Youngsters in MLS (1997 or later)

C'mon Clint, I know you're a diehard but I know you can be a little more honest about this.

FCD ranks 17th in MLS in payroll spending this season. The SJ penny-pinchers are 4 spots above them.

FCD players making:

1M+: 0
750K+: 2
500K+: 3

They have four players total who make 400K+.

 

Sure, there are parts of the metroplex that aren't convenient to Frisco.

But the number of folks that live within a half an hour drive from Toyota Stadium in Frisco is enormous. Somebody could write a pretty extensive book trying to figure out FCD's attendance problems. But most knowledgeable fans of the club would agree that the stadium location is only a small component of the current problem.

What's true is that part of the DFW suburbs have taken it upon themselves to sorta be a mecca of youth sports. Frisco is starting to market itself as "Sports City USA." So when Dan Hunts says they control 50 fields for soccer, but want to control another 50 for their youth programs....................he can do it. There's space and desire to do it. One of the reasons why so many MLS, USSF, Dallas Cup, GenAd Cup type of events are now held in Frisco is the not just the number of fields and training facilities................but the hotels and other amenities going up right around there.

People understand that the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Stars both now have their corporate offices and practice facilities in Frisco...............right? Everybody else is moving out to Frisco!

To some degree the best academies three years ago (say FCD, LAG, NYRB, RSL) have been caught be a number of other clubs. So the gap between say FCD and clubs like SKC is razor thin if there even is one.

And that's a good thing. And its a good thing that Atlanta and NYCFC have joined with really good academy programs. My gut feeling is LAFC will do the same.

All the same, FCD has won three academies titles over the past three years along with plenty of other titles (Dallas Cup Supergroup, etc.). They may be over-rated, but it sure seems like Weston McKennie was playing for the Schalke first team within a calendar year of leaving the FCD academy.

Last weekend's results against the Texans (defending DA Champions). This is routine.

 

Right.............but that's actually an increase in spending.

The reason FCD had the lowest payroll in the league was because they gave the most minutes in the league to their own homegrown players and the second most minutes to their own drafted players (Akindele, Hedges, Zimmerman, Hollingshead, etc.)....................instead of big money DP signings. And Hunt was proud of that philosophy, but they veered away from it by signing guys like Lamah and Colman.

And by "going for it" I don't just mean MLS. I mean they were "going for it" in terms of the CCL early in the season. In other words, Clavijo/Pareja didn't think they could win CCL by starting rookie Reggie Cannon at right back. They needed to bring in Grana. They didn't think any of their young wingers could be counted on in the CCL against Liga MX quality. So they brought in Lamah. We get the idea. It seems like ages ago that FCD beat Pachuca in the first leg of the CCL semifinal................but that actually happened. And it was this year. After that disappointment, the season has been completely downhill in every way. They're losing and they've lost their identity. Its gonna be interesting to see how the club turns itself back around.

One thing that's true about MLS is that the parity is so extreme that the margin between a Supporter's Shield Or MLS Cup trophy and missing the playoffs is pretty slim. We've seen that with Portland and Seattle over the last couple of years...........................we saw that with Jason Kreis RSL. His one trophy with that club came when he backed into the playoffs on goal-difference in 5th place. Then he was hailed as some sort of genius, and has lived on that ever since.

 

I'm going to let this go but corporate office is a lot different than the stadium. The broncos have a suburban office and training facility but a downtown stadium. Anyway. I'll let it go now

 

I mean, it didn't hurt that he hit 50 points in the next 4 consecutive seasons, and finished second in the USOC, MLS Cup, Shield, and CCL in that span.

We're veering off topic, but I just want to add that if we're talking about whether ownership wants to spend on players, we are solely talking about DPs. TAM, GAM, GA, salary cap, etc is all determined by the league, and the club spends what they're given from the league. The only time a club can spend on players directly is on DPs.

So Lamah isn't actually relevant to this conversation. Re: Dallas, we're talking about Chala, Colman, Gruezo, and that's it. I think DC and Minnesota are the only teams in the league that spends less on DPs - may be wrong about that.

 

In 2013, RSL was 3 points behind the Supporters Shield winners NYRB, they lost the US Open Cup final to DC, and lost MLS Cup to SKC on penalties... but I guess that wasn't a successful season because "no trophies".

 

It's the Moral Victory Treble!

 

Here's a riddle:
In 2016-17:
The EPL had 11.
The Bundesliga had 23.
La Liga had 28.
Ligue 1 had 36.
Serie A had 17.


In 2017:
Real Salt Lake had 3.
The rest of MLS had 3.

What am I?

Answer below to find out.

 

Close. It's domestic-eligible U21 players with over 1,000 minutes!

Does that make you feel good or bad? Personally, it made me feel so bad that I didn't want to even look at the Eredivisie.

Have a nice day everyone!

 

Ewwwwww

 

Its definitely a problem. The stats can be skewed in a number of ways, but MLS has a big problem with giving young players minutes.

Some will say the players aren't good enough, others will say they aren't given enough of a chance.

Whichever is the real answer, it would seem like young Americans are playing less (even as there are more of them and more talented ones joining MLS), and it would also seem like there are becoming more and more foreign players within MLS, meanwhile the league has not really upped its standings in the world.

 

Goal Brooks Lennon

 

What happened to EPB? Injured? He hasn't been in the 18 the last two matches.

 

Played for Swope Park yesterday. Drogba beat him on a header for a goal, but due mainly to Drogba being Drogba and overpowering EPB.

 

I saw he wasn't on the injury report, so I assumed it was a coach's decision. I think Vermes probably wants to get Didic some time in the 18, and maybe on the field if they need another CB, as he'll probably be at the club next season.

If not, I don't think Vermes is exactly helping his case for the NT job because thats a pretty shocking decision if the motivation is not due to EPB leaving in January. But why should we be surprised if thats the case? We've seen this story before with Vermes.

 

Ay dios mio! Scary stuff.

 

Probably got dumped for the last game and the fact that he's not going to be with the club anymore

 

Thread eligible players the playoffs:

Toronto: None
NYCFC: Lewis, Sands
Chicago: Mihailovic, Fernandez
Atlanta: Carleton, Goslin, Robinson, Vazquez
Columbus: Swanson
NYRB: Adams

Portland: Ebobisse, Farfan
Seattle: None
Vancouver: None
Houston: Lucatero
SKC: EPB
San Jose: Yueill

I'm pretty sure Bello, Busio and Lindsey's contracts don't start until next year. Might've also forgotten a player or two, did it off memory.

 

Man, the bloom on Oscar Pareja's rose sure is gone.

One thing to miss the MLS playoffs playing kids or with bad team. Another thing altogether to do it with a talented team AND not play your damn kids! I mean, what the hell?

And his timing really sucks. In May, he looked like the front-runner to replace Bruce with the NT. But combine NOT making the playoffs, which is tough to do in MLS, with NOT playing your kids and, there goes that dream.

If you pressed me or tied me up with a golden lasso, I'd probably admit that Pareja is still the best coach in MLS. But I'm damn sure not giving the NT gig to a guy who can't make the damn MLS playoffs and does so whule ignoring tons of talented young Americans.

Screw that.

This was a bad year for YNT players in MLS and a large reason for it is Oscar Pareja.

 

There's a part of me that's glad FCD missed the playoffs as a result of SJ, who've actually given lots of minutes to youngish Americans this year. Really odd of Pareja to play a 32 year old Grana into the dust, and not give a smidge of opportunity for Cannon for a bit of rotation. Same thing goes for Pomykal. Pareja really crapped the bed by not injecting personnel changes during their prolonged summer of doom.

 

Brooks-Lennon has improved so much since joining RSL, I feel like he is a better winger than Arriola. It is amazing how much he has improved as a player. His vision, passing and ball skills are a lot better now.

 

Grana wasn't the reason FCD didn't make the playoffs. I don't know why he's become this punching bag. FCD conceded fewer goals than the West winner..............Portland.

I know this is going to go against narrative, but FCD had a substantially younger "average starting XI" than SJ this season. In fact, I saw in the twitterverse yesterday that FCD had the second youngest average starting XI in the league this year. Even I did a double take on that.............................and wanna see that from a more reliable source.

FCD didn't make the playoffs because they didn't score goals in the second half of the season. Urruti went frigid cold after his transfer to San Lorenzo was rejected, and of course Colman has been a disastrous signing. Tesho is Tesho, the type of squad rotation player that all successful MLS teams have. He can't be counted on to be more than that. And as I've mentioned this is a team built around Mauro Diaz................who still isn't the same Mauro Diaz as we saw the past two seasons.

Could any of the U20s have helped FCD score more goals? I don't know, but at this point Paxton Pomykol isn't Diego Valeri. He showed himself capable of playing at this level, but not that he was a "difference maker" yet.

As we've talked about on these boards ad naseum to the point that I don't really wanna talk about it anymore, there was a lot more wrong with FCD this season than minutes given to youngsters.

 

I agree. The new HGPs are teenagers. Meanwhile the starters are mostly just getting in to their prime. This is really different from RSL which had a handful of 20 year olds taking spots from a lot of old guys.

 

Maybe, I still think his game is lagging way behind his two RSL teammates Glad and Acosta who to me look certainties for NT call ups. That might not be a slight on Lennon though, given the play of the other two who along with Adams probably were the three most successful thread eligible youngsters, in terms of MLS play.