I sent this article, which is actually a good read, to our FO staff in the hopes that they will read what is going on with our eternal rivals. Our club MUST go residence academy. At least for Sophmore and older. Have them earn their high school equivalent and demand they train the rest of the time. Our area here in the South is so soccer talented at the youth levels, and so many just fall through the professional scouting cracks.
Having either a high school or a residency would begin to address the geography problem. The broadcasters the other day were so proud of how far Memo would drive to be part of the team, but even in normal club that's usually exceptional. We were gold level and could almost field an 11 from my school district. And while the Dynamo might be unusually magnetic where people might be willing to travel some, the issues I see are South Loop is hardly Soccer Central, and so you're by definition displaced from the pipelines. It's not just, "they have to travel," it's "and who comes from right there where they planted the team." Hell, even South Texas where they put that minor league team is kind of a soccer wasteland. When's the last time you heard of a Corpus or Valley school winning 5 or 6A? I'm sure people can play some but how many collegians and pros do they produce? How many college teams down there? What, UT-RGV, maybe? Now you might be able to produce your own kids grown from U10 up where you become your own geographical point of relevance but then you're expecting parents to make that drive for like 8 or more years with no guarantees. More I think about it, even Woodlands and Bay Area is kind of missing it. You want the teams in Katy, Klein, Bear Creek, Kingwood, tapped directly into the pipeline. I'd also be somewhat curious what the scouting criteria are, and whether we've gone too far in some sort of professionalized medium height touch player direction. Where are the tall forwards. The tall backs. The fast wings. Doesn't come across like we look enough for big or fast. Everyone we sign after a point seems to be a runty little touch player lacking in athletic qualities. My sense the ceiling on all but the best unathletic average height touch players is roughly minor league or college. Admittedly I don't watch who is on these kid teams but at the end of the throughput machine I'd like to occasionally see some speed and size. You look at someone like Zardes, and it kind of underlines, they don't have to be a finished, technical, professional product. Not in a youth system. Sometimes you want people because if you work with them for a few years, then maybe they become something, and they have the body type or track speed you wish you had.
That would require vision AND investment, two things I would argue the Dynamo have lacked over the 12 seasons here. Now, the way the homegrown player rules were years ago I could excuse not investing in players you might not have exclusive rights to but I think it was clear 5 years ago if you weren't gonna spend big DP dollars you needed to develop players internally. With vision, FCD has an internal source of development players AND they can make it a source of cash if they sell those players later. Dynamo trying to figure out the cheapest way to outsource the process
What's odd, or hyperconservative, to me, is that we fight small club "selling club" tactics. HGP and draft picks are cheap players in a cap league and when we want to keep costs down. Deric is a veteran starter-capable keeper making <$200k. That's cheap. Memo and Holland cost $53k. There is no market premium, no transfer or loan fee. Also, if Geoff Cameron sells for $2.7 million that dwarfs their payroll cost, that dwarfs academy cost. Cameron was a free draft pick who benefitted the team for years on the field and then netted millions. What's odd is we are cheap to a self defeating point on the development side but then willing to go out and pay transfer and loan acquisition fees for veteran salary players on the market. What's more effective money, $7.5m for Torres or that on the academy over a long period of years and 10 roster players 5-10 years from now, perhaps one who could be sold for 6 or 7 figures and repay the process. But that's playing a long game with unknown risks and we prefer short-term signing a 30 year old defender who will be replaced next season or the season after that.
We're not just conservative but like the conservative you know who tries to tell you the better play is save money and skip college.
So former MLS player Eric Quill takes a bunch of Houston kids and wins the Development Academy U-17/U-18 national championship tournament this year? I wonder how this team could help improve its Academy program.
re: residence several kids do get homeschooled so they can train with the senior team in the morning and academy at night. not nearly enough but it is a start.
Maybe we need better leadership and coaching philosophy at the top. how is Clarksin being judged / evaluated by the HD organization. Do they even set goals for generating quality players. No forwards ir defenders really produced. Several Midfielders of note lucatero Palamino memo etc but nothing in the back or front Fire Clarkson and hire Quill is a thought
it is great to see them spend alot of money on talented foreign players but I would really love to see that money developing local players to be our budding stars instead of an Argy
By the total amount of revenue generated from "tryout fees" and total costs saved by outsourcing PDL and USL teams
Some interesting thoughts. http://www.socceramerica.com/article/74334/a-coachs-life-mls-veteran-eric-quill-returns-to.html
That is winning sports fans! Winning the Developmental Academy's U-17/18 Championship. Beating all the better funded MLS U-18 sides along the way. Very well done to Quill and his players! Mo. City sure has produced the best of soccer from the Greater Houston Area, players and coaches now.
It wouldn't if the Dynamo take the youth academy as serious as Dallas did and still does.... Really put an effort and money into developing the future of the club. The draft has panned out so well for us.....
My hope is that eventually (10-20 years) there will be no MLS draft as all players are developed by academies with the NCAA being the last stop before your career is over, not a stepping stone to the professional ranks. Twellman nailed it when he said that the biggest difference between the USA and the rest of the world is at the 15-19 year old category. The competition level overseas for that bracket is very good while here, it is poor in comparison. Our 15-19 year olds need to be in a professional set up already if we're not only to improve the quality of MLS play, but the pool for the national team as well.
Howard None Guzan SC Rimando UCLA Yedlin Akron Gonzo MD Besler ND Beasley None Ream StL Villafana None Zusi MD Cameron RI Bradley None Nagbe Akron Pulisic None Bedoya FD/BC McCarty NC Feilhaber UCLA Arriola None Acosta None Dempsey Furman Wood None Altidore None Wondo Chico 15/23 Cropper None Horvath None Miller NWern Payne None Parker StJohn Vincent Stanford Acosta None Miazga None Miller Creighton O'Neill None Zimmerman Furman Green None (German, avoided system, career plodding along) Arriola None Serna None Polster SIUE Alashe MSU Hyndman None Trapp Akron Gil None Kiesewetter None (German, avoided system, career plodding along) Shelton OSU Rodriguez None Morris Stanford 10/23 Klinsmann Cal Marcinkowski G'town Scott None Acosta None CCV None Glad None Herrera NM EPB None Redding None Trusty None Adams None Delatorre None Jones None Zelalem None Ebobisse Duke Kunga None Lennon None Sabbi None Sargent None 4/19 It's a poor poor poor argument, that college cripples us, when you're losing out to Honduras and Panama (for whom MLS is a big deal) and getting beat in an individual game by TnT that barely has a professional league. The U23s are significantly "less college" and can't make the Olympics out of our own region. The U20s are almost fully professionalized and basically stuck at the group stage/quarterfinals level like the full senior team used to be. Way oversold. I think it's actually a tick further along than the argument permits. A lot of good players sign now. What comes of it? I see it as a development failure in the pros and feel like the anti-college crowd is trotting out stale arguments that weren't bulletproof when college was more popular for soccer ambitions. The ground has already shifted but for whatever reason MLS is producing Zardes with it, and TnT the Jones Bros. Quit blaming college for your screw-ups. The MLS rookie of the year was a non-college player only one year, Najar.
I have a different view than twellman. Biggest difference I see is that foreign cultures 4yo boys can juggle a soccer ball and play on the street. USA kids only touch a ball when they have a uniform on and are supervised by parents in drills for one hour a week. And they can barely kick a ball.
That depends what style you want to play which is the running debate. I feel like what has happened is we abandoned the safe ground of numbers back and counter. The defense was exposed about every game except for Arena's first 2 and then for whatever reason it reverted back over time. But anyhow, they need to decide a style -- and preferably one that suits what we have -- and then staff that up. I think they want to go your direction of becoming slicker playing but (1) I don't know if the personnel exist presently to execute it, (2) we might miss more World Cups while we try and create it, and (3) then you'd have to run it through messy CONCACAF. Just because you imitate Spain doesn't mean you get to move to UEFA. And the defense has to hold up under CONCACAF intensity. The technical player idea is fine but that's a decades project. Until then, if the norm is organized teams that play hard defense and then athletically attack with speed, why am I trying to be something else as a national team? NT is the last place to start trying to change the nature of the players. If qualifying is the desired end you play to strengths whether they are pretty ones or not. Present problem is we like to live off defense but haven't found 4 backliners plus a young sweeping 6 to lock things down.
I don't mind getting kids playing more freely with the ball but I don't want to abandon the historical strength in organization which has been a regional advantage.
After the USA's draw with Portugal, here's the money quote from McKennie: "Me and Kellyn have known each other since I was 11 years old, coming up through FC Dallas," McKennie said. "I've always seen him as a mentor. When I went up to FC Dallas and trained with the first team, he always kind of guided me and took me under his wing. This camp too. I think the connection is good there." Dynamo shuffle so many players in and out that there is zero chance for continuity of players playing together. Never mind an 11 year old making it professional through the system.
Well you have to adjust for the fact that Dallas started their franchise 10 years before the Dynamo did!!