Thought it'd be fun to have a thread tracking if the Academy products get playing time in MLS and how they perform. Especially as some that are likely to get a decent amount of playing time are coming in (Agudela, Navas).
I like this idea. Here's a list: Bill Hamid Giorgi Chirgadze Cesar Zamora(?) Bryan Leyva Tyler Deric Francisco Navas Tristan Bowen rumored signings: Juan Agudelo Ruben Luna(?) I'm not sure if Zamora was actually an official academy signing or a typical Mysterious Chivas USA signing.
All of CDUSA's youth signings have been from their youth teams. Most of them just haven't been "official."
Okay. Chivas USA seems to have a habit of picking up guys who, after HS, have little to no interest in going to college. MLS's byzantine player movement rules don't cover this demographic well. They want to go pro, but they aren't heralded enough to be incorporated into the Generation Adidas. The Revs also did this once, signing a teenager from Arizona named Brandon Tyler. He spent a year in the reserve league, was waived, and hasn't been heard from before or since. While Mayen and Flores were probably signed via the discovery process, they seem like academy products for all intents and purposes, so why not include them here?
Flores was found through that competition Sueno MLS and I thought was signed straight to a full team dev contact. His bio on MLSNet.com doesn't mention any time with the Academy squad. For Mayen, it doesn't look like he was with the Academy very long per MLSNet:
I don't have a problem with your post at all. I was just including extra info for anyone who was curious. My bad if it seemed critical. The Revs also signed Miguel Gonzalez and Brandon Manzonelli who were youth/non college signings. They obviously let both go as well.
When Flores won Sueno he went into the CDUSA Academy for a while, then he worked his way up to earning a full deal. He wasn't signed straight to a deal.
Potential players this weekend Friday Colorado at Chivas USA - Cesar Zamora Saturday Houston at Dallas - Fransisco Navas Cobo and Tyler Deric (Houston) and Bryan Leyva (FCD) DC at Kansas City - Bill Hamid and Andy Najar (DC) New England at LA - Tristan Bowen Giorgi Chirgadze is out with injury for NY. Will add Agudelo and Luna if a deal is finalized and announced. Hopefully with the new home grown player rule making them exempt from the 24 man roster this list will grow quicker.
If Agudelo and Luna sign we'll really have a nice little list. I can't wait to see where we are in 4-5 years when we've absorbed a number of years of homegrowns. Some won't pan out, obviously, but this back door to the league might be a little more ajar than I thought. Let's look at the current crop. We know that Hamid is DC's #2 right now while Josh Wicks is out and additionally, he has impressed. Goff is reporting that DC is signing trialist GK Andrew Quinn, so I wonder if Wicks is on his way out permanently. Deric looks like Houston's #3 behind Onstad and Hall. Onstad can't have much left and when he departs we'll learn more about how Houston rates him. Barring injuries, though, I don't think we'll see him in the 18 often. The field players will all be competing to make the 18 and for substitute minutes. I can't claim to have any insight as to whose chances are the best, but I hope some of these guys can make a splash.
Cezar Zamora will be with the US U-20 @ the Dallas Cup. Mayen should count as an academy player. He was with U18s for a season. Mayen will see some playing time on Friday.
Luna will be with FCD's team at the Dallas Cup.......and some are speculating that those will be his last games as an amateur. With Marvin Chavez' injury, I wouldn't be surprised if Leyva gets some playing time on Saturday. Unless Leyva is on Mexico's squad for the Dallas Cup. I don't remember hearing that, so I guess he's not.
Nobody at the club has said that, have they? I would guess that Najar's in contention for significant sub minutes, but I wouldn't guess a (non-emergency) starting spot is in the cards for a little while at least. Yeah, he started some games in pre-season, but that's pre-season. If nothing else, I think United would be wary of handing him a starting spot too soon for its impact on his long-term development. Bobby Convey, for instance, didn't react that well to being handed a starting role for what was, at the time, a pretty crappy team. He was at least a little better than anything else DC could use out wide at the time, but he didn't evolve much while here, and got a bit of a rude awakening when he got sold on. And it's not like DC is as outright bad as they were back in 2000, there are established players who probably bring as much to the table consistency-wise on a 90 minute basis as he does at the moment. I'm thinking he's better used as a sub to come on and solve a packed defense.
Would be very surprised if Bowen didn't get a lot of playing time. He's possibly the most athletic guy on the team among a bunch of old, small, and/or slow attacking players. The only wide mids they have are on their last legs (Klien and Lewis). Donovan of course is a wide player, but then they'd have a duo of Gordon and Buddle up top, or even worse, put Magee or Kirovski up there. Only other alternatives would be to stick Brian Jordan (who is a similar type player but is 6 years older and not quite as athletic) out there or push Franklin up from their defense.
Now we just have to get our nation's best involved in MLS Professional development and not just local talent based on proximity.
Andy Najar played the first half for DC United, becoming the eighth youngest player to ever start in an MLS game.
And it was an intriguing case lesson there. On the one hand, a bad give-away from him forced an athletic save out of Troy Perkins within the first 5 minutes (and I think he had a role in KC's first goal too, but I have to check on that), and generally looked like he didn't always know where he was supposed to be. OTOH, he had a marvelous shot that went off the crossbar (Pontius actually put in the rebound but was ruled offside). To me, at this point, he looks more like a sub that can change a 0-0 game than as a 90 minute player, but that may change depending on how quick a study he is.
I don't think that joke of a match between KC and DC can be used as a fair judgement. Conditions were misserable and they were playing on a pencil thin field. The whole of DC United looked bad and untill we see them and Najar on a real field it will be tough to say what they really have. KC needs to get their new stadium up quick. Community America makes watching them at home almost unbearable. Najar had some good moments out there when most of DC just looked like they wanted to go home so hopefully the kid will shine in better conditions.
Chivas USA: Jorge Flores - Started, subbed at halftime. Mayen - DNP Cesar Zamora - DNP DC United: Bill Hamid - DNP Andy Najar - Started, subbed at halftime. FC Dallas: Bryan Leyva - DNP Houston Dynamo: Tyler Deric - DNP Francisco Navas - DNP, at Dallas Cup LA Galaxy: Tristan Bowen - DNP RBNY: Giorgi Chirgadze - DNP, recovering from surgery Juan Agudelo - DNP
Week 2 results Chivas USA: Jorge Flores - DNP, made bench Mayen - DNP Cesar Zamora - DNP DC United: Bill Hamid - DNP Andy Najar - Subbed in at 70 minute mark. FC Dallas: Bryan Leyva - Bye week Houston Dynamo: Tyler Deric - DNP Francisco Navas - DNP LA Galaxy: Tristan Bowen - DNP, made bench RBNY: Giorgi Chirgadze - DNP, recovering from surgery Juan Agudelo - DNP, made bench So far Najar making the most appearances. Have to wonder if that will be in jeopardy with how poor the team has started. I haven't had a chance to watch this weeks DC game yet.
If the team stays this bad, everyone will get minutes. Worth noting, Najar started in central midfield for united in a reserve game against Crystal Palace Baltimore today. DC won 5-2. Comments were that he showed a high soccer IQ, but that he's muscled off the ball pretty quickly. I'm guessing that down the road DC sees him as a #10, but that because of the size issue, he'll be getting most of his minutes out wide for now.