Here are my thoughts on the club selection for the MLS DA. Is it a good start? Yes, is there a lot of work to do growing this tier? yes. The things that I am displeased about is the numerous left out states. Some of that I think will be fixed over the next year as ECNL clubs move over. Here are the states I think need to have a team that have been left out. All of these states have population centers large enough to field a team that is good enough to compete at the DA level: Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kentucky, Louisiana, Alabama, Missisippi, and South Carolina Here are the states that don't have a team that I'm not worried about: Maine (super close to all the Boston DA's), Vermont (will get scouted thoroughly by New England clubs), West Virginia (gets scouted thoroughly by Philly already), Arkansas (FC Dallas scouts heavily), Iowa (scouted by both SKC and Minnesota heavily) Here are the states that I think trying to get a team at this level is financially and logistically unrealistic. This is because they are severely low populated and comprised of small towns that are all hours from each other. These states would require a residency academy to be able to get a team good enough to compete at this level: Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota. Sadly, the population is so thin and so spread out that to be able to get a team that would be good enough for the highest youth level, you would need an entire team of kids like Clint Dempsey who had to drive 3 hours every day just to train. It is possible to do, but it is not probable that you would get over 18 players with the dedication and desire to actually do this for a sport that is not popular in these areas. I don't want to see a team of kids who sacrifice hours daily just to go and lose every game by 6 or 7 goals. I think MLS and USYS need to organize a state league and ODP system so players have opportunity to still play soccer and be discovered by other clubs. A system that can support proper scouting for these players needs to be set up and implemented so the diamond in the rough can still be discovered. Here are the metro areas in states with a DA team already that I want to see added (be aware, I'm from the midwest so if anyone has other towns that should be given a look, shout it out!): the gap between LA and San Fran, Colorado Springs, El Paso, Grand Rapids, South Bend, Ft Wayne, Toledo, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Richmond, Raleigh, Greensboro, Savannah, Memphis, Up state NY, and more that I am most definitely missing. I would love to hear other's thoughts on what else should be done to improve the league.
I think the clubs and areas left off the map that was released has a lot less to do with not being selected and more to do with declining an invitation to play in the league. MLS and some of their clubs have burnt a lot of bridges over the years and there are still some very big name non-MLS clubs that don't trust anything MLS does. It will take time to rebuild those relationships that were damaged over the past 10 years. I personally know of 6 big non-MLS clubs that declined participation in the league. I believe this is the reason you saw MLS state they are still accepting applications. It bought them more time to try and convince some clubs to join and fill in those gaping holes.
Definitely! I imagine it’ll take a while for these clubs to support their own academies. That said, how far off are they really? Part of the issue might be my own ignorance, but if some little nobody can build an academy, why can’t a USL-C or USL1 do the same? For instance, let’s take my local team, the Greenville Triumph. I get they’re trying to manage the day-to-day financial costs of fielding a senior, professional side. Plus, this Coronavirus may have set everything back years. But hopefully the goal is for them to continue to be more involved in the community and launch their own academy system. There certainly is the talent pool to form an at least, semi-decent squad here from the upstate. And to help them get started, I hope MLS, USL, USSF, etc. will help subsidize some of the initial costs. Even if say, The Triumph affiliated its youth academy with Charlotte MLS or Atlanta United. Nonetheless, I get it. Long term goals. Not short term goals.
I agree. The Carolina's lost all their teams to the ECNL because of this. Crossfire also did not accept the invite. My largest concerns with the gaps are the south and the midwest. The south in particular had a lot of area not covered by the DA. Even though it is football heaven and SEC territory, areas like Memphis, Birmingham, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, and Chattnooga could all benefit from a DA side in my opinion.
It’ll be about money and power. The ones that request the least and put up the most money will be the ones they allow in. They used the guise that some of these teams that were kicked out of this new league (and will now play in the ECNL) didn’t provide good enough competition, but some of those teams were better than their own at developing players. They need to evaluate internally (Orlando, Portland, Columbus, New England, to name a few).
The South is a big population area with great athletes and year round outdoor weather. We need to get better at producing soccer players from that region. Could you imagine if American football, baseball, basketball got such a small percentage of their players from the south? There’s a lot of untapped potential for that region to produce a lot of good players.
That might be true, but it doesn’t mean the terms of the new league were favorable to them as opposed to what it was years ago when some of these teams were doing a better job of producing good players and getting results than some of these MLS academies. MLS put the blame on these other academies for why they needed a new structure and wanted their clubs to stop facing non-DA clubs, but did nothing to address their teams that are doing a very bad job on the youth development side of the game.
Totally agree with you there. The idea that none of the non mls clubs can provide competition for the mls clubs is ridiculous. My kid played u15 DA this year on the west coast and only one of the 3 mls clubs was in playoff position. And those are mls clubs that are considered some of the top in the nation, and no, it’s not because they were regularly playing kids up. Not saying game results tell the whole story but pretty well show even some of the better mls clubs can find competition with non mls clubs at least through the u15 age group.
The MLS clubs have been steadily improving over the years and are on track to leave the non pro academies behind but the MLS academies currently are not good enough to say that they don’t need to be playing the other clubs. there are tons of areas, in particular the south and Midwest, that need more attention from MLS and ussoccer. Maybe something positive will come out of the new USYS partnership.
From Ethiopia with love: How adoption led to Nati Clarke becoming top soccer prospect https://t.co/GGF1jCxMXF— Travis Clark (@travismclark) May 17, 2020
Can't help ya even as an Ohioan. The Crew have historically been very unsuccessful with their academy besides Wil Trapp. They ruined the career of Ben Swanson which I still don't forgive them for. The crew are improving as an academy and the fruits of their labor begin with three special 2003's but they still don't have their own USL academy for those kids to get a bigger challenge and Pittsburgh Riverhounds have been unreliable for player development. I wish I could defend the Crew but I really can't. There are good players in their system but I worry about every single one of them. The poor academy he called out that can actually be defended is New England. They have stepped up their game, have a lot of budding talent, and launched a USL team for that talent to further develop.
My problem with them is the owner. Does Kraft know he owns a soccer team? All throughout the franchise they are towards the lower-end of MLS. I think that falls on the ownership. Look at a club like Seattle. Came in right away and have been one of the best around the league in every area. I don’t think ownership is insignificant. I think they are doing as much as they can with a limited talent pool, but it’s limited, which doesn’t help.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/post/2020...-overhaul-teams-talent-pipeline-charles-boehm You guys are probably talking about this article but I figured I should include it since it came out yesterday and is quite relevant.
I think they have by far the worst academy in MLS right now, but they've only been in the league for a few years. Still, their first team doesn't spend money, they don't have a good academy, they don't achieve good results. I'm not sure why they were awarded a team. We're growing!We're proud to announce the addition of an Under-19 team and launch of the Pre-Academy!📰: https://t.co/r5y6LWxOOd— FC Cincinnati Academy (@FCCincyAcademy) May 20, 2020
They had their own beer before they were even in MLS. They have some fanatical fans. Perhaps they are like Minnesota and in a year or two they take some big steps.
They pull 26k a game, and did so as a USL team. It was one of the top attendances in MLS last year. They have a brand new stadium coming. I don't know if we need two Ohio teams, but they do have positives. It was their first year in the league, and they were terrible. They responded by hiring a whole new soccer staff. That staff went out and got Juergen Leucadia ... who may or may not be worth the money they will have to spend to keep him. He was set up with a six month loan and then, I think, a $10M transfer fee. But they only got to see a brief moment. They aren't the richest ownership group, and then definitely screwed up year one. But I wouldn't write them off.
They're more screwups than louts. I give them credit for hiring a credible GM, and he's been able to hire two coaches with pedigree (with, ah, mixed results). So I'm not too exercised about them. New England, on the other hand...
I'd say that is a little hard to determine because they have only had an academy for not even one full season. They're already moving at a faster pace with their academy than Minnesota have.
I think it’s hard to determine that, but I saw them play this season at the U-15 and U-17 age groups, and I didn’t think they had one halfway viable prospect over four years. Is that better than where Minnesota was when they first started? I think we’d be arguing semantics, but they could’ve done a lot better in their first season. Compare them to Miami, and it’s no contest. The player pool might not be what it is in South Florida, but I can’t credit them for putting forth four years to give a bunch of kids a club to play for before they get college scholarships. Fans want to see them produce first team players. They need to do better, regardless of what season they are in.
It takes more than a year to develop their academy. The Cinci area on the mens side has under performed for decades. Do you expect an MLS academy to come in and magically start producing pro's immediately? That's a little ridiculous in my opinion. When you get to year 3 and there isn't a pro prospect in the academy then I'd get concerned. Judging an academy who didn't even get to complete their first season is absurd.