I'm not sure where to post this, here or in the News from other MLS teams thread. http://www.cbssports.com/soccer/new...-the-u-s-womens-national-team-in-a-scrimmage/ I'm not sure what to make of this. Does that speak badly of the USWNT or does it speak well of FC Dallas U-15 team (and other MLS academy teams) or is this much ado about nothing?
I'd probably lean a little towards it being a good thing for the U-15 team. I know in the past the USWNT has lost to a high school team, so a U-15 team doing it probably speaks towards that younger team being good.
I didn't know that the USWNT had lost to a high school team before. I would have expected them to at least be able to beat high school teams without any problem but maybe I'm assuming that the USWNT is better than it really is.
When the women's team was in town back in the day (2005, maybe?) my club team tried to setup a friendly with them. They turned it down. They had lost to a boys team our age a few weeks prior and, rumor was, they didn't want to go through that again.
Is it bad that my first thought was maybe the USWNT players should get paid what the U15 boys are....after all, they keep screaming about equal pay for equal work. Seriously doubt the U15 squad could beat the USMNT like that in a warmup scrimmage. It wasn't a squeaker either, it was a 5-2 final.
What I find surprising is that a U15 boys team could beat the USWNT. Men will be better than women at many sports due to their physical strength, etc., but I didn't expect that a U15 boys team could beat the USWNT 5-2. I would have expected a much closer game.
It could just be a really good Dallas team, and the article also made it seem like the USWNT were doing it more as a warm up and not being serious. That does make sense to not play all out, since they're likely mostly looking to become match fit and not wanting to risk injury. If it were a tournament setup, I could see them beating a U-15 team. As far as a HS team? I could see the high school team still winning. While the US hasn't produced a Ronaldo or Messi, just look at a lot of the youth around the world who are playing well at a high school age. Pulisic from the US already looks great, and is already playing for a good team.
Eh, just reading the score of the game is a bad way of telling how the game went. I wouldn't be surprised if the women's team rotated in players and different formations to try new things. There is also the fact that the women's team has nothing to gain in that game except possible injury so they're using it as fitness and nothing more. I'm not overly shocked - the FC Dallas academy is a damn good setup - and the women's team looked just fine against Russia.
A couple of Generation Adidas Cup bits: mlssoccer.com article on players to watch - RSL #9 Sebastian Soto makes the list And today's game v Real Madrid:
Not looking good. The ref has given RM 2 PK's in the last 5 minutes, and I think RSL has like 3 yellows already. This ref is blowing his whistle about every 30 seconds. The boys on both sides look frustrated with the amount of stopages. It is 2-0 at half.
U.S. U-17 boys national team GOALKEEPERS (2): Carlos Joaquim Dos Santos (Benfica; Philadelphia, Pa.), Justin Garces (Kendall SC; Miami, Fla.). DEFENDERS (5): Christopher Gloster (New York Red Bulls; Montclair, N.J.), Jaylin Lindsey (Sporting Kansas City; Charlotte, N.C.), James Sands (New York City FC; Rye, N.Y.), Arturo Vasquez (FC Golden State; Mira Loma, Calif.), Akil Watts (IMG Academy; Fort Wayne, Ind.). MIDFIELDERS (7): George Acosta (Weston FC; Hollywood, Fla.), Taylor Booth (Real Salt Lake AZ; Eden, Utah), Christopher Durkin (D.C. United; Glen Allen, Va.), Blaine Ferri (Solar Chelsea SC; Southlake, Texas), Christopher Goslin (Atlanta United FC; Locust Grove, Ga.), Indiana Vassilev (IMG Academy; Savannah, Ga.), Adrian Villegas (Portland Timbers; Hood River, Ore.). FORWARDS (6): Ayomide Akinola (Toronto FC; Brampton, Ont.), Andrew Carleton (Atlanta United FC; Powder Springs, Ga.), Zyen Jones (Atlanta United FC; Clarkston, Ga.), Bryan Reynolds, Jr. (FC Dallas; Little Elm, Texas), Joshua Sargent (Scott Gallagher Missouri; O'Fallen, Mo.) Timothy Weah (Paris Saint-Germain; Rosedale, N.Y.) https://www.socceramerica.com/artic...-u-17-world-cup-qualifying.html?edition=17094
Huh. Unless I missed someone, the only MLS team with multiple players selected is Atlanta. I didn't even know they had an academy going yet. So, after seeing this post, I looked it up (https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2016...lanta-united-academy-turning-heads-across-mls), and I guess they (the AUFC academy) vacuumed up youth prospects that were already on the U-17 team. Has that happened everywhere an MLS academy has opened? Do they become the de facto pinnacle of youth development in every area where they open up, or has Atlanta done something special to attract those players?
I've never heard the story about how Allen arrived at the academy. This wikipedia article doesn't really tell it. Did the RSL academy scoop up YNT prospects from other non-MLS academies in Arizona when it opened? Is that how they got Allen?
RSL's U16 and U18 games in the Academy Playoffs start today. U16s play the Sacremento Republic U16s at 2:30 U18s play the Dallas Texans U18s at 6:30 (no clue what timezone those are, but the matches are being played in Indiana - EDT) None of the RSL Academy games will be streamed, but you should be able to follow things on twitter @ussoccer_acad http://www.ussoccerda.com/sam/standings/regevent/index.php?containerId=NDEyODk4MA==&partialGames=0
The times are in EDT, and in a late breaking announcement, they are being streamed: http://www.ussoccerda.com/2017-u1516-playoffs-rslaz-sacrep (hopefully the U18 will also be available - check http://www.ussoccerda.com/2017-playoff-group-games to see)
U16s won their Sat game 3-0. U18s drew their game 2-2. Both sit atop their groups - U16s 6pts +5GD U18s 4pts +3GD The final group stage games are today the U16s play Vardar who are at 1pt and -1GD the U18s play Vancouver with whom they're tied on points but ahead on GD No streams announced yet.
Streams have been announced: U16s v Vardar at 12:30 MDT U18s v Vancouver at 4:30 MDT Happy streaming!
U16s playing today: U-15/16 3:00pm CT Sporting Kansas City Real Salt Lake AZ Childrens Mercy Park U18s playing tomorrow: U-17/18 7:30pm MT (no stream) Real Salt Lake AZ LA Galaxy Grande Sports World hopefully the Acadamy's twitter stream will provide updates.
take a bow, kid. Most of our first team guys would have hit that into row z 16's are up 3-0 and KC just got a player sent off. Looks like win in the bag
The 2017-2018 Academy schedule is out. It looks like two dates to put on the calendar are: 10/14 when RSL meets Barcelona in Casa Grande 3/2 when RSL meets Barcelona in Herriman. Full schedule is here (filter by club to make it manageable)