So i was at hooters and Having arguments with new born Eurosnobs, they were Putting MLS down comparing it to watching Ayso soccer. Well we got to one topic that im hoping someone can answer. Lets say I want to play professional soccer here in the US, Im out of high school and i cant afford to go to college, Is it possible to make it to MLS. What routes do players like this take in order to fullfill the dream of playing professionally? Does MLS only want players comming out of college and lower division teams? And will the new reserve squads allow players like this to tryout. Should MLS create soccer acadamies is for every team like in europe and South america in order to find talent that comes for poorer backgrounds within their respective cities thanks
Depends on how good you are. The top players of this age group can sign P-40 contracts, but this is pretty much only U-17 national team players and at most 2-3 players in a year. If you're good enough to get offered a scholarship, you don't have to pay for college. If you're overlooked by the college system, the only obvious path to take is through the USL. If you have what it takes you will get noticed there. In MLS, with every team adding at least 4 more developmental players, they might use some open tryouts and other non-traditional means to find players to fill those slots, but I don't think you're going to see many raw 18-year-olds going straight into MLS this way.
There is also the 2-yr college option. They don't make huge demands on the brains or pocketbook. But they field teams which are scouted by MLS.