Hey, there are pickup games near Tufts sometimes... but it's true. Places like Somerville and some of the southern and western neighborhoods of Boston (Brighton, Dorchester, JP, etc.) followed a "streetcar suburb" model of development during the turn of the century. While this makes them far more interesting places than unwalkable Sun Belt suburbs and their strip malls, generic housing developments, and enormous arterial roads, it didn't exactly provide for a ton of open space. That being said, most people in the greater Boston area do not live in Boston/Cambridge/Somerville/Brookline/Chelsea/Everett/etc and the outer rings of development have far more fields. Busio and Lindsey are from NC, several of their USL contract academy signings are from TN, but the Revs just haven't shown any interest in that sort of thing. Another example is RSL, which is the smallest market in the league and is mining talent from AZ (Glad, Lennon) and NM (Herrera) as well as producing talent locally (Saucedo, Acosta, Booth). They are doing very well with their model. There's no reason the Revs couldn't do more. New England's business plan, as far as I can tell, is to squat on Kraft's stake in the league and watch it increase in value thanks to the work of other organizations.
FYI the two Atlanta United games from the past weekend against the Revs and NYRB are on the Atlanta United facebook
I don’t follow the development academy so much but is there any player currently that has the potential of Pulisic or Carleton? Or maybe a player that reminds you of them when they were 15/16
That’s kind of hard to say. There are a lot of kids that we all think could get there, but aren’t yet for one reason or another. Nick Taitague is getting some good reviews at Schalke, tho he’s 18. Konrad de la Fuente is turning some heads at la Masia. Joshua Pynadath seems to be doing well at Ajax. Then we have kids earning pro contracts in MLS at young ages so the teams can hold onto them and never play them (see Carleton). Gianluca Busio at SKC, Gio Reyna at NYCFC, and a bunch more. I think most people would say that they expect our next breakout kid (and maybe best prospect) to be Josh Sargent. Taitague may get some minutes with Schalke, but Sargent is the one everyone is anxious to see play.
U-16 Academy forward Kai Thomas, a South Florida native, lost of a close friend in last week's horrific high school shooting. Read how they team honored her this past weekend.➡️https://t.co/WopDYHZvUy pic.twitter.com/tsfl0wBAVr— FC Dallas Youth (@FCDallasYouth) February 20, 2018
Check, check, and check. Pay attention to what thread you are in and the topic at hand. This is a discussion on USSDA and these scores people are.posting are of the Generation Adidas Cup which is a big deal for academies. Sounders Academies frequently push players up in age. So much so that they have had the youngest teams at times in Generation Adidas Cup.
Technically speaking the GA Cup is an MLS event and not a USSDA one but if we can’t talk about the results here where else can we?
The Revolution's GA Cup qualifiers (from October to this past week): 0-5 vs. NYRB 0-2 vs. PHI 0-3 vs. NYC 0-7 vs. ATL 1-5 vs. ORL 1-8 vs. DC
A little video on FCD academy star (and Maryland commit) Brayan Padilla. Folks might remember that he was brought to their academy from their FC Dallas El Paso affiliate. .@Chase Signing Night Spotlight: Hard work and sacrifice have been a theme throughout Brayan Padilla's soccer career: https://t.co/frBAj4zHVi pic.twitter.com/iB6YdkZK4R— FC Dallas Youth (@FCDallasYouth) February 23, 2018 By the way, I've heard that FCD El Paso is bringing 13 players up to Frisco next week for the FCD academy coaches to scout.............................
Does anyone know if there is an internal review process that gives grades to different academies based on certain criteria such as: 1) Player production 2) Playing style in line with USSF guidelines 3) Results (although obviously less important then the first 2) Is there some mechanism to hold bad academies accountable?
Not sure exactly but I think at least partly yes as I seem to remember some initial DA academies being cast out a year or two later.
There certainly is. We've had links to such reviews for academies before as they were made public by the USSF. Basically the academies are judged according to the "Core Curriculum" set out by the USSF.
Yes they do. The results are not made public anymore that I can find, but the reviews do happen. From http://www.ussoccerda.com/overview-join-the-academy : Annual Evaluations U.S. Soccer provides two yearly evaluations to clubs participating in the Development Academy to provide feedback on the quality of the club's developmental environment for elite players. Clubs are graded on a five-star system in comparison to the top international developmental environments. The evaluation criteria consists of eight key components necessary for a club to provide elite everyday environments for world-class player development with technical components based on the U.S. Soccer Development Philosophy. Development Academy Key Performance Categories can be found above under "8 Key Performance Categories." Evaluation FAQ How should this information best be used? The information has a few different purposes. First and foremost, this feedback increases the accountability for Academy clubs to reach international standards and expectations set by U.S. Soccer. The information empowers individuals to make the most informed decisions to help choose the right long-term fit for an elite player. U.S. Soccer encourages families, players and clubs to use all the information available as the current holistic view of each Academy club. Second, the evaluation system helps U.S. Soccer to evaluate the progress and deficiencies in order to continue improving the impact of the Academy Program on world-class player development. (Please note: This evaluation process identifies strengths and areas of improvement and uses a ratings scale consistent with international standards. These ratings should not be used to draw comparisons between Academy club programs and other domestic programs or teams associated with other organizations). How often are clubs evaluated? Clubs are evaluated twice a year - once during the midpoint of the Academy season and once at the end of the season. Only the end-of-season evaluation rating is shared and applied to their membership status for the following season. How does U.S. Soccer determine the ratings? U.S. Soccer conducts live evaluations and video analysis at Academy clubs' training and games and collects administrative information on the club throughout the year. Are all criteria weighted the same? The criteria receive different weights based on their importance to providing an environment to develop world-class players. The technical components carry the greatest weight. Who is involved in the evaluation process? U.S. Soccer Technical Advisors, National Team Scouts and U.S. Soccer Development Academy staff all participate in live evaluations, observations, video analysis and data collection that lead to mid-season and end-of-season ratings.
How is Brayan Padilla's signing with Maryland a success for FC Dallas? 10 years ago maybe - when it was expected that young players would mature after 2-3 years of college and "develop." Today - the trend is for kids to sign at 17/18/19 and play for USL affiliates and skip college. I don't mean to imply it's bad that Brayan P. earned a scholarship or can educate himself at a top school and likely do much better over his lifetime with that path. . . I just mean from a pure soccer/business standpoint - didn't FC Dallas put up Padilla from U15 to now - and don't they essentially view this as a failure that he didn't a) either merit signing as pro prospect so he took his next best scholarship option or b) he was a top signing but Maryland's offer was better?
Kellyn Acosta also committed to Maryland. Never made it.................................... I'm not going to get too worked up about it until he actually shows up at campus. I wouldn't be surprised if Liga MX teams are after Padilla on top of FCD.
Sweet new digs for RSL academy in Utah. Nice little video showing the facility. Zions Bank @RealSaltLake Academy https://t.co/nPRJ5e1dsw— Dallas Cup ⚽️ (@dallascup) February 28, 2018
Can he at least get an U19 YNT call up for crying out loud? Galaxy had Sepulveda and Arteaga starting in this match at CB. 971477645891330048 is not a valid tweet id