Bump, for comments from Brian Sciaretta's post-mortem of the U17 World Cup. He's talking about the future professional prospects of some of the key members of the team (but not the stars already with European teams), and the importance of these players getting minutes in MLS. Who wants to take bets on how many minutes Jaylin Lindsey gets for SKC next year? I'll put the over/under at 15.5. The whole article is very good, by the way: http://americansoccernow.com/articles/what-does-the-future-hold-for-the-us-u-17-teenagers.
I just looked at the SPR Roster page. 20 players, 5 of 18 field players are currently over 23. One field player and one goalkeeper are currently 23. I'd like to see MLS encourage their teams to have their USL affiliates be U-23 (U-25/26 for GKs) teams, with the odd injury rehab first teamer. If you're 27 and playing in the USL, you're likely not going to be someone that would be above end of the bench replacement level in MLS.
Honestly, MLS shouldn't need to encourage their teams to be U23. Teams should want to develop U23 players. The goal shouldn't be to support a potential "late bloomer". Let independent USL teams do that. MLS teams should be trying to develop players that aren't "late bloomers". The hard part of this is the MLS Drafted Seniors. They're likely close to 23 and you don't have much time with them on a USL roster prior to being over 23. But take Jaylin Linsday for example ... He should be the starting RB on SPR next year unless he's getting time with MLS. Colton Storm shouldn't be an option for SPR next year, you either make Storm the backup to Zusi over SAS, or you move on from him. There are probably 4 or 5 roster spots that are players on USL contracts that really should likely be on independent USL rosters and we push for a few more minutes for Academy players/graduates. But I think we're working towards that ... the roster is younger than last year.
Seems like this class of Academy "graduates" signed NLI with a group of higher profile NCAA squads. Buzz, this seems to be a trend ... or am I making this up in my head?
This year there were certainly at least a couple players going to higher profile programs than in the past few years, Knox to UNC and Harris to Louisville being the 2 biggest. Here's the link for those that haven't seen it. https://www.sportingkc.com/post/201...g-kc-academy-players-make-college-commitments
Young prospects seeing the academy as, if nothing else, good opportunity to better their odds at a good college is a along point of the academy, I guess?
Yeah ... and really, it started last year, although Wan Kuzain signed with SPR, he was heading to Akron, correct? Just think there's more Power Conference Soccer signings and fewer "Baker"/UMKC signings.
If you want to play in college, playing in a USDA is nearly a guaranteed way to get to a D1 or D2 school.
Bumping this thread b/c I know we've talked about it a lot in a number of other ones, but KC ranked 23rd of 26 on this list is... not good... https://www.ussoccercollective.com/mls/mls-academy-rankings
The talent pool is a B- and the quality of development is rated at D+? Who is heading up the academy development and are the coaches that poor? No wonder we rarely see promising players out of the SKC academy. Waste of money, time and talent.
My rantings and ravings about Peter on this forum are mostly about this. The academy was supposed to be the pipeline of players. It isn't, so SKC have moved to a model of older euros. As someone with a lot of first hand knowledge about the 2001-2004 group, it amazes me that next to nothing came out of that pool of players. The most talented typically opted for college over SKCII. One of the best prospects (maybe the best) left the states to get his training. "They have also struggled to improve their players from the U15 level through to the first team — many promising prospects have faded. " Please correctly interpret that statement as the coaching within the academy sucks.
100% 4-3-3 possession, counter press, Peter style soccer. The concept is that they would develop players that learn the system early and are ready to contribute to the first team. In reality, they develop players that learned a single position in a single style of play.
Which is honestly why you probably haven't seen much out of the players that have gone to college and graduated that the club passed on.
Exactly. They are not developed to learn how to solve the game in front of them, but rather programed how to play a specific position within a specific style.
I agree that the academy needs to be much less of a pipeline to Vermes-ball and much more focused on direct development of young players to be the best they can be... But it's also not some weird and new sin to do. Some of the most famed academies in history were very much built around a singular style, like Ajax or (********ing gasp) Barcelona. Furthermore, those academies built players in basically exactly the same style as Pete is going for. I think this qualifies again as hubris, where Pete's big ideas outpace his ability to coach, manage, and instill at the level required to make it work.
You are correct that clubs do have their style all the way up, but those styles are also would seem to be much more flexible in their use and deployment than Vermes ball which as we've seen is very inflexible.
More changes to the academy staff, Beetlejuice is back in KC (his kid is in the academy). It’s the end of an era for our soccer program as Coach Lee Tschantret prepares for the next stage of his coaching career. After leading the Dons for 16 years, he is heading to Sporting Kansas City Academy. Please join us in thanking him for the many ways he has served our Dons.! pic.twitter.com/JZgWVTi22t— Loyola Blakefield (@LoyolaDons) July 15, 2023
Former indoor soccer player, was on the Attack when they won NPSL championship team. Had a reputation of being nasty, one of those guys you hate when he's on the other team. He's been coaching high school as far as I can tell since retiring. His son scored against Cincinnati this year in the MLSNP game there.
His background is very Jon Parry. Former indoor pro. Big into futsal. Part of the same US Youth Futsal national team program that Parry was a big part of. I think he was a "talent evaluator" at some of the USYF national team tryouts my son attended. Some googling indicates he was a club coach at Pipeline SC, a club with ECNL boys teams. ECNL is the top level of boys soccer outside of an MLS academy. Similar to hiring Declan to replace Parry, this isn't a needle mover.
Not sure if this is the right thread, but former SKC Academy and SKC II player Jayvin Van Deventer was recognized as all conference in the NPSL. He was my son's teammate for years. Great kid. Maybe he'll come back to SKC after he's finished at Northwestern.