YNT-eligible lower-division pro players: 2019 In-season thread

And they gave up 3 goals inside 25 minutes. USL Championship is just a tough level for what is mostly a hybrid U19/U17 team.

 

They should undoubtedly move down to League One unless they change their policies. Their players can't be learning much if 75% of each game is the other team waltzing around up 3-0.

 

-22 GD through 9 games.

They know more about player development than me, but hard to see how it benefits most players to get smoked every week.

How do offensive players develop on a team with 4 goals in 9 games?

Defenders are least is trial by fire.

 

I don't think a separate U23 league is the answer. The whole point of the USL partnership was to have players playing in games that matter, and against adults.

Instead, outlier MLS2 teams like Tacoma that skew extremely young should add a few more young-20s solid-pro types to stabilize the quality of the team. If you do that well, like NYRB, you can find some real MLS contributors from that group, too.

 

This guy was an unused sub last night.

Local talent continues to stand out!

San Antonio FC adds midfielder Jose Gallegos after impressing in the @SAFCProAcademy ETP.

Full release: https://t.co/kOtM5byd2h #Defend210 #OurFuture pic.twitter.com/8SuVBeU6qI

— San Antonio FC (@SanAntonioFC) April 25, 2019

 

One Coach who appears to be doing a pretty good job of negotiating the sometimes complex demands of an MLS second team in USL is Richie Williams at Loudoun United. I always thought that Richie would make a better pro coach than youth coach and I am glad that he appears to be doing a solid job in a tricky situation at Loudoun. DCU need for him to be successful - their academy needs upgrading and their facilities aren’t done yet. Richie appears to have stabilized the ship and gotten them competing in each game while giving opportunities to play for DC’s best prospects. While Loudoun is far from a model franchise, it is also far from the nightmare that it could be with poor leadership.

 

What’s the deal with AOC not playing much for Tacoma?

 

He’s with the U17 NT.

 

Yeah, I follow the NHL pretty closely too, and their AHL affiliates always have "veteran" (which could mean 26-year-old), career minor leaguers to stabilize things and provide some guidance for the kids. Of course, you don't want to crowd out your younger prospects, but you need to give them a stable, reasonably competitive team where they can develop. I think the AHL put limits in place on how many players you can dress each game over a certain age as well.

 

Other people have brought up good points, but I just wanted to add that many people view the U23 premier league as one of the issues with youth development in England.

 

Tanner Tessmann starting for NTX in a lineup that includes eight other YNT-eligibles.

 

Eryk Williamson had a brace for Timbers 2. He’s quietly having a very good season in USL kid deserves a chance like Ebobisse who got a chance himself because of injuries. Eryk will probably only get his chance if there’s injuries too

 

Thank goodness DCU has a USL team now so it can stop letting these guys go without giving them a chance to develop as pros.

 

Credit to @ShaftBrewer for continuing to do god’s work. Will Vint highlights, he turns 18 in October. Not sure what his contract situation is since he signed with ATL 2. Assuming he’d be on a free, he’s got to have Bundesliga interest right?

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Impressive touch by Vint on a variety of passes. Also seems to collect calmly with both feet.

 

Was that the most recent game? I thought he was terrible on Wednesday. Kept losing the ball in the middle of midfield and no defensive contribution. Vint has good technique and passing range, but I think his decision making with the ball isn’t very good. He’ll often try a long diagonal that will look good on those every touch videos instead of hitting the easy ten yard pass to an open player. I’ve been much more impressed by Campbell, among the two academy players. Vint has the Zelalem skill set with some extra diagonals, IMO.

Vint is in the lineup again today, as is Conway and Carleton. Puckerin, an ‘02 academy keeper, makes the bench for the first time and Goslin makes his first appearance of the season on the bench. He’s been injured. I believe from reading interviews by both Carleton and Ramos, Carleton has asked the Atlanta United staff to play him in the reserves for the time being instead of having him play 10-15 minutes off the bench for the first team. Ramos is preaching playing time as the big key for players to make the U-20 World Cup team and Carleton has gotten a lot of that recently and is playing very well.

 

I was at the NCFC vs. Hartford game yesterday. Fun game as an NCFC fan and good to watch Manny Perez in person as he put in a MOTM performance. He did well coming in from wide positions and had lots of space to work with as Hartford was hopelessly overmatched. His assist to Kristo for the fourth goal was inch perfect and a really impressive ball

Perez has been beat out pretty soundly by Dest and now Araujo, which I feel is fair, but I think his final ball is a little better than either of them. He has very accurate crosses and makes good decisions about when to keep them low and when to cut the ball back.

 

Any link to the articles?

 

Combine this with what Ramos had previously said about his lack of minutes and what he has said about McKenzie.

https://www.prosoccerusa.com/mls/atlanta-united-fc/andrew-carleton-atlanta-united-usmnt/

Today's game Carleton wasn't very involved. He didn't play poorly, but Atlanta couldn't get control of the ball, and was defending the whole game. He was the biggest threat in the Atlanta team, but that isn't saying much, considering they posed no threat. Atlanta was missing most of the players that have helped them have some success this season. They fielded a lot of the back up level USL players, who aren't very good.

Vint had another bad game. He was at fault on the first goal with another bad passing decision to hit the ball to the wing when he had a player open in front of him, which resulted in a turnover and goal. It was almost exactly what I had described above before the game. I would've also expected more from the build up. He's the most talented of any of the defenders or CM's at building up from the back, but he was as bad as the others in this aspect today. Conway is basically a non-prospect. I don't see anything he does well. Like Carleton, you can't fault him too much in this game because Atlanta couldn't get the ball towards the opposing goal, but I've yet to see him do much well, and I've watched him play 10+ times.

 

It's always interesting to me to see where some of these guys wind up in semi-pro soccer. Christian Enriquez '98 is on the team too.

USOC first round is coming up — that's usually a bonanza of where-is-he-now stories.