I like the idea. The players at this age need gametime. Maybe you carry 24-26 kids on the team. They battle it out during practise. Take the best 14 to the DA game and the others who don't play should get gametime in another league.
Not sure how many of these kids who are having trouble at MLS Academies would fare at Ajax where they are cut throat and constantly bringing in new prospects and kids aren't particularly friendly to each other.
point is not getting cut - that's ok and it happens. point is when they don't cut you and then don't provide playing time either. which happens a lot in MLS DA. then, you can't play in any other league b/c DA does not permit. And street play (unlike netherlands) is a zero, so what happens to development in these cases? these aren't bad players, just players that have a slightly better player (in one coaches' opinion) ahead of them.
Doesn’t DA have a requirement that full time DA players have to start 25% of games or more? And can’t players listed as part time also compete with other teams?
Yes, but MLS clubs do not have non-DA teams to roster their players, so PT is not an option. As to first question, 25% start requirement is not followed by most and not enforced by DA. Anyway you look at it: large problem with DA at ages 12-15 is that for a huge percentage of kids in the system there is not enough playing time, especially the MLS kids. As the kids get older, well, you are what you are. But at these crucial ages, you can't have kids playing so little.
Thank you, agree wholeheartedly on the European aspirations. A couple of Solar boys did not go to FCD for that very reason, and one is currently in England and one in Germany. I know of 2 more looking at Europe as well. Dallas is lucky that is has 2 viable options for a a high level of play and development. Unfortunately there a lot of other cities where kids do not have a lot of choices.
Is the England player referenced above Jonathan Tomkinson? If so, his story is very unique; I am certain he spent at least as much time (if not more) in the FC Dallas system than Solar's for his teenage years. https://www.fcdallas.com/players/jonathan-tomkinson
That's not necessarily true. I know for a fact RSL, Timbers, Sounders, LAG, and LAFC have non DA teams or affiliates that part time DA players get time with.
Also, I think DA rules allow up to 2 players to play down one year. This helps those kids that are physically immature for their age. They can get minutes to develop as their bodies catch up to their age.
If you saw my earlier post, I referenced players that left FCD in their younger years due to a lack of development there. He is one of them, he played with FCD for U13 DA as you posted, but then moved to Solar. So actually he spent the majority of his teenage years at Solar not FCD. I am not trying to bash FCD, but I do not understand why people on this forum defend the MLS so much. As many people will attest to, MLS Academies are not the only path to development in the US and that is a good thing. With the HG rules, I really do not think FCD cares if they developed a DFW player or another academy does, because at the end of the day, they have the MLS rights to the player. The more opportunities to develop the youth players, the better our men's team will become. London with a population of approx. 8.8 million has 14 professional clubs in the top 4 professional tiers, with youth academies. DFW with 7.5 million has 1 MLS academy and 2 non-MLS academies, that's it (there are many non-DA clubs in DFW, but the level of play is lack and a whole other topic of conversation). The US needs as many opportunities to develop players as we can get.
I am not defending MLS or FC Dallas; it's important that we state the facts. His story is extremely well-known. Your post stated: "A couple of Solar boys did not go to FCD for that very reason, and one is currently in England and one in Germany. I know of 2 more looking at Europe as well." This is not true for Jonathan. JT as he's known, was with the FC Dallas in the pre-academy years U13 and U14 (2 years). Prior to that, he spent time with the FC Dallas pay to play teams (FC Dallas Red at least 1 year). As for your comment on development: "I referenced players that left FCD in their younger years due to a lack of development there.." I really don't think "he left" the FC Dallas system but while at FC Dallas, JT was a winger. It was his U13 coach who converted him to a defender. Unsure how much that shaped his development (or lack of) but it definitely opened up some doors, wouldn't you agree? After spending 2 years with Solar, he returned to try out for the U16/U17 FC DA Dallas team but did not make it which worked out great for him since they ended up winning the national DA title and springboarded him to England where he had already trialed the previous year. Had he made that FC Dallas DA team, Dallas would likely be asking for some TC now. His story is more remarkable if told like it really happened...kuddos to his father.
Tomkinson tried to return to FCD just prior to the 2018/2019 season but was not selected so he went back to Solar until he eventually ended up at Norwich.
If he was at FCD and then went to Solar, I would say he "left FCD" but I guess you see it differently. He did attempt to go back to FCD during the season, but Solar would not release him, which as you said allowed him to go to England a lot easier than had he been at FCD. Again, my point was, he spent more teenage years at Solar then he did at FCD. Also, to the point I made that there are more opportunities for kids to get developed then the MLS Academies, he again is a great example of that. FCD has their system and players they are looking for to fit in that system. Thankfully for players like JT, and others, that may not fit that system there are other options. All I am saying.
Maybe the take home message is that there are many pathways to get where you want to go. Of course an EU passport makes things MUCH easier no matter what academy you play for. Could argue that the passport is more of a fundamental advantage than where you get your development. We have quite a few players in the US that are good enough to play in Europe but can't go until they are 18. Then they have to find a club in a country where they can play that will give them an international roster spot. Not easy.
Semantics perhaps but saying that "he left" in the context you were using it suggests that the move was his choice...we all know talent identification is not an exact science, players mature at different ages, blah, blah, he may have been misidentified Regardless, my only point was that your statement below (not giving credit where credit is due) is not accurate no matter how you slice it: "A couple of Solar boys did not go to FCD for that very reason, and one is currently in England..." No only did JT spend more time in the FC Dallas system (pay to play, pre-academy, academy, etc.) than he did at Solar ( academy -pay to play system-) but he tried to return to the system at least once. BTW, he did not attempt to join FC Dallas during the season as you stated, he tried to join FC Dallas at the beginning of the season (18-19). Thus, he needed no release. It didn't work out for him because the FC Dallas staff (and Wiki's staff later) preferred Carrera over him. Since you are close to the Solar team, what happened to Nicolas Nee? Why did he move from the Solar team to an MLS academy after putting up solid numbers last season? He has access to a Euro passport if I'm not mistaken. http://solr.ussoccerda.com/sam/teams/index.php?team=3936540&player=317091006
His parents moved for work reasons. So not an option to commute from New Jersey to Dallas for soccer. Nico is a good player, hope he does well up there. Our contacts must conflict, because I was to understand JT did try to leave during the season as well and could not get a release. But agree with you he is a good kid and has a good father. Your point on FC Dallas and Wiki choosing Carrera over hims, shows we need more options. Only one spot available in an area is tough. Especially when looking at recent call ups you had several CB's called in from Dallas; JT, Carrera and Ramsey
The FCD U19s DA are in Florida at the Montverde event. FCD got hammered yesterday by SIMA Gold 3-1 and from the film I have seen, it wasn't that close. The first 6 minutes give you an idea of the game. Sima all over FCD, more powerful, better passing, more skill, more technical and worlds faster. That is a display of what we should want our youth to look like. Where did SIMA come from? Sign those kids up for the National Team.
that actually sounds just like an MLS academy. Throw in some fights in the locker rooms and you have it.
IMO Carrera is better if you want to play a possession style. JT and Ramsey are more traditional hard tackling English style defenders with somewhat limited technical skills compared to Carrera. But possession was not required of them at Solar like it is of Carrera at FCD. You could see them struggle a bit with the ball under pressure with the U-17 NT in the Nike Friendlies back November. All three have awesome supportive families and are great kids.