Youngsters in MLS (1997 or later)

This is a fascinating point. Not only do people overrate MLS, overrate Americans in MLS, but they also overrate the foreign DPs in MLS. They are good players, but they are not anywhere near Real Madrid. Almiron dominates in MLS, but looked very pedestrian in the recent game against a not full strength USMNT.

The first step for any USMNT, that doesn't move, should be to dominate MLS.

 

Or maybe the young USMNT was just that good? The team didn’t look out of place tying Portugal a couple months ago either

 

tommy redding is another jordan allen, zach pfeffer, luis gil, etc.

gets games young, but isnt really good.

 

SOMETIMES?????

 

lol
neither are 99% of players in holland, turkey, russia, belgium, portugal
or 90% of players in england, italy, spain, germany, france.

what exactly was the point here?

 

I don't disagree with you, but injuries have played a bit part of stalling Allen's development. Prior to his injury issues, I thought he would be a really good wingback.

 

Alternatively, those guys are Atlanta's key players. If you take one of them away form their starting lineup, then suddenly Atlanta doesn't look so dominant compared to other MLS teams. They may not be as good as Dortmund's worse players, but throwing a youth player, where a lull in production is expected, in for Villalba will hurt Atlanta much more than Dortmund subbing out Schurrle.

 

You can't be serious.

(Sorry, couldn't resist.)

 

I am serious. And don't call me Schurrle.

 

How has Justin Glad been playing?

 

Chivas getting away with straight murder right now, holy sht

 

Brooks Lennon ('97) seems to have transitioned to Right Back and seems to be doing well already. He made the MLS Team of the Week. Although, he is playing Left Back in the team of the week...

 

A nice write up by Tannewald on the Real-Trusty tandem.

http://www.philly.com/philly/sports...-trusty-national-team-20180412.html?mobi=true

 

Trolling.....................

Why don’t most Major League Soccer franchises play their academy starlets? https://t.co/lxzeE0PknL

— Dallas Cup ⚽️ (@dallascup) April 13, 2018

 

Hes not wrong.....

 

It's funny to hear a league like MLS talk about winning being important. There are clubs like New England which still operate very similarly to a MLS1.0 club and there is a commissioner who seemingly wants to add a new club every other year to the league.

Winning matters to the fans in the stands, the coaches, and the players. That is it.

In fact, in the modern era of huge tv deals and online streaming franchises do not actually have to put together winning teams to make money. That's the point of single entity.

Franchises should be focused more on building a strong organizational base rather than winning outright. I think a part of that is playing talented youngsters in league games and bilding up a stable academy.

 

Except for Weah consistently lining up next to Neymar.

 

Just so we're all on the same page, Timothy Weah has played a grand total of 32 minutes in his first team career across all competitions. Andrew Carleton has played 106 first team minutes for Atlanta across all competitions. Three times as many. Chris Durkin has played 370 first team minutes for DCU since he was signed. More than 10 times as many. That there is an actual fact. Of the members of the 2017 U17 WC squad, those two have played the most first team minutes. Chris Durkin has played more minutes than all of our youngsters based abroad combined (Dest, Gloster, Sargent, Vassilev, dos Santos, Booth, George Acosta, Jacobo Reyes, Weah, etc.)

Now what we would say is that it should be much easier for a youngster to break into Atlanta or DCUs lineup than PSG's lineup. Another fact. However, let's not use Timothy Weah's 32 minutes for PSG when they were going thru Champions League fixture congestion and injuries as some sort of sign that Euro clubs are more willing to give playing time to youngsters than MLS teams. We can make other arguments for that.

I will say this, and I'll get it trouble for saying this. ARticles like that focus on the negative as opposed to the positives that have come from the homegrown initiative. It only started in 2007, and half the teams in the league are 10 years old or less. We can knock certain clubs, but we can equally shower praise on clubs like RSL, Philly, NYRB, etc. that are walking the walk in a very short period of time.
In every European league there are clubs that use youth/player development as a primary means of player acquisition, and there are those that don't.

 

And Josh Perez still has has 15 minutes in Serie A. Still YNT-eligible. Haven't seen a post about him in a while.

 

I just said that statement that Weah is consistently lining up next to Neymar isn't true.

 

Good mention... He's been an after thought since he's been getting minutes in Serie C. But if he can carve out appearances in Serie A, ya definitely deserves a call up.

 

In some sense leagues don't care about winning since some teams are going to win and some teams are going to lose by construction. Fans however care very much about winning and so teams have to care also (to various extents). Why should I care about my team building a strong organizational base if it doesn't help it win?

 

I think what fans really want to see is that their club has a plan. What is our "business model." If you're a NYRB fan, then you know the plan. You can either get behind it or not. If you're an FCD fan you know the team is going to try to build thru the academy and predominantly young South Americans. You know the plan. Some years it works. Some years it doesn't. But its a project you can get behind and be part of the journey with the organization.

There are some clubs like Colorado, New England, etc. that you watch and just wonder "what is the plan here?"

 

Why would a former MLS GM ( who resigned because the team moved to a HS facility with turf with football markings) troll MLS?

 

"not great, Bob"