I rather have them "wasted" playing in MLS than "wasted" sitting with the reserves in some Euro second division.
Could be. But we already have some big chunks taken out of our butts. Not sure there's much meat left. We have FB's in Europe doing ok, middies doing pretty good so much of the supporting cast is sort of coming together if we get a coach who can recognize that.
I don't. It's not even "our" intention to send them young. It's a result of opportunities they create for themselves. A young kid works his ass off all childhood and by 16/17 the elite ones then get noticed and presented opportunities in an environment like Germany. Not much different than a student in CA working their ass off and getting a scholarship across the country at an Ivy League school. Then the player, his family and his agent consider the options. They go where they think they have the best avenue for success. You have a short window and go where they have the most confidence. We didn't send Sargent to Europe. He created that opportunity and then with his family and agent, decided Werder is a superior option to SKC. But the Euro route only applies to a small %. Even if it's 10 players off each YNT that's a tiny fraction of each year's class. MLS still will get its hands on the majority of our prospects. Adams, Durkin, Pomykal, Carleton, Ferreira, Busio, etc, etc. MLS has to start doing more with what it has. It's a numbers game anyway. Across sports more fail than succeed.
I’ve mentioned this a lot before, but if we want American players to succeed abroad then we need to revamp the residency program around that. For instance, guys like Josh Sargent should be part of US u18 travel team until they’re old enough to sign. That team should be based somewhat in Europe too to give those players exposure.
I agree. A traveling team so they're at least playing, preferably vs adults or other U20/U18 teams and.....German class every day.
I think you are missing the point. It does not matter if you or me think MLS hurt EPB. It does matter that elite youth players now actively advocate against MLS and advise their friends to take any other route possible. And yes, that discourages young players from signing with MLS, whether either one of us agrees with it.
To be fair, most La Liga academy players don't make it in La Liga. Most Bundesliga academy players don't make it in the Bundesliga. I read a 4-4-2 article a few years indicating the "failure rate" of English academy players is about 90%. Liga MX clubs have HUGE reserve and youth pools. The overwhelming majority never make it. We have a smaller pool of prospects than a nation like France. A 90% failure rate still means they have a pool of international-caliber players. A 90% failure rate for us and we're really counting on a couple of players to develop. Cuz if Jack McInerney and a whole generation of forwards don't develop, then we've just gotta trust Altidore will be "ON" all the time. And even though he's one of the few of his generation that did develop, we crush him on these boards....................and not the armies of Jack McInerneys. [Jack McInerney is on Indy 11 in the USL for those interested.] This article does a good job of reviewing the situation for MLS. The league is actually giving a hell of a lot more minutes to homegrown players. Particularly as its expanding rapidly, and there are a bunch of teams that are just starting out. I mean, half the league has formed in the last 10 years. But the path for elite teenagers like Carleton and Durkin is still a problem. And particularly for attacking players. Defenders like Cannon, Trusty, Glad, etc. seem to have an easier time carving out a role. RSL seems to be ready to field a backline with 3 homegrowns (Glad, Herrera, Acosta) this season all born in 1997 or later. Farfan, the left back in Portland, appears to be ready to take the next step. But minutes for attackers seem harder to earn. 966321604266528768 is not a valid tweet id
Actually, it is massively different. Psychologically there is a huge difference between most 16 and 18 year olds. And even more importantly, the kid who got a scholarship to an Ivy League school is going to go to an environment designed to make him succeed and meet friends he will likely have for the rest of his life. The kid who got an opportunity in Europe is going into a cut throat environment designed to weed out all but the very best. And his new peers? They are competition. They will obsess about beating that kid out for one of the few opportunities. It is often downright hostile. We should all want young American players to stay home in MLS. Young players across the world do better when they have social support structures like families and friends to get them through the tough times of every young soccer player’s life. That is fact. As US Soccer fans, we should be very worried about the trends in MLS. Kids are getting less opportunities and less minutes. Garber and the league office are still interfering in transfers. Some kids are feeling like, and the narrative is spreading, that MLS HG contracts are a trap. The good news is that for the first time, I am starting to hear people inside MLS saying the same thing. They realize the league has an issue. Kids are being signed, but that is not good enough. Over the past three weeks I have had more conversations with MLS staff trying to figure out how to “play the kids” than I had in the three years prior. You still have ostriches who bury their head in the sand. Not coincidentally, these are most often people who are invested in the current youth system and current youth coaches. And they are dug in, deep. So those of us who are willing to be critical and push for MLS to get its shit together should keep pushing. Not just on BigSoccer, but hopefully in the real world. Because the best possible outcome for the US Soccer Team and young American players would be a domestic professional league that invests in playing the kids.
I’ve been a huge advocate for minimum minutes for HGP. And yes, I am cautious of not creating an entitled system where youth players don’t have to earn their stripes. However, we need balance in this approach, in order to best focus on our youth development. Some of my proposals. -HGP are cap exempt players. -No expiration on HGP status for clubs a player is eligible for. -the question is what qualifies as HGP. -5 years of residency in the territory qualifies for 50% HGP contract. -1 year at a team’s youth academy equates to 50% HGP. 2 years = 100% -For affiliated youth clubs, where MLS invest in developing youth academies, (example: say Atlanta United partner with Charleston Battery youth program) 1 year = 10%, 2 years = 25%, 3 years = 50%, 4 years = 100%. -A player can have unlimited number of clubs he could sign a HGP contract with. In other words, if Atl Utd, want to scout/recruit a 14 y/o player from Dallas and he then plays for Atl Utd youth academy... he’d met criteria for 100% HGP for Atlanta but also 50% for Dallas. So, if said player ever returns to Dallas, half of his contract would not count towards salary cap. Minimum minutes -A player can cancel his contract if he doesn’t meet the minimum minutes required....1000 per year? Exceptions: Injury listed, suspensions, disciplinary problems, and/or board approved issues. The clubs should be able to argue good intent to play and cancel players request to void contract. How 1000 minutes can be earned Through any form of competitive matches to included a loan to another MLS team, loan to NASL or USL, reserve team, or u21 team. .... A few other things: Revamp the USSF residency program with focus on helping players prepare to play in Europe. Create a u23 national league, where every MLS team fields a u21 team, the best NPSL and PDL teams, and with a focus in the major college towns. Continue with the large January youth summits. Establish a standing B/Olympic team that works in hand with the senior team. In other words, when the senior team calls up a roster, there’s also at least 18 B/Olympic team players called up and stay with the senior team. Their game can be in that in between date (seniors play on Sat and Tues; B team plays on Sunday). They’ll be able to scrimmage the senior players but also look to schedule games, even if it’s againdt NASL or USL club teams or a reserve team in Europe, if an international side is not available. This will help us by one building Olympic team cohesion but also getting players on the fringe of a call up into the system.
“If we inject $2.8 million in TAM, is the league going to get better? The answer is, unequivocally, yes,” said a club executive, one of more than a dozen front office members, coaches, scouts and agents – all of whom wished to remain anonymous – who spoke to FourFourTwo during the reporting of this story. “The other side of the debate is, did it punish Canadian and American players? That wasn’t the intent, but I think it has been a consequence.” https://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/feat...n-canadian-players-affect#Xf4fFjyAWXTIFdHt.99 I agree. The actual MLS salary cap and minimum wage levels need to be boosted, and many of the artificial mechanisms that allow the league to avoid the need to develop players need to be junked.
Some interesting ideas, although probably some practical difficulties for those with the most effect. This would be a form of free agency so I assume would have to be negotiated as part of the collective bargaining agreement. I'm not sure the older players would agree to a proposal that gives younger players a better deal than they get and takes playing time away from them More teams mean more playing time, which is all to the good, but are you asking each MLS team to create an additional U21 team in addition to their USL team and that that team plays a national schedule? Right now only 8 of 23 MLS teams have second teams. I'd be happy if we see a significant increase in that number.
The point I was making. We have a smaller of prospects, but folks drone on about the lack of minutes to said prospects. The longer incubation periods of goalkeepers and defenders make the youngsters less attractive on the global markets.
Except those “facts” are nonsense. 1. He is giving the “league” a lot of credit for what in reality was one team’s commitment. As I have said, every US Soccer fan should adopt RSL as their favorite team. 2. Yes, more minutes are given to HGP than they were before the HGP system was implemented. No shit. Are more minutes being played by young American players on a per team basis than they were 10 years ago? Even with the addition of 8 new teams since 2008 (9 this year), I am not even sure they are getting as many total minutes as they were 10 years ago.
Definitely would be a “work in progress” model. That said, I’d try to convince teams to institute these u21 teams as the academy players should graduate into them. More, I’d argue for a very regionalized still national league that had more national playoffs. For instance, the “southern conference” including partnerships with local colleges Atlanta United u21 (GA state, GA tech, Kennesaw) FC Dallas u21(SMU, UT-Arlington, UT-Dallas) Houston Dynamo u21 (Baylor, Houston University) Nashville u21 (Vanderbilt) Orlando City u21 (Central florida) Miami u21 (University of Miami) Charleston Battery u23/reserves (Col. of Charleston) San Antonio u23/reserves (UTSA) Raleigh Railhawks u23/reserves (Duke and North Carolina) Tampa Bay Rowdies u23/reserves (South Florida) Charlotte Independence u23/reserves (Wake Forest play in Winston Salem) Birmingham Legion u23/reserves (UAB- Birmingham) Austin u23/reserves (Texas) Memphis u23/reserves (Memphis) Jacksonville Armada (North Florida) Wilmington Hammerheads (UNC Wilmington) College towns Expansion candidates: Clemson, SC (Clemson) Greenville, SC (Furman) Columbia, SC (South Carolina) Myrtle Beach, SC (Coastal Carolina) Statesboro, GA (Georgia Southern) Gainesville, FL (Florida) Tallahassee, FL (Florida State) Rio Grande Valley, TX (UT - Rio Grande) Lubbock (Texas Tech) Athens, GA (UGA) Greensboro, NC (UNC) Knoxville, TN (Tennessee) Baton Rouge, LA (LSU) Oxford (Ole Miss) College station, TX (Texas A&M) Obviously, give or take some, and plotting more as who’s on the radar instead of this is what it should look like tomorrow. But, using this model, and having a North, South, East, and West. Perhaps, even could have a first and second division with promotion/relegation inside the conferences... with the top teams from each conference making it to the national playoffs. Ultimately, using this system to circumvent the problems of college ball, and focusing the teams one, where large populations of 18-23 year olds and ultimately a bridge for MLS academy players. In my humble opinion, this would be a much improved and more organized way of approaching this age group than PDL and NPSL.
This. X1000. I don’t want Sargent, Mckennie, etc signing on frees at 18. I want those types of players to gain fist team MLS playing time at 17 & 18, like every other good soccer playing country, and earn transfer fees for their hometown teams.
Realistically, very few of the U18 elite have the necessary passports to go over to one of the top leagues. On the other hand, if older U21s are embracing the challenge of playing overseas then all the power to them. If they succeed then financially they'll be better off than if they had stayed in MLS. It's a profession, after all, and one with a short duration. As for playing time, what's wrong with young players getting minutes in USL?
This is dependent on the player. Most? Yes, but most of the youngsters shouldn't even really be on the USMNT radar in their careers. Most of the youngsters in Spain, Germany, England don't ever make the NT radar. The best players, the players people are actually upset about their PT (Palmer-Brown, Carleton, Durkin, Pomykal, etc.) likely need to be playing at a higher level. USL is a very low level. The best players at an age they can physically and athletically keep up with pros are usually too good for the league.
Doing well at USL/U20 level should then garner opportunities at higher levels. Reggie Cannon looks locked to start with FCD. Josh Sargent got a move to B1. EPB got a move to the EPL.
Structured well, that would be the ideal. Sign HGPs, and if they are not ready for MLS, help them get ready with good training and lots of time in the USL. You have too many teams like Dallas that did not even have a USL affiliate. Other USL partnerships were at best loose affiliates where the players walked into a different environment. Again, we should be encouraged by recent developments. RSL built its training center and located its USL team close enough to its first team so that young players could train in the same system as the senior team. The Monarchs now have a clear directive - prepare players for the senior team. More are catching on. That is a good thing for the league and for young American players.
I'm sorry but I struggle to get your point. Yes, that idea of "put the most athletic guy up fron" is bad, but if you're going to throw him away you better have a good 2nd choice. average size of americans? i'm lazy to look but u guys are dominiating in both height and muscle... so what's your excuse now? the US has to learn to play football. that's all.
Below is a partial list of global U20 domestics and the minutes they played in the last complete seasons (MLS 2017 and European calendar 16-17). Mexico, France, Spain, and Holland jump out to me as doing a superior job of getting teenagers on the pitch. Out of the top 38 clubs giving minutes to their own domestic teenagers, MLS had 3 teams, which while not great is more than some leagues. The EPL, Italy (where Milan's is solely a teenage GK), the Bundesliga, have not played their domestic teenagers that much. We need to do a better job, but for most of the top Euro leagues, it is not a spot for domestic teenagers to get a lot of time. Frankly, the big teams in the biggest leagues, generally end up buying the best teenage talents from the other leagues (France for example) and then insert them into lineups. Domestic '97s and Later: FC Toulouse 8829 37504 23.5415 Real Salt Lake City 5125 33471 15.3118 Sparta Rotterdam 4999 33660 14.8515 AC Milan 4845 35488 13.6525 Bayer 04 Leverkusen 3876 33504 11.5688 CF Monterrey 1914 16746 11.4296 Santos Laguna 1840 16778 10.9667 CF América 1806 16677 10.8293 NEC Nijmegen 3322 33623 9.8801 Heracles Almelo 3082 33557 9.1844 FC Twente Enschede 3056 33616 9.0909 SM Caen 3115 37572 8.2907 Real Sociedad 2976 37473 7.9417 RCD Espanyol Barcelona 2884 37614 7.6674 Sporting Gijón 2774 37549 7.3877 OGC Nice 2745 37599 7.3007 SC Bastia 2706 37281 7.2584 Deportivo Alavés 2726 37558 7.2581 FC Utrecht 2370 33577 7.0584 FC Nantes 2610 37563 6.9483 Ajax Amsterdam 2286 33655 6.7925 UNAM Pumas 1126 16814 6.6968 Stade Rennais FC 2394 37469 6.3893 HSC Montpellier 2331 37499 6.2162 New York Red Bulls 1994 33660 5.9239 Valencia CF 2208 37441 5.8973 Everton FC 2189 37620 5.8187 Olympique Marseille 2184 37595 5.8093 Cagliari Calcio 2022 35481 5.6988 AS Nancy-Lorraine 2108 37507 5.6203 CF Pachuca 940 16749 5.6123 Manchester United 2099 37593 5.5835 Olympique Lyon 2017 37501 5.3785 FC Groningen 1782 33481 5.3224 PEC Zwolle 1726 33479 5.1555 AS Saint-Étienne 1822 37349 4.8783 Deportivo Guadalajara 763 16729 4.5609 Orlando City SC 1406 33502 4.1968