YNT-eligible lower-division pro players: 2018/19 Offseason thread

They said he was training with Vitesse, I don't know if there are reports of how he did it.

 

DJ Dean '98 has re-signed with Tulsa.

https://www.roughnecksfc.com/news_article/show/985783

 

Orlando City B will apparently be announcing their roster soon. This article claims that there will be seven players from Orlando's DA. It is not clear to me how many of them will be on professional contracts. We know they have already signed two young DA kids to USL deals.

https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/orlando-city-sc/orlando-city-b-roster/

 

Eight players from various national teams?

 

I'm guessing that translates to "eight players who have been called up to one youth camp, at any age level, for any country, at some point in their life".

 

That's a lot of variety!

 

Congratulations to our own Josh Atencio on signing with @SoundersFC2! 🙌

We can’t wait to see what your future holds! 👏#TheFuture pic.twitter.com/k630srCvVk

— Sounders FC Academy (@SoundersAcademy) January 22, 2019

 

Announcement of Ofeimu signing with Bethlehem.

https://www.brotherlygame.com/2019/...mu-signs-pro-contract-with-bethlehem-steel-fc

 

https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/987940

USL East Bay take a step forward on their 18,000 stadium plan. It may just be me, but 18,000 seems extraordinarily ambitious for a USL franchise. They may be looking to upgrade to MLS eventually. Regardless, if this continues forward, it will be great for USL players in northern California.

I know that this is a thread about players, but nothing gets me more excited than an article about a new stadium being built. Stadiums lead to more stable clubs, which means that clubs will have a better revenue model which means that players have access to a decent, consistant wage.

I really hope that this is the real deal. There is nothing more uplifting than finding out about a new franchise that might 1. Last and 2. Be able to play it’s players decently over time.

 

Concord? Yikes.

Good luck getting 18,000 people to go way up north to see USL-quality soccer.

 

Yeah if this is was in Oakland, it’d be ambitious but somewhat understandable. In Concord? A 5K capacity range and playing in League One sounds more reasonable.

 

That is the problem in virtually every area of the country - you can build a decent stadium almost anywhere if you go far enough away from the metropolitan area for your team - see Austin Bold. If you try to build a stadium in a great location, things become a whole lot harder.

My guess is that the only way that this stadium gets built is if it is sold as a multi-use stadium for rodeos, XFL, X-Games, and maybe USL soccer as well.

 

Why yes, it's a really dumb idea anywhere in the country.

You may as well build the stadium out in the boonies in Mountain House, Tracy, or Modesto. Hooray, the land will be cheap!

You just cannot build a stadium that large in a population that small without some kind of automatic draw. You can fill a big stadium in Manhattan, KS, or Stillwater, OK because there are giant universities there. Concord doesn't have that.

I understand that you're not disagreeing per-se, but saying that land is cheap, and this is an issue in many places =/= it's a good idea.

Hence the "yikes".

 

First dibs on USL East Bay in the Death Pool

 

You can have USL East Bay.

I've already claimed the entirety of NISA, so the game is basically over already.

 

S2 manager John Hutchinson has gone back to Australia. He's being replaced by Chris Little, who is also Seattle's director of academy coaching. Little is the guy who coached the U17s to the DA title last year, so this seems like a good development on multiple levels.

https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/988025

 

Dude - take the yes.

 

Concord (in a smaller stadium) would be a fine spot for an Earthquakes’ League One team.

 

OFFICIAL 📰 North Texas SC names former Dallas Burn player, Eric Quill, as first head coach in team history. #WeAreNext | #WeAreOne https://t.co/KSeRUiPYzq

— North Texas SC (@northtexasSC) January 24, 2019

That's how you do it.

 

Yeah, actually a feel good story for a rival DA club who selflessly sent two players on for better opportunities (one of which quickly moved on to Bayern) and then getting rewarded himself by that very club. That is how you do it. Now I want to see if his ability to see hidden gems repeats itself.

 

Kinda out of nowhere, but I kinda love it.

Bringing in a guy that's hugely successful at the academy level also tells us the direction that FCD is gonna take with this USL team. We knew this already, but this is basically an academy bridge. Its gonna be a very young group.

We also know that because they've signed only a few players for that USL team and the first game is in March.

 

I agree and think it will be a lot of the current U19 team. Have heard they handing out contracts like crazy to the current u19s and those kids are trying to decide if that is a better option or college.

 

College, by a mile, but don't tell those kids that.

 

My initial reaction is college but some kids never planned to go to college and college may not be the right choice for them. If that is the case they can take the USL deal and see where it goes, knowing they were never going to college even if they didn't get a USL deal.

Tough decision that has to be made by each family and player but yea I tend to think College would open up more doors for most kids.

 

In general, but college soccer being a partial scholarship sport makes it much tougher decision for kids that don't come for some level of money. A lot of the kids that take the USL deal seem to be lower SES types.

Turning down a near full ride to Wake Forest (or similar) though is likely not a choice that is going to be made by many and the type of prospects that have that offer and likely your next tier of players that don't get MLS deals, but the type that would be your ideal USL signings.