2018-19 Development Academy

Discussion in 'Youth National Teams' started by TheFalseNine, Jul 17, 2018.

  1. ussoccer97531

    ussoccer97531 Member+

    Oct 12, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    There weren't enough games from this weekend for a write up of those games. There weren't that many games involving the big academies the week prior.

    April 13-14 weekend:

    Brooklyn Raines ('05) played the full game for Barca U-15's in the Saturday and Sunday games. He's played 14 games (10 starts) this season for a U-15 team that is almost all 04's. He is one of the more hyped 05's early on. Will he stay at Barca or move to one of the MLS academies? Brian McManus ('05) played nine minutes off the bench in the Saturday game, and played 63 minutes in the Sunday game. He has played 8 games this season (3 starts).

    Matthew Hoppe ('01) had a double in a 10-0 win. He now has 26 goals in 19 games, and still leads the U-19 division in goals. Arjan Dosanjh ('00) had four goals in the Saturday 10-0 win and then scored another in a 4-0 win on Sunday. He has 9 goals in 15 games (6 starts). He's listed as a defender, but that may be inaccurate.

    Barca does not often promote players from younger age groups. From what I can tell, the only player to play up in either the U-19 or U-17 age groups this season is Caden Clark ('03). Clark got his first two appearances playing up two years in the U-19 team. He played 90 minutes in the Saturday game and 21 minutes in the Sunday game. Clark has some caps in his YNT age group.

    Brendan Lambe ('04) started and played the whole game for North Carolina FC U-17's. He's played almost all season in the U-17's. He has played 18 games (15 starts) for the U-17's playing up a year. He's been a regular in his YNT age group in CM.

    Micah Burton ('06) played 25 minutes off the bench for the Minnesota United U-15's playing up two years. This was his second appearance for the U-15's. There's a player on the U-15's, Chex, who I believe is his brother. Christopher Vang ('05) played the first half for the U-15's playing up a year. He has played five games for the U-15's this season.
     
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  2. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    #877 Clint Eastwood, Apr 22, 2019
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2019
    I think we're all basically on the same page. The overwhelming majority of American youngsters can't move to Europe or Mexico or wherever until they're 18. So they'll need to be developed in the US during their most formative years. Its not that we shouldn't outsource player development................WE CAN'T! I remember reading an article in 4-4-2 with Brazilian and Dutch youth development experts. They indicated that 12-14 is the most important period for development. Well, we can't outsource that to Germany. Its just bizarre to me that a player like Weston McKennie plays at FCD for 7 seasons, including that most important age group. He's at Schalke for 1 year prior to his first team debut. Some folks give zero credit to FCD, and just intimate that he's good because Schalke sprinkled their magical European pixie dust on him. And when you call them on it, they say "Oh well, Weston did play in Germany from the ages of 6-9. That's why he's so good." Total nonsense.....................

    Its fine that some of our best prospects move to "big leagues" when they're 18. That's as true for the US as it is for countries like Japan, Croatia, Belgium, etc.

    It's a GOOD thing that players such as Mendez and Llanez are coveted by Bundesliga teams. That's what we want. What was poor about that situation is that the Galaxy got no return on their investment. We should want these transfers from now on to follow the Chris Richards model. Even though he never played for the FCD first team, they got paid. [Before Chris Richards, we could called it the Richard Sanchez model.] And Euro clubs are used to paying for these types of prospects as they have to do it for every prospect they grab from a Belgium or Croatia or Uruguay or wherever. You don't get players from those countries for free.

    [And of course what's even more grotesque is that while Galaxy got no return................the Kleibans did want to get a financial return. Brian steered him to his agent brother, who now hopes for a big money contract extension from these clubs. Talk about a conflict of interest.]

    And as our league, academies, reserve teams, etc. continue to grow and develop..............more and more kids are going to stay in the league longer. There will be more and more of the Tyler Adams/Alphonso Davies success stories. Maybe Pomykal will be the next one.

    There's no question that folks have an unfounded inferiority complex. And there are unquestionably success stories for young American players in Europe. But we kind of sweep all of the bad experiences under the rug. For every Christian Pulisic there are two Junior Flores'. We just never talk about it.
     
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  3. Luksarus

    Luksarus Member

    United States
    Jul 27, 2018
    I share that idea, what I saw of him really surprised me (I did not see too much), but he has talent. In general, I share many of your opinions, so I would not be surprised if Garcia became a good player. But if it were him, he would immediately abandon Real Salt Lake and follow the path of the team's best prospects to Europe (Soto, Booth, Ledezma).
    RSL has proved not to be a good place for the development of young players and, although there are currently several young players in the team, they have not reached their maximum potential (Saucedo, Glad, Acosta (previously), Lennon, among others).
    I imagine that if RSL had done things better with their youth, I could have the best HP team in the MLS (even better than FCD).
     
  4. Lookingforleftbacks

    Galaxy
    United States
    Dec 17, 2016
    Los Angeles
    Club:
    Los Angeles Galaxy
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Tbf, not many of us rated most of those RSL guys who stayed. We liked Lennon, but he clearly had his limitations. Very few people were high on Bofo. Some of us liked Glad, and he has definitely been disappointing, but that’s just one case. Who knows what would’ve happened if Booth, Soto, and Ledezma had stayed. They’d probably all be first team players and making a name for themselves and there would be a different opinion of the RSL ability to develop players. It’s kind of like the Galaxy have been for a long time. Of course their academy is going to look mediocre if all the best prospects leave at an early age.
     
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  5. bshredder

    bshredder BigSoccer Supporter

    Feb 23, 1999
    Club:
    Millwall FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Until years later when they join the Las Vegas Lights
     
  6. ussoccer97531

    ussoccer97531 Member+

    Oct 12, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    You make some good points. I’d add Luis Gil to that list, but some of that might not be due to how RSL has developed them as opposed to their own footballing shortcomings.

    I think Saucedo and Herrera have developed well for their talent level. I don’t think either are such big talents. I think Lennon is the only one that they did a bad job of developing. I don’t like the idea of using him as a fullback. Outside of crossing, I don’t see him as having a fullback skill set.

    Acosta’s shown very good development on the field. He might’ve developed more than any player from that 2017 U-20 cycle, but his career could be ruined by off the field problems. There’s no reason other than being unable to stay on the field that he should even still be playing in MLS as opposed to a big European league. Glad has had some injuries the last few seasons, but I still think he’s been a lot better than most credit him with being and I continue to think US fans underrate him compared to players such as Carter-Vickers, Trusty, M. Robinson.
     
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  7. STANDFAST

    STANDFAST Member

    United States
    Jun 8, 2018
    Saw Garcia play vs FCD in GA cup in person and he was a lot of sizzle with no steak. FCD right back Jesús Veloz (normally a back up) shut down Garcia most of the match. Good skill on the ball and some shiftiness but nothing ever came of it. RSL looked surprisingly poor all match as FCD controlled the midfield at will.
     
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  8. Stupid_American

    Stupid_American Member+

    Jan 8, 2003
    New York, NY
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    I was down in Frisco as well and watched RSL three times (vs. Lyon, vs. Valencia, vs. FC Dallas) and was left with a similar impression. Garcia possesses good instincts and is very unpredictable in his 1-on-1 activity, but he found it hard to be influential in linkup play with his teammates.

    I do think, however, that I saw enough out of Garcia to wonder what he'd be like in a team that played a more ball-dominant style (or really just in a better team, generally). As you noted, this RSL U-17 group was organized and they competed very well against superior talent (best example was against Lyon), but they struggled in imposing their will on opponents.

    As an unrelated aside, I thought Bobby Pierre (RSL's LCB) was pretty strong throughout the tournament. Because RSL was one of the weaker teams in the Champions Division, he was under duress a lot and he managed the pressure well.
     
  9. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He sounds like Romain Gall.
     
  10. ussoccer97531

    ussoccer97531 Member+

    Oct 12, 2012
    Club:
    --other--
    RSL has almost no talent in that team. Garcia has to create all the attacking chances. He has a lot of talent. He's not going to walk into the first team immediately, but you can't teach his speed and dribbling ability. Check back in a few years, and he might be a very good player or he might amount to nothing, but he has the talent to be a good professional footballer.
     
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  11. STANDFAST

    STANDFAST Member

    United States
    Jun 8, 2018
    In Garcia's defense on the occasion I saw him, it had rained the evening before and the field had some standing water in the area he was playing all first half. So I am sure that hurt everyone's play on that wing.
     
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  12. TarHeels17

    TarHeels17 Member+

    Jan 10, 2017
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Gif thread on Gomez.

     
  13. Dave Marino-Nachison

    Jun 9, 1999
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  14. xbhaskarx

    xbhaskarx Member+

    San Jose Earthquakes
    United States
    Feb 13, 2010
    NorCal
    Club:
    San Jose Earthquakes
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
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  15. Luksarus

    Luksarus Member

    United States
    Jul 27, 2018
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  16. ChuckMe92

    ChuckMe92 Member+

    Jun 23, 2016
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    '03 US U16 Andre Zuluaga will be moving from Weston FC to Inter Miami's new academy for the 2019-20 season.
     
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  17. ChuckMe92

    ChuckMe92 Member+

    Jun 23, 2016
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    My mistake -- he's currently at Kendall SC. (Easy to get them and Weston mixed up.) But he announced on his IG story he's moving to Inter Miami.
     
  18. ChuckMe92

    ChuckMe92 Member+

    Jun 23, 2016
    Columbus, OH
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Another '03 US U16, Andres Cardenas of Weston, is also going to be with Inter Miami. We'll see how many Weston and Kendall players end up there.
     
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  19. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    #894 Clint Eastwood, May 6, 2019
    Last edited: May 6, 2019
    I don't know what's going on with the FCD U19s. Even with all of their players advanced to the USL/MLS squads, they have just been torching teams the second half of the season. [Cerrillo, Roberts, Reynolds, Pepi, Sealy, David Rodriguez, etc. all eligible. This past weekend they were without Almaguer, Gomez, and Tessman who all played for NTX instead). Now they're seemingly just on a ROLL.

    I have a theory that the introduction of the USL squad "unclogged" the whole system. The kids playing for the U19s are hungry and want to be there. All the kids who were "too good" for the U19DA now have a step up to play at. So they're hungry now as well.

    Its very possible that we could enter the playoffs with FCD being the #1 seed in both the U17 and U19 divisions. Again............

    By the way, if you ever want to watch a youth team just CRUSH people, its the FCD U14s. They've played the Dynamo five times this year: 10-0, 8-0, 7-1, 3-1, 4-0. This past weekend they played Lonestar. 8-0.
     
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  20. Luksarus

    Luksarus Member

    United States
    Jul 27, 2018
    Dantouma Toure '04 returned after from his injury and played 20 minutes in the victory of NYRB U15 vs PDA
     
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  21. Clint Eastwood

    Clint Eastwood Member+

    Dec 23, 2003
    Somerville, MA
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Game from last weekend. FCD U19 6 Dynamo 1

    Another brace for USYNTer Beni Redzic, who really has come alive at this level. He's now the 2nd leading scorer on the team after Gomez.

    FCD has one more regular season game to play this weekend against Solar.
    I'm not sure if they're wrapped up the #1 seed in the playoffs already, but its possible. They're at 2.5 points per game in the academy.

    The U17s are at 2.7 points per game!! But they're not going to be the #1 seed!! THey could be the 3rd seed as DeAnza Force and Shattuk St. Mary's are having remarkable seasons. DeAnza is undefeated and has a goal difference of +61 after 24 games. Jeesh.
     
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  22. TarHeels17

    TarHeels17 Member+

    Jan 10, 2017
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    https://www.lafc.com/post/2019/04/11/state-academy-qa-lafc-academy-director-todd-saldana

    This is almost a month old but it's a nice clear view into a high level academy. I really enjoyed reading it. I think LAFC will soon be regarded as a top 5 academy in MLS, and a lot of the deep thought processes in here are why. You just know that certain franchises (Portland, Houston, Orlando) don't even think about these types of things.

    It also includes a nice tidbit about Tony Leone having trained with the first team already.
     
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  23. Peretz48

    Peretz48 Member+

    Nov 9, 2003
    Los Angeles
    I think Houston's youth set up is going through a transition. I won't put them up with the top MLS teams right now, but I'm seeing some ambition, so maybe in another 4-5 years we'll be looking at them differently.
     
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  24. Pegasus

    Pegasus Member+

    Apr 20, 1999
    Club:
    FC Dallas
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    So here's a question I have no idea about. It seems most MLS teams are now taking their academies pretty seriously. How many of the Euro leagues have most teams that have serious academies as opposed to having them but not turning out many or any players they ever promote? I know that some leagues are so good that they could have a good academy and it would be hard to impossible for any or many players to ever get promoted but with Adams going straight to Leipzig that's starting to seem a bit of a weak excuse. Could MLS be one of the best leagues for academy players in 5-10 years with LAG back on track, Miami looking serious, FCD, RBNY, Philly, RSL staying the course and Houston, SJ and others looking at the best and wanting to emulate them?
     
  25. Dirt McGirt

    Dirt McGirt Member+

    Jun 20, 2005
    Phoenix, AZ
    Club:
    Seattle Sounders
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Don't forget Seattle has a very strong academy system from top to bottom.
     

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