Salt Lake City Kid Who Made Good

Discussion in 'Real Salt Lake' started by Aerick, Apr 28, 2008.

  1. Aerick

    Aerick New Member

    Dec 13, 2006
    Sandy, UT
  2. soccerbum23

    soccerbum23 Member

    May 21, 2006
    Lost in Utah
    Its nice to see a Homegrown boy making a name for himself, even if its with the d@mn Goats!!!
     
  3. Arelius

    Arelius Member

    Mar 23, 2004
  4. Taragui

    Taragui Member+

    Aug 13, 2006
    Northern Utah
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Too busy looking in FL and AZ????
     
  5. Arelius

    Arelius Member

    Mar 23, 2004
    I prefer the "not looking at all" theory.
     
  6. BalanceUT

    BalanceUT RSL and THFC!

    Oct 8, 2006
    Appalachia
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    You mean, after Chivas picked him up, right?
     
  7. I attended the U-16 and U-17 tryouts last year and they were a joke. All they did was give coach Greg Mass a green light to keep his ODP team. A lot of kids were not given a serious look because they were not part of his ODP team. It was Ellinger-esque at best. Oh, Matt Ellinger was involved too...!

    I also spoke with the staff before hand and told them that they would be isolating a lot of good players by having tryouts on a Sunday but they didn't listen... and a lot of good players from the bigger programs didn't even try out.

    I wonder if this kid was there at the tryout.
     
  8. sokol

    sokol Member

    Aug 4, 2004
    Justin would never have been eligible to play for an RSL youth team. He's 21 right now, and would have just turned 18 when RSL played its first game ever. So blaming the RSL youth system is just stupid.

    RSL coaches have seen him play, and he has more than likely played in scrimmages against RSL. Justin is a great athlete with skill that surprises you for his size, and he is a smart player. But the fact that Preki has taken a chance on him when RSL hasn't doesn't mean as much as some of you are making of it, and I think it's just the fact that he's from Utah that's making you guys forget that Chivas USA signed a player playing in a league that any of you could go sign up for right now. If RSL signed a player who hadn't played for a varsity college team and was just playing in a local amateur league in Wisconsin or someplace, you gus would be outraged. And besides, Justin is not the caliber player that RSL is desperate for right now. RSL doesn't need depth, they need better players at the top. Sure, it would be nice if RSL signed a local player who is good enough for MLS (oh wait, haven't they been burned trying to do that three times already?) and it's great that Preki recognized that a kid from Utah has significant challenges in taking soccer beyond high school, looked at Justin with an open mind and judged his play and not his resume. But he is in a much safer position to do that from than Jason Kreis. He has a group of excellent players in his top tier, and he's looking for depth and for the future. I'm not saying that RSL shouldn't have tried to sign Justin or that it wasn't somehow an oversight not to think about giving Justin a shot, but it isn't really some collosal failure. I think Justin will be able to make a career in MLS, but don't expect him to really ever be more than just a pretty good player, at least not anytime soon. There are many players just as good and some even better than Justin in Utah and all over who could be good MLS players, and the fact that Preki picked out one and gave him a chance really just says more about Preki than about RSL. There are very few other examples of players like Justin getting a chance in MLS because it's risky.

    Hopefully what this does is bring to light the issue that Utah kids are at a severe disadvantage after high school even though there is considerable talent. We don't have our own D1 program anywhere, and college coaches from elsewhere can't afford to come to Utah so see kids because they can get a lot more bang for their buck recruiting in California or Colorado with larger populations and kids with more money to pay for school and more willing to leave home. So only the kids with some money, connections, willingness to leave home and often willing to say they won't go on a mission get much of a chance to play anywhere good. It would be great if some people hear about Justin and take notice of the fact that there are good players in Utah who don't get the exposure and opportunities their talents warrant.
     
  9. Aerick

    Aerick New Member

    Dec 13, 2006
    Sandy, UT
    Good thoughts.

    Keep in mind that he's played in 4 games now, and started 2 of them. That's got to be saying more than Chivas just looking to build depth and build for the future, right?
     
  10. sokol

    sokol Member

    Aug 4, 2004
    He's by no means a first choice player at Chivas, at least not yet. Razov and Galindo have had injury problems and he's played out wide a little bit as well when Mendoza has been unavailable IIRC. I don't think Preki would be using him if the playoffs were right now or if everyone on Chivas were completely healthy. But obviously he has done very well in pre-season and training and Preki has decided to see what he can do. Remember though, he wasn't given a contract right when Preki first saw him play. He was invited to camp, like many players are (just like RSL invites numerous players, including local players like Adam Acosta) and it was there he won a very small, very temporary developmental contract. He has made the most of it because he is a good player but also likely because he has some attributes that Chivas lacks (which is likely why Preki also brought in Atiba Harris). That brings up another reason why he has been playing more. He is competing with Atiba Harris for a spot. He is a much more gifted player than Atiba, albeit much less experienced. From what I've seen Atiba started out with a lot of pt, but has been getting less and less. In many ways the stars are just sort of aligning for Justin and giving him the chance to really show what he can do. Many players don't get ideal opportunities and wash out (Nik Besagno?) It's good to see it work out for a good local kid.
     
  11. Ismitje

    Ismitje Super Moderator

    Dec 30, 2000
    The Palouse
    Club:
    Real Salt Lake
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    He is essentially why Preki was able to dean John Cunliffe (a forward) for Chris Posniak (a defender) shortly after the season began; Cunliffe was the fifth choice striker this season behind Galindo and Razov, then Eskandarian and Harris. With the first three battling injuries, fifth choice striker suddenly became a very important position.

    Actually, Braun may be sixth choice when everyone is healthy and present; I am unsure about what would have transpired if US U-20 player Jorge Flores been with the club recently (he was off with Nimo in that tournament in Portugal). Also a very cool story - he won the first Sueno MLS contest and is making good on the chance.
     

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