I like Will because he also notices and writes about Canadian youth players. Many American journalists, for whatever reason, do not.
Very impressive by Solar beating out numerous MLS clubs and being the only non-MLS club in the top ten. With the amount of National team players and their recent DA Championship they are punching above their weight and giving kids in NTX an alternative to the FCD path.
Don't really follow DA ball except what I read here, but seeing Chicago on the list is not encouraging. Would like to see the criteria ...
I'm probably off here but Solar is 9 due to last years results and Chicago Fire 10 due to this years results. Although they do use more than just results to create this list.
Soccerwire actually goes over the way they set their rankings... https://www.soccerwire.com/resource...lub-rankings-explained-gotsoccer-not-invited/
It terms of the quality of the players in the teams they do have I personally think they're squarely in the top 10. But I also think them not having a u19 team or a USL team for their better guys to get professional minutes at is a pretty big, arguably disqualifying ding against them. So I agree it very much depends on the criteria.
I think if we asked posters to rank their top 10s, every person would come up with a different answer depending on what they value. After all, sheer results shouldn't be the primary factor in determining the quality of an academy. It should be promotion of kids to first teams and abroad. Right now I personally would put NYRB nowhere near my top 10, for instance. Since starting out of the gate as one of the most productive academies,, they've slowed down of late. Meanwhile I'd have to think hard about putting SKC in mine due to the advancement of players like Busio to their first team recently. But to each their own...……………….
Chicago always has a great academy that performs well in the DA but they never sign players. They currently have the best u17 team in the country and their u15's are top 5 for MLS academies. If it is a list of who is best for developing pro's instead of college players then Chicago should not be there until they start rapid signing their 03's and 04's.
I heard from someone that follows US youth soccer closely that Joah Reyna is actually better than Gio was at this age. Can someone who has seen him play confirm this? He’s in NYCFC academy. Is there any way to watch their games?
Joah is banging in goals at a very good rate (14 in 11 games) but Gio was playing against older teams. Gio at that age was still at NYSC and then a year later immediately jumped to NYCFC u17's. I've been following Gio for a very long time and I think they're both about even but Joah is in a much better environment at an earlier age.
I watched a bunch of DA games. I'll list my thoughts by team. I won't mention every relevant player on either team, so if a player isn't mentioned, they either didn't play or there was nothing to add that I haven't said already. Chicago U-17: Chris Brady ('04) is extremely good. As far as I'm concerned, he's one of the very best players in his age group and right there with Dewsnup for the best keeper. He's incredibly assured in net giving up nothing cheap, and has the ability to make top-flight saves for a taller keeper. I think my opinion has reached the point where I believe there is a significant gap between Brady and Slonina. The current pro level keeper between the two is Brady. Justin Reynolds ('04) as a box to box CM is an interesting idea. It worked extremely well here. I don't think our YNT's can afford it at this point (we have almost no '04 fullback depth and a lot of CM depth), but down the road at higher levels it's something for his teams to consider. San Jose U-17: Tarun Karumanchi ('03) continues to impress. I think he plays a very similar game to Danny Leyva without some of the offensive ability, but I don't see a huge amount of separation between the two. Thats not meant as a slight towards Leyva. I don't understand why Karumanchi is still playing with kids his age. He's beyond this level. Tristian Viviani ('04) has established himself as the clear best LB in the '04 age group. He's a very good athlete with above average skill on the ball and passing ability. He also shows improving ability to defend. I would not say he has the same potential as Jonathan Gomez did (the overall technical ability and passing isn't at the same level), but the style of play and steady improvement over this season in emerging as a top level LB is similar. Allan Juarez ('04) is a player I've seen good things from. As a #10, he simply makes plays. He has a good amount of playmaking, creativity, and enough athleticism. He's a player I expect to continue to improve. Alejandro Cano ('04) has a tremendous read of the game from the CB position. One of the smartest players in the DA, IMO. He defends well, has adequate size and can pass the ball. The main question will be his speed. It's about average at the DA level, but for the pro level it's not going to be average because the athletes are better. For a player who isn't extremely tall, he's going to need to be able to be effective with what looks like will be an average size and below-average speed combo. LAG U-17: Johnny Perez ('03) is a complete difference maker as a #10. He completely ran the game I watched. If I saw him play that position consistently, I think I might rate him with the top 10 or so 03's. I'm starting to feel like this might be an important dual-national recruiting battle to win. Bogart Roca ('03) and Kevin Torres ('03) are two players who impressed, to an extent, that I think are worth mentioning. At this point, I don't see anything too high level, but I'll watch out for them the next time I watch this LAG age group. Seattle U-17: Cody Baker is another extremely high-IQ player central defensive player. Unlike Cano, he moves well, and I think he can play as a #6. Clean, efficient distribution. Nothing flashy, but an effective player. Eric Kinzer ('03) continues to be stock down. His speed is a problem at CB, and I'm not sure he defends as well as I initially thought. I continue to see very little from Sota Kitahara ('03). I know Seattle and the YNT's rate his game, so I will continue to try to have an open mind, but I just don't see much there. Cole Kulhanek ('04) looked good. He's another good keeping prospect in a very deep '04 age group at keeper. This was the first time I was impressed with Charles Gaffney ('03). There's some creativity, combination play, athleticism from the wing in his game. It's his first season in the DA, so I'll continue to watch out for him the next time. Minnesota U-17: Patrick Weah ('03) is a great athlete. That alone is going to keep him relevant. SKC U-17: Osvaldo Cisneros ('04) is starting to become one of the better players you'll see at this level. He's a good playmaker, has good ball control and I like his soccer IQ, but he's a way below average athlete (borderline unworkable at the pro level), and while he has some ability from the #10, it's not anything dynamic. I think he can probably get to the pro level, but I think his athleticism will keep him from being an MLS or better player. Chicago U-15: I don't have anything to add, but I did watch them play, so I think it's worth saying that this is a very weak age group for the Fire. San Jose U-15: Emmanuel Ochoa ('05) was very good. I hadn't seen him play well before this game. He stopped two PK's, very assured back there, liked his distribution. Looked a cut above anyone else on the field. Stock up. Like Chicago, it wasn't a talented team. There weren't more than 3-4 worthwhile prospects on the field totaling the two teams.
Las, Slonia, Brady. All three are top young keepers, probably the same coach.Great coaching. Las isn't tall, Slonia isn't quick, not sure about Brady. Las technically is as good as a kid can be, Slonia is pretty close, Bradey must be good too.
Slonina has plenty of holes technically, IMO. I'm a fan of Slonina if the standard is that he's a kid with some definite pro potential down the line. I'm not a fan if the standard is that he's some phenom goalie prospect who should be playing up age groups at the YNT level and is a professional player at 14 years old. He's not even the best GK in his own age group at his club. When you can say that (and I don't think its particularly controversial either putting aside who has what hype), there might be a need for a readjustment of people's expectations with Slonina. Slonina was signed when he was because the club didn't want a repeat of the Las situation of a kid with pro potential down the line leaving the club for free. He was about to, so they gave him a pro contract years before he was even ready to play in USL, and thy don't even have a USL team. I do however agree with your point about the Chicago keepers. Brad Guzan is also from the Chicago area. I think part of why the Chicago area produces so many good keepers is that its an area with a lot of Polish immigrants, and Poland is notoriously good at producing good goalkeepers. It's probably not uncommon for Polish kids (or kids of Polish ancestry) to grow up admiring the best Polish GK's instead of field players, although that might be changing with how good Lewandowski has been the last 10 years. As to Brady, if you want the lazy comparison, look to someone like Horvath or Brady Scott (not related). He has better reflexes than those keepers, but otherwise, its a pretty similar build and skill-set. A better comparison may be to Seth Wilson from the 2002 age group.
Slonia isn't a prodigy, he is big, but not quick enough, but he is overachieving so far. You might be right about the reason for his signing. I understand the type of a keeper you mean. Horvath has very good reflexes though, his problems are mental.
Curious about your thoughts of a couple of guys you didn’t mention. Did dual national 03 Adrian Gonzalez impress you for the Galaxy? He recently wore the captain’s arm band for Mexico’s U-18 team in an international tournament. Does he have the potential of his older brother? Did SKC play 04 Rokas Pukstas? The Seattle game I saw was disappointing considering how good they were last year in the Generation Adidas Cup. They won’t be returning to defend their title in division one and I was really shocked to see just how much the head coach seemed to be counting on Eric Kizner to score on set pieces. The verbal instruction from the sideline made it clear they were playing for as many free licks and corners as they could get and every single ball was to be delivered to him. Surprised me how one dimensional they became.
I’m gonna guess right after he found out that SKC wouldn’t release it’s 2004s to go to the UK tournament. Damian Alguera just made his first appearance for the San Jose Earthquakes U-17s on Saturday after leaving SKC about 2 weeks before the GA Cup qualifying. He mentioned that he expected to see Cisneros leave after the season as well.
It will be interesting if Akalu and Clarke who are the real academy gems for me stay or leave. If Pukstas left SKC I would be happy about that because he's one of the 2004's that i rate higher in a very talented midfield age group.