YNT-eligible lower-division pro players: 2018 In-season thread

Jamie, will you be doing a USYNT-eligible stat total at the end of the USL season?

 

Yes, likely in article format this time.

 

Apparently there are four parts (This four-part series will trace the history), but here are the first three:

History of Sounders Academy Part I: Scouting and Identification
September 17, 2018

History of Sounders Academy Part 2: Coaching Specialization
September 21, 2018

History of Sounders Academy Part III: Programming and the Pathway
October 2, 2018

 

Look forward to it. Please post a link when you do so.

 

Was this posted...

https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2018/10/12/mls-players-are-well-represented-usls-20-under-20-rankings

A week after MLSsoccer.com released our 22 Under 22 rankings, USLsoccer.com released their 20 Under 20. As you might expect, MLS clubs well represented on the list, with 19 of the players tied to MLS clubs.

LA Galaxy's Efrain Alvarez topped USLsoccer.com's rankings and was No. 17 on MLSsoccer.com's 22 Under 22. Atlanta's Andrew Carleton and Sporting Kansas City's Jaylin Lindsey made both lists. Alvarez's Galaxy II teammate Ethan Zubak came in at No. 2.

The usual suspects had the most players on the 20 Under 20: FC Dallas (3) with Jesus Ferreira, Brandon Servania and Adonijah Reid; Seattle Sounders (3), with Rodrigue Ele, Denso Ulysse and Sam Rogers; New York Red Bulls (3), with Hassan Ndam, Cristian Casseres Jr. and Ben Mines.​

The USL list:
https://www.uslsoccer.com/20-under-20

 

And just like that...

The Homegrown @LAGOSKUNGA at it again 😉 pic.twitter.com/dlw9bo29pj

— ATL UTD 2 (@atlutd2) October 14, 2018

Saucin' on you 😏@LAGOSKUNGA with his second goal of the night! pic.twitter.com/o7vtQAjBwG

— ATL UTD 2 (@atlutd2) October 14, 2018

 

'03

Congratulations to our own Danny Leyva on signing with @SoundersFC2! 🙌

Excited to see what your future holds! 👏#TheFuture pic.twitter.com/toiDfMETaw

— Sounders FC Academy (@SoundersAcademy) October 16, 2018

 

So by my count, Sounders have signed six American academy teenagers to USL deals the past few months.

Azriel Gonzalez, M (01)
Danny Leyva, M (03)
Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez, F (02)
Danny Robles, M (02)
Rey Serrano, M, (02)
Marlon Vargas, M (01)

Am I missing anyone?

 

Alec Diaz, who signed alongside Robles.

 

Lower division clubs that let him do things his way are Wynalda’s happy place. He has done very well at his last three lower division clubs. He is very good at working with a limited budget and he structures contracts with well thought out incentives. It will be interesting to see how he goes about building his roster.

 

This is an interesting story.

Not only is FCD starting their USL D3 team next year, there is scuttlebutt from Mexico that FCD is starting a club team at a similar level in Monterrey. The tercera division, which is a regional league with a lot of reserve teams from the major clubs in Mexico.

#FCDallas Academy news from down Mexico way. https://t.co/MEtGPiex8i

— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) October 17, 2018

As people know, FCD has had an academy affiliate there for quite some time called FC Dallas MX.
https://www.facebook.com/FcDallasMx/
Perhaps this is another opportunity to loan youngsters to, particularly those that are interested in starting a club career in Mexico? You can see a Johan Gomez or Ricardo Pepi or Julian Hinajosa (the list goes on) signing with the FCD first team and then being loaned to that affiliate when they turn 18.

Just keep working on finding opportunities for young players............................

 

I really like the idea of a MLS owned and operated reserve team in Mexico.

Rumors always pop up about LigaMX + MLS merging, which seem far fetched, but this would be an interesting way to increase collaboration. No idea how it works logistically though.

 

I like the idea, but how many pro players does Dallas think they have right now? Between the Dallas partnership, the USL League One team, and now this, I don't see how they have 40 something players ready to go underneath the first team.

 

I don't know how it'll work. There are a whole lot of youngsters with Mexican heritage in the FCD academy. Also, let's not forget, at their other youth affiliates like FCD El Paso, FCD Rio Grande Valley, FCD Alamo, etc. And of course the idea would presumably be to promote talented youngsters from FCD MX to this squad.

It's possible that the Mexican tercera division will actually be better than the USL D3, which will be a real work in progress for years. That's an established league dedicated to player development. Tigres, Monterrey, etc. have reserve teams in the same Group that FCD is supposedly going to be in.

 

Reyna said that NYCFC will not be having a reserve team anytime soon. Not good for Scally and Sands. Its also not good, considering they have a pretty good academy. What will happen for Gray, Haak, Jasson, Rando, Owusu?

 

The same thing the other good academies without their own reserve team have been doing - loaning them out or letting them practice with the starters and hope they improve that way. It's the single best thing RBNY did in establishing an early reserve club and using it to develop prospects and not worry about winning or attendance issues. Personally I'm hoping and expecting a big increase in how FCD prospects do with their reserve club adding those tweener minutes and the Bayern deal to season further. Just another example of how young MLS is really is compared to countries with 100 year old plus setups.

 

I'd like US Soccer to make having a professional reserve/second/USL/call it what you will team a requirement of first division sanctioning.

 

If I were them, I'd be considering Red Bulls. That might present style of play issues (specifically for Haak), but if NYCFC isn't going to fully commit to it's youth, the youth shouldn't reward them with their loyalty.

Of course, maybe there are sufficient plans in place. They were able to get Sands some USL minutes, and I would assume that they have some things in place for these kids to get professional minutes and continue their development.

 

The problem with being a NYCFC prospect and switching to the Red Bulls is distance. Getting to practices and games in the New York-New Jersey-Long Island area can be a nightmare. For some, the Red Bulls might as well be in California.

 

Not to mention, I guess Sands and Scally have already signed with NYC... Not much they can do at this point.

 

https://www.socceramerica.com/publi...aign=20085&hashid=gQkyRnmzcImx5817_j8UkV2zFdE

Interesting interview of Eric Wynalda about his upcoming job coaching and managing the Las Vegas Lights. I think that a lot of people in the pro game in this country could learn something from how loads contracts with incentives. Time will tell if he makes his contracts too incentive based. He certainly has been successful in the past.

 

https://www.uslsoccer.com/news_article/show/962251

The Austin Bold will already have a pro team playing in its own soccer specific stadium before an MLS team ever gets to the city of Austin. This team, unlike the MLS franchise, is doing things right. It also appears to be a really good fit for Austin, who have never shown any indication that they can support an MLS level franchise.

I would love to see the state of Texas saturated with franchises like this one. If a franchise shows that it can be super successful, THEN upgrade it to MLS. Anthony Precourt is just interfering with a natural process.