Halftime Quakes trail 3-0. They gave up all 3 in a 5 minute span. They need to make adjustments and play their game. They did score 4 on Zenit last game but that will be hard to do in 30 minutes
5-0 Zenit. Volley in 6 yard box. Quakes are badly outclassed in this game. Maybe they are just run down playing everyday
Final 6-0. Quakes were totally dominated. Too bad, it was a nice run. Things the Quakes did well: They played very risky passing out of the back and it worked quite well. I expected them to cough up some easy chances but they picked the right passes almost every time. The problems started when they got to half line. What they didn't do well: Pretty much everything else. They were especially poor on clearing balls that they should have handled easily. Several whiffs of the Vega variety and poor communication with their keeper lead to some easy goals. They also didn't handle corner kicks very well. Zenit was slightly bigger, but it was more Quakes marking poorly than Zenit just pushing them around. Also, the Quake's offense was not executing at all. It looked like every player that touched the ball up front wanted to dribble past 3-4 defenders first before picking his head up. Zenit was happy to see that.
All 44 U18-29 DAs will go to a 2 tier red/blue system The stratification of DA begins, like all of youth soccer. It will be difficult to find players who are willing to pay the travel and expenses at second-tier DAs https://t.co/aasr8BafaG— Steven Bank (@ProfBank) August 2, 2019
MLS teams were leaning towards going to an all MLS DA league. I wonder if this is the first step towards that?
Good for Nico. He played in our AYSO region as a youngster and moved to Club play after 10U. Talented kid and very nice. Shaun is a good guy too. He is coaching with LG United now, I believe.
Here’s another step. Does ussf DA have sponsors? As a former MLS player, @TaylorTwellman understands the importance of developing the league from the ground up.He shares why he’s teamed up with @Audi in supporting the @MLS Club Youth Academies to grow the game across the country. (In partnership with @Audi) #EveryGoalCounts pic.twitter.com/FrLgpMCyL9— The Players' Tribune (@PlayersTribune) July 31, 2019
Jeff Rueter in The Athletic (paywall) reported that the USL will launch a new academy system in 2020/21, where each participating club fields one team that spans U15-U19. The players can also continue to play for their normal clubs.
Good point! I wish USSoccer would work better with the high school system to identify players through their high schools, rather than just club play. Why is high school soccer so different from basketball, baseball, and football? How did we get into this state where club coaches don’t allow their kids to play HS
Not sure about the east coast but in the CCS anyway, HS soccer isn't as good as club ball. It was good in the 70's & 80's but then I think when marquee club soccer started around the late 80's and 90's , all the top players started bypassing playing for their high schools. Its understandable as the season is barely 12 weeks long from November until January or early February. A few top schools though keep their top players intact.
Back in my day, club soccer was played in the fall, and school soccer in the spring, so the schools had access to the best players. And there were no "marquee" clubs yet that went year-round.
I had spoken to the Prospect High School Boys' Soccer. Varsity Coach, Frank Medina a while back and he actually wanted all of his players to play on the same club team. I believe he won 2 CCS D2 Championships since 2009.
I was looking over the new DA Cup schedule for the Quakes academy team and I noticed that Ballistic United is only fielding a U-15 team this year. Perhaps they have decided to just play club soccer at the 17 and 19 level?
Well, I was wrong about Ballistic. They do have a U-17 academy team and the Quake’s academy scrimmaged them tonight. 3-0 Quakes and it wasn’t even that close. Quakes had plenty of scoring opportunities and Ballistic struggled to get the ball near the goal until late when the Quakes had most of the bench players in. A couple of U-15 kids played up in the game and had some good moments. On Saturday the U-17s scrimmaged Napa United and beat them 2-0. Week before that they beat Santa Rosa United 6-2. Good looking group that should have a much better season this year.
The Quakes have posted an "Academy Season Preview" to their website for the U-19s, U-17s, U-15s, U-14s, and U-13s, but other than a few quotes about the three homegrowns who are eligible to play on the U-19 (Gilbert & Jacob) and U-17 (Cade), the "previews" basically say the coaches are very excited to work with their group of kids. https://www.sjearthquakes.com/post/2019/09/03/academy-boys-da-coaches-preview-2019-20-season It would have been nice to at least to get a roster for each team. Still, I guess this is progress as I don't recall anything like this in the past.
Quake’s homegrown Gilbert Fuentes scored for the U-17 National Team in the Four Nations Tournament against Holland.
Heard a rumor that the Quakes have offered a homegrown contract to an academy player. Not going to identify him or the team but I heard it was 5 years. That may be standard (3 year guaranteed with 2 option? Just a guess)
Getting pumped for the start of a new academy season this weekend. I think there is a nice “Almeyda” effect this year as several of the boy’s teams have added strong players from other local teams in a focused recruiting campaign. I’m going to follow the U-17 team closely this year but I’m also intrigued by the U-15 and U-19s as well. I’m going to probably jinx them by saying this, but I only know of a single preseason loss by all 3 teams, the final in China with the U-15s. The teams open in LA on Saturday against the Galaxy and then on Sunday against Patedores.