YNT-eligible NASL/USL players: 2017/18 offseason thread

Wow, the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research!

 

BMW has a big-ass plant in Greenville, a few miles north of Clemson. Daimler has also put a Mercedes-Benz plant in the area. (Volvo put a plant outside of Charleston, too.)

It's poured a LOT of money into Greenville-Spartanburg.

 

CU-ICAR is a stand alone facility off I-85 in Greenville about 30 minutes from Clemson Universities main campus in Clemson, SC. They have the United States only advanced degrees in Automotive Engineering.

It is about 10 years old at this point. It also does a ton or research work for automotive companies. They have one of two automotive wind tunnel there for instance.

I think the genesis of it was piggyback Clemson Universities engineering program off the BMW Plant in Greer coupled with NASCAR who employees lots of engineers in the Charlotte Area at the time to create a advanced degree and research lab to help keep South Carolina at the forefront of the automotive industry.

Why announce a USL team there is anybodies guess.

 

RBNY II roster. Not sure exactly who is thread eligible:

Goalkeepers (3): Evan Louro*, Sam Illin**, Matthew Frank**
Defenders (9): Wahab Ackwei, Jordan Bailon**, Niko De Vera, Kyle Duncan*, Andrew Lombard, Hassan Ndam*, Kevin Politz*, Tommy Redding*, Jordan Scarlett
Midfielders (10): Jose Aguinaga, Vincent Bezecourt*, Cristian Casseres, Jr.*, Steven Echevarria, Ethan Kutler, Chris Lema, John Murphy**, Jared Stroud, Andrew Tinari, Florian Valot*
Forwards (4): Tom Barlow, Stefano Bonomo*, J.P. Marin**, Ben Mines*

 

So Chris Lema is back with NYRB after all.................................

 

I look forward to rubbing your nose in it whenever he scores a goal.

 

Aaron Cervantes '02 signed with Orange County. I'm not 100% sure but I think it's truly a pro deal, not an academy/amateur contract.

https://www.orangecountysoccer.com/news_article/show/898172

 

Excerpt- ""The signing of Aaron is a huge first step towards creating the ‘pathway to professional soccer’ in Orange County that I have spoken about since the day I purchased the team 18 months ago," said Orange County SC Owner James Keston. "We did not sign Aaron to join an Academy or to sit on the bench…we signed him because we expect him to earn a spot and play on our first team."


The timing of this signing is interesting to me. As the press release notes, Cervantes was w/ LAG up until this 2017-18 season where he joined Pateadores and in a matter of months has signed what looks to be a pro contract. Just speculating but I wonder if he was concerned w/ LAGs resume when it comes to developing homegrowns and decided to bounce to a non-MLS affiliated DA so he could go pro somewhere else. Two talented and also young keepers in Lopez and Vom Steeg being ahead of him maybe factor in as well. ATL2 signed a player from a California DA already, seems likely more and more MLS academy players will follow a similar path if they're unconvinced by their parent clubs ability to develop/integrate them into first team players and the 2nd division becomes more appealing

 

S2 vs T2

Your first starting XI to take the field in Tacoma!

One hour to kickoff at Cheney 🙌⚽️

GK: Brown (25)
RB: Usman (34)
CB: Alfaro (15)
CB: Rogers (33) – captain
LB: Ulysse (36)
CM: Teves (43)
CM: Martin (42)
RM: Hinds (31)
AM: Olsen (71)
LM: Hopeau (37)
FW: Chenkam (99) pic.twitter.com/ERLiTZ6wi2

— Tacoma Defiance (@TACdefiance) March 17, 2018

Tonight's T2 starting XI to open the 2018 @USL regular season!!!! #SEAvPOR ⚽️🚨⚽️🚨⚽️ pic.twitter.com/o5x2GidK0X

— Portland Timbers2 (@TimbersFC2) March 17, 2018

 

Rogers ('99) captains Sounders II in their first match. Teves ('00) and Martin ('00) start in CM. Hopeau ('98) starts at LW, Hinds ('97) starts at RW. On the bench is Fowler ('00), Brisco ('00), Morris ('99), Gonzalez ('01) and Serrano ('02).

Hanson ('99), Lowe ('98) and Ebobisse ('97) start for Timbers II. Gruno ('99), Anguiano ('00), Klein ('99), Calixtro ('00) and Cini ('99) are on the bench.

 

What is Morris' professional status? Is he signed to a USL deal or is he playing as an amateur?

 

Rogers ('99): He made a few errors, which got himself into trouble, but on each instance, he had a great recovery. Still, I can't say these were good sequences, considering he put himself into bad positions. Two of these instances were taking too long on the ball, and another was poor positioning. His positioning could improve, its not bad, but its not great yet. Passing was mediocre today. I think he's an average/slightly above average passer, but it was bad today. He was absolutely dominant in the air though. He effectively plays like he's 6'7, even though he's only 6'3. I'm not sure he lost a header during this match, and he must've won 15 of them. His man scored the only Timbers goal, but I can't blame him on the goal. The keeper dropped a cross at the feet of the striker, you can't expect the CB to expect his GK to drop a cross. Overall decent match, but can be better.

Teves/Anguiano ('00): Teves kept the ball moving pretty well as a #8, and played some good passes that got his teammates into good positions. He was one of the best players in the first half. Second half he saw less of the ball as his team was defending a lead, and sitting back. Defensive game isn't there, not much of a dribbler, under-sized, not very athletic, but the passing game was very good. Anguiano was subbed on for Lowe early on who got injured (looked like a head injury). I couldn't judge much of Lowe's game as it was early on in the match. Anguiano showed some of the same things that Teves did. He wasn't as influential, but was decent. He had a little more wiggle, and looked to have a slightly higher soccer IQ. Same weaknesses though.

Hanson ('99): He was playing out of position as a RW, I think he's a RB or RWB. He showed some decent offensive sequences, but I don't think he's good enough offensively to play winger.

Ebobisse ('97): He hit the post/crossbar twice. Once off a header, another a shot from a few yards inside the box. Didn't do that much, otherwise, but his team also wasn't that good.

Serrano('02)/Morris('99)/Cini('99): Serrano had a few nice technical sequences as a second half sub, but wasn't very involved in the match. Morris was pretty involved late on. He was subbed on as a LW (I think he's a LB), and he was incredibly wasteful in front of goal. Could've had two goals, but he was trying to finesse the scoring opportunities too much. Pretty athletic player though who I think could be a decent LB, I'm not sure he has winger ability. Cini was a late sub, he had a nice shot late on, but otherwise did little else.

Martin, Hinds, Hopeau looked like non-prospects. Hinds did draw a penalty, and he scored a nice goal, but wasn't involved in the match, otherwise, and the penalty he drew was soft. I tend to think if you can physically keep up and you can't influence a USL game (pretty much at all), you aren't a real prospect, all three were pretty much invisible.

 

Robert Castellanos signed for RGV FC.

https://www.houstondynamo.com/post/2018/03/16/rgv-fc-adds-13-players-roster-ahead-2018-season

 

Between USL signees and MLS players likely loaned to USL, I now count 11 American players born in 2001 or 02 who are under professional contracts.

MLS
Jacob Akanyirige --- D --- San Jose Earthquakes --- 12/30/01
Efrain Alvarez --- M --- Los Angeles Galaxy --- 6/19/02
George Bello --- D --- Atlanta United --- 1/22/02
Gianluca Busio --- M/F --- Sporting Kansas City --- 5/28/02
Gilbert Fuentes --- M --- San Jose Earthquakes --- 2/21/02
Bryan Reynolds --- F --- FC Dallas --- 6/28/01
Joe Scally --- D --- NYCFC --- 12/31/02
USL
Aaron Cervantes --- GK --- Orange County SC --- 3/20/02
Azriel Gonzalez --- M --- Seattle Sounders 2 --- 5/24/01
Diego Lopez --- F --- Atlanta United 2 --- 1/6/02
Rey Serrano --- M --- Seattle Sounders 2 --- 5/9/02

 

Roberto Hategan, M, Sacramento Republic, 4/26/01

 

Thanks.

Is that a pro deal?

 

Yes: https://www.sacrepublicfc.com/news_article/show/809518

Sacramento have signed a couple of other kids to academy deals, but when independent USL clubs do that it's usually just for PR. (Aedan Stanley at STL FC is an exception.)

 

ATL 2 signed Carranza

https://www.dirtysouthsoccer.com/20...nited-2-sign-jose-carranza-and-devon-sandoval