe no UCLA after all?
anyone know what happened to manneh kekuta the scoring phenom on lonestar 18's? he has been delisted from roster.
No Tilley? This is amazing! One of the most talented center backs at his age and some how a lad who was touted as a potential home grown is not playing! Anyone know what's going on? Mario has been looking to go to Europe for some time. Good luck to him as I think Soto has demotivated many of those kids. As I have said before - that talent should never loose a game.
He is still on LAG roster. I'll talk to his dad this week - find out what's up! I know he went to Spain a few weeks ago and I know West Coast played this week and he wasn't there.
Soto coaching on the Galaxy youth staff is sketchy in the first place. How many recruiting violations does he rack up on a daily basis?
Yes, Soto seems to have the knack of sailing close to the wind. He also is not a good motivator. Last year he took over a team that was over performing and turned them into a bad team. This year he has about 16 of the countries best young players and they are underperforming and seemly play worse every time I get to see them. I expected these kids to sweep this year (I know winning isn't everything) but they seem to beat the easier academies and struggle against the MLS teams.
Proud of the RSL 18 team. They have been working hard and playing good soccer all year just not getting the goals. I knew as soon as they did they would be a top team. Just flat out dominated the number one ranked 18 team in the country winning two games a combined 7 to 2. Well done boys! The 16s struggled and held on for a tie in the second game. Sad to say my boy was not ablle to play with a knock on the knee but will be back next week against Seattle. Props to the coaches for not playing him even though he was begging to get in the game . Some RSL pride here with both ages groups currently number 1 in So Cal divsion .
Well done RSL. Makes my point that our coach is getting it wrong with our U18's. He is taking great potential and bringing then down. Question is, will LAG get rid of the coach? They can not allow him to ruin this golden bunch.
Depends.................. Sheer results aren't the primary goal of youth academies. Does the LAG brass feel he is developing the players in the proper manner? That's the question...................
Come on!! He's a good player... but great?? If he was not UCLA bound I doubt that he would be getting as much playtime / attention. Soto favors UCLA players to the point that if you are not going to UCLA (or being recruited by them), you will probably not start or get much playtime. So? how is he great when... as you stated he likes to play the ball sideways (usually backwards), does not pass more than 10-15 feet, does not get rid of the ball quicker etc etc. He works hard but so do a lot of other players on that team. On your other post regarding why Tilley is not playing - he played center mid and defense on the 18's last year. Why is he not playing this year? Answer is very simple. Those positions are filled by UCLA players - Tilley commited to another college.
Oh noooooo, not the dreaded recruiting violations....jeez the NCAA is annoying. At the U18 level teams that have the better players should be winning almost all the games. At that point in development, if you have a team of players that is highly rated, and the other team didn't win of just a soft goal or countering. The players are either mentally weak or the coach isn't up to snuff.
The Galaxy-UCLA relationship is very troubling. I've heard that several '95s will commit late (if it isn't UCLA) for fear that their playing time will be drastically reduced once Soto & Co. finds out they're not headed to UCLA.
Wow, well that's a little embarrassing. I wonder what the galaxy's plan is to change this obvious conflict of interest. How long have the galaxy and ucla coaches worked together?
The Galaxy aren't the only DA club with this issue. The coach of Seacoast United's U18s is the UNH head coach. Granted, Seacoast isn't nearly on the same level as LA and UNH isn't UCLA, but UNH is the closest DI program to the club and many Seacoast players go on to play there. I'm guessing this happens at other DA clubs as well. It doesn't seem right. Just going through the another local DA club FC Greater Boston Bolts. Their U18s are coached by Franklin Pierce University's head coach. I'm sure this list goes on and on.
Good points. Grady is good, maybe great is too much, but he does have potential. Let's see if he gets many starts when he is at UCLA. Your probably right about Tilley. He's off to UCI.
Development of players for the club is the goal. At present the club have signed Jack; Soto had nothing to do with that. Also Villareal (Pat's / southbay), no development LAG and I suspect Wada will be next, but again this is a kid from another club (Arsenal). Attracting talent has done more than the coaching staff to-date.
Wow indeed!! Very worrying and I heard that a few of the U18's also did this. It seems now they are committed else where they didn't play as much. One example was Sean Dhillon leaving the club.