Bradenton

[davide]

Month of Birth for Bradenton alums/current residents:
JAN: 26
FEB: 14
MAR: 19
APR: 13
MAY: 12
JUN: 12
JUL: 6
AUG: 6
SEP: 4
OCT: 6
NOV: 4
DEC: 1

TOTAL: 123*

*I don't have birth info for the three players that recently joined the program.

Jan: (Greg Martin, DJ Countess, Abe Thompson, Kellen Kalso, gray griffen, David johnson, paul johnson, jordan harvey, hunter freeman, Cameron Lewis, Jose Gomez, Memo Gonzalez, Phil Marfuggi, Adam Hahn, Brandon McDonald, Brandon Owens, Mike Harrington, Jacob Peterson, Jay Singh, Marcus Rein, Carlos Borja, Fernando Ayala, Estuardo Sanchez, Bryant Rueckner, Blake Wagner, Cesar Nunez)

Feb: (Nelson Akwari, Matt Roberts, Alexander Yi, marco rodriquez, mario rodriquez, ford williams, tyson wahl, chefik simo, Drew Harrison, Julian Valentin, Steve Sandbo, Tim Ward, Richard Edgar, Brett King)

Mar: (Raul Rivera, Landon Donovan, Ken Cutler, Seth Trembly, erik forbes, jordan stone, david chun, ed johnson, Jonathan Spector, Eric Vogl, Corey Ashe, Brian Grazier, Ogunsola Olatomiwa, Brian Mascarenhas, Alandus Brooks, Ryan Soroka, Taylor Waspi, Kyle Nakazawa, Jonathan Villanueva)

Apr: (Jordan Cila, Bryan Jackson, Kyle Beckerman, Jamie Watson, Brandon Oot, John Diraimondo, Gregory Folk, Dax McCarty, Evan Newton, Jesse Henderson, Quavas Kirk, Michael Stephens, Matthew Walker)

May: (Filippo Chillemi, Oguchi Onyewu, Ryan Daley, Damarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey, Steve Cronin, Kyle Helton, Nicholas Colaluca, Robbie Rogers, Kevin Alston, Cameron Jordan, Mark Wiltse)

Jun: (Adam schuerman, Adrian Chevannes, Chase Wileman, Freddy Adu, Jordan Graye, Danny Szetela, Mike Balogun, Anthony Ampiatakwong, Ofari Sarkodie, Mike Dalpra, Gabriel Farfan, Michael Farfan)

Jul: (Chris Lancos, Craig Capano, Chris Germani, Nathan Sturgis, Mike Bradley, Adam Sloustcher)

Aug: (Justin Detter, daniel foire, heath pearce, chad marshall, Rodrigo Hildalgo, Jeff Scanella)

Sep: (Peter Withers, Danny Bolin, mike magee, Jeremy Hall)

Oct: (Adolfo Gregorio, zach riffett, santino quaranta, justin mapp, Eddie Gaven, Steven Curfman)

Nov: (josh villalobos, Christian Jimenez, Eric Avila, Eric Lichaj)

Dec: (Kenny Walker)

[numerista]

So the USSF is spending roughly one-third of its resources on kids born in January and February. As far as I know, not a single kid from that group is getting consistent first-team minutes in pro soccer.

From the later months, you've got three national team starters (Beasley, Convey, Donovan), a starter in Belgium (Onyewu), and seven more guys who appear frequently in MLS (Gaven, Ed. Johnson, Beckerman, Adu, Marshall, Magee, Mapp). The later group also includes Steve Cronin, who was named the top keeper at the U-20's, as well as Spector, Szetela, and Adolfo Gregorio.

There are also several recent examples where prospects emerged after having made it as far as a regional youth team, without being selected for Bradenton (e.g. Ricky Lewis, David Stokes, Karbassiyoon, Cooper). All these guys have birthdays after the first couple months of the year. If Ellinger figures out this pattern, he could do a much better job of identifying which kids are worth the big bucks.

[voros]

Awesome. We see here quite clearly that MLS has broken the natural order of things, and that Justin Mapp should be immediately returned to his rightful club, the Dallas Burn. I'll probably be holding a hunger strike or something.
Actually, since the Fire acquired Mapp in a trade from DC, the Burn should get the player Mapp was traded for...

Dema Kovalenko to the Dallas Burn!!