17 year old Jayden Nelson starts for TFC up top against NYCFC tonight. Akinola out with hammy trouble. His ceiling is by all accounts very high. Hopefully he has the right work ethic and attitude to be a professional.
Heard from a pretty reliable source the MLS DA league won't be happening this year. Would make sense if true. MLS is trying hard to get pro season done and has logistics for next year to figure out. Rumor is all the youth teams that were going to be in MLS DA will just have to schedule scrimmages with other clubs and teams during the year if they want games. That would be a major blow to the kids in these programs as a year of practice and scrimmages could destroy the mentality and focus of these kids. Hope it comes off but not looking good.
Disaster if true and somewhat embarrassing for MLS. Especially bad look if other, established leagues are able to compete.
Agreed. If MLS DA does not take shape, will those kids jump ship to boys ECNL to get some meaningful games? For most of these kids, it's about college soccer and no games means colleges can't recruit. Makes being a senior this year even worse than it already is. Hope the RUMOR I heard turns out to be false or things change.
What I’m hearing is they won’t start games until 2021. Everyone wishes that weren’t true but I don’t know how you realistically can schedule games for before that. Too many states have no contact sports orders still in place.
I wouldn’t be shocked to see it canceled in the fall but brought back in the spring. They aren’t going to waste an entire year of these players development
I'm not quite sure what folks expected to happen. NCAA fall soccer schedules have either been cancelled or severely restricted. The USL has just had to postpone a bunch of their games. MLS is in their little bubble after initial problems, but there is as of now no word on what happens when they come out of the bubble. They have to take enormous precautions with tons of tests for those squads of professional athletes and staff. Its very costly. How do we think they'll be able to handle the thousands of kids in the DA? The same is true for every one of these youth soccer organizations. Or whatever the sport is quite frankly. What are people expecting to happen with high school soccer in the fall? We're not even sure schools will be open, much less be able to have soccer seasons. Its amazing to me that there would be one person critical of MLS cancelling the fall DA season. Its their obligation to cancel the fall season unless there are some signs that we're turning the corner on this pandemic. As of this moment I don't know how they can guarantee the safety of the players.
IMO, we'll be lucky to have MLS DA soccer in the spring. It should be totally achievable, but since our society is rife with selfishness, stubbornness, incompetence, and insane propaganda, there's a strong chance we won't have put COVID behind us to the extent necessary to play widespread youth sports in the spring.
Not disagreeing with you here and really no good options for anyone trying to organize a sports league these days. However, at least in Texas there are youth sports teams playing every weekend right now. Softball, Volleyball, basketball etc. There was a huge youth tournament at the FCD fields a few weekends ago with all fields full of kids playing. I expect Classic League in NTX will play as scheduled ( perhaps not) so it appears there will be youth soccer for many. If all the other youth leagues play and MLS DA does not, that would be unfortunate for these kids in the DA, but with the travel involved with DA it could also make sense. Looks like Texas at least is hell bound on having HS football as well and I expect that starts in September with stadiums, cheerleaders and fans ( probably 50%)
There are certain states like Texas and Florida that are not putting restrictions on youth athletics, but there are too many that are(rightfully so in my opinion) to create a national game schedule. I’ve heard from several clubs that while the new mls league has been aiming for a September start they are now being told to create their own Friendlies schedule based on their state’s rules. Some states are allowing training but not games, some aren’t allowing anything. There’s just no way you can create a league schedule with so many different states involved.
I think all of this is constantly changing with this virus. A lot will depend on the situation with COVID-19 in the Fall. We still have about 8 weeks of summer. It's too early to make determinations on what will happen in the Fall with COVID-19. It could be looking pretty good in 8 weeks or it could be looking worse than right now. A few weeks ago the season was supposed to start up in September, and recently things have changed with some of the rising numbers in the South. The experts are saying things might be getting better in the South in the upcoming weeks, and getting worse in the middle of the country. No one knows. The only smart decision from MLS would be to not rule anything out yet. There are rumors here or there, but no one has any idea at this point exactly what the plans will be in a few months. One of the few things we can say with certainty is that these kids are back playing soccer, so it's not's like if you cancel the season until the start of 2021 that you are actually going to make much of a dent with eliminating the spread of this virus. Maybe minimally by eliminating some travel and exposure to people from other parts of the country, but I think financial considerations and going through the process of actually setting everything up is a much bigger share of the considerations MLS will undertake than some think. It's not as simple as deciding if things are safe enough for these kids to play. They are going to be playing soccer regardless. Either you put a competitive schedule in front of them or these clubs will find games to play in themselves. You cannot lock them in their homes until March, and then tell them the season's going to start up. Thats not going to happen. MLS knows that, and I don't think anyone seriously believes this is entirely about health. This is about money and logistics with setting up an entirely new league during this pandemic.
Like many other things, how people are reacting to Covid varies greatly. If this MLS league does not kick off in some sort of fashion (I don't think anyone expects or desires National travel), I would all but guarantee that some kids move over to a club participating in an active league. Whatever peoples opinions are on being safe or not safe, there aren't many 13-16 year olds that want to do nothing but train for 10 months while their peers are playing full competitive matches.
Texas also is having record Coronavirus deaths. So, yeah, I'm not sure that's a good way to evaluate decision making.
I didn’t know where to put this, but thought this is interesting. Jorge basically said in this interview that Manchester United didn’t persue Pulsic or Davies because they were from America and Canada. Just to show you where ManU’s head is at. https://t.co/jCn1M5hZs7— MLS Transfers (@MLSTransfers) July 29, 2020 It might still be true that some of the best clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, PSG, Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid are told by their scouts and network of contacts to sign American players but don’t sign them because they are American. It is easier for our players to sign in Germany or Netherlands, but outside of Bayern Munich, none of the real top clubs sign Americans with any consistency.
If you told me that no American amateur player would ever sign an initial contract with a club bigger than Borussia Dortmund, I'd be perfectly happy with that.
While that’s probably going to help those players out individually in the short-term, it helps with perception to have players at bigger clubs. These clubs copy each other, even if some are better than others. If one signs an American for the first time in years, there’s a better chance another will. If PSG signs an American, Marseille might try to. If Real Madrid signs one, Villareal might look more in the American market. I don’t think we are at a point where we can say the American market isn’t still under scouted by certain teams, including teams we’d want them to sign with.
I don’t think any clubs in states that allow games won’t play any games. But if you’re in the mls league you may not have games that “count” because how can they have Texas teams playing 12 games in the fall and Illinois teams not allowed to play any? The Illinois kids won’t switch clubs because no teams are allowed to play games. But they can all play as many friendlies against many of the same teams they would play as is allowed by their state. And again, the ones that can’t play any because of state rules would have no reason to switch clubs because no clubs would be playing games. There may be some kids that move because they would rather play “real” games but that would be extremely short sighted.
Texas also has the advantage that at the very least FCD can find other teams close by to play. Hey we need an opponent, let's see if Solar is willing. There are more in the greater DFW area to choose from and FCD could mix and match their own youth teams to simulate games, even if the outcomes don't matter at all.
I heard from another parent today they are still holding out hope but it looks like it won't come together this fall at all. The plan now is for the clubs that would have been in the MLS DA to simply schedule scrimmages and friendlies against each other ( for example Solar, FCD, Colorado Rapids, Sporting KC etc) meet up for friendlies but there is no formal league. The games are potentially going to be livestreamed so college coaches can watch and recruit. This too will probably change in a day or so, but at least it looks like they will get in some games, even if they are scrimmages and friendlies.
I didn't know where to put this. It's an article that interviews the Wolfsburg youth director about the US market. Nothing new that we don't always hear, but if you want to read it, here it is. https://www.sportbuzzer.de/artikel/...s-markt-fur-den-vfl-wolfsburg-so-interessant/
That is encouraging. I do not understand the rush to cancel everything. If, hypothetically, Team A trains with its kids and that's determined to be safe. Team B trains with its kids and that's also determined to be safe. Why would it be unsafe for Team A then to play Team B? I understand if travel is involved, all sorts of new variables are thrown in. But wouldn't that simply argue for working around the schedule so that the fall features all local games and the spring features more travel? Perhaps requiring that the travel be with parents and parents pay for the lodging? (most would..) There are work arounds, assuming no legal impediment, and we are seeing it play out all throughout our society (restaurants that now use only their outdoor dining area, for example); it doesn't have to be "all or nothing."
Being "safe" and traveling can be an expensive proposition for an academy. Two teams of 16 to 18 players plus 2 coaches and a trainer is 36 to 40 people. Do they share 2 to 3 in a room as in years past or get individual rooms? If they share rooms they are not being "safe". Those are expensive trips for 180 minutes of soccer. They could also play teams up an age in their area for far less. PS I put safe in quote because everyone has different ideas of safe.
Our mission is to inspire, support and develop the next generation of passionate soccer stars ⭐️ We are so happy for these 🤚🏽 players who will pursue MLS youth academy opportunities in the 2020-21 season. pic.twitter.com/BSPiMgTtkQ— Richmond United Boys (@RichmondUtd) August 4, 2020 Tucker is a winger who was mentioned on this site as a relative standout at the DA Cup Winter Showcase. He's a late '03 (class of 2022). He's now moving to Houston Dynamo with Richmond United going to the ECNL. Richmond actually played the Dynamo at the showcase so that was likely how he was first noticed.
I'm definitely relatively new and inexperienced to the vagaries of MLS youth academies, but my geography skills are usually on point. 5 kids from Richmond United, as in Richmond, VA, are signing with MLS academies and not 1 is going to DC United?