I thought I might create a thread to track stories related to the DCU Youth system. There have been a few of late that folks might have missed: http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/01/future-stars-in.html Ives Galarcep looks at DCU's top youth prospects. http://www.soccerbyives.net/soccer_by_ives/2008/01/mls-combine-d-3.html Ives states that Shaq Phillips will count as home-grown http://www.mlsnet.com//news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20080110&content_id=135022&vkey=news_dcu&fext=.jsp&tea DCU names Shawn Cooke Youth Player of the Year http://dcunited.mlsnet.com/news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20080123&content_id=136398&vkey=pr_dcu&fext=.jsp&t Shaq Phillips, Paul Torres, Nicky Yin, and Ethan White get YNT Camp invites.
I'm very happy to read the news about Shaq Phillips. That would be a terrible blow if teams couldn't keep players in their "system" simply because they helped them advance enough to be chosen for Bradenton. It only makes sense that the original team would hold the players rights. I'm glad that MLS didn't blow it on this one.