2020-21 Academy Season

He's Javi Morales' kid. Was considered a top, top talent at FCD before moving with his dad to Miami. Alongside Keyrol Figueroa as the biggest "ones that got away" young in recent years for FCD.

 

A player I would like to add to this list is 07' Stiven Jimenez, he just joined FC Cincinnati and he is playing an age group up with the 06s. I don't think there are many 07 defenders better than him.

 

Id pump the brakes there. Although he does look like a good player I still don’t have him up there with guys like Chris Guillien and Christian McFarlane but he is a good prospect. It will be interesting to see how both him and Ben Manfoy continue to develop.

Do you know where Jimenez moved to Cinci from?

 

You wouldn't even know the MLS were hosting the MLS Academy Cup this week. Pretty low key.

 

I think it’s because they didn’t want any other people showing up to the event. It’s closed to the outside which is unfortunate as someone who was trying to attend this. They have been starting to advertise the playoff showcase

 

Hopefully they stream the games, similar to how they did for previous GA Cups.

 

I think he moved from the DMV area and he was playing for a team called Arlington I believe.

 

From what I’ve been hearing they’re starting to evaluate clubs so it’s looking like he’ll land at a MLS or USL team for 2022. Like Caden Clark I expect Brooklyn to land at whatever club provides a tangible and short term route over to Europe

 

He's from Illinois, right?
So presumably Chicago owns his MLS rights?
Not that this can't be overcome.....................(see Clark).

 

On the other hand, looks like the non-professional team he's currently on beat Toronto 2 fairly handily in that friendly and Toronto 2 beat NTSC fairly handily a couple of nights later. Everyone here is perfectly happy with NTSC being a reasonable place for 17-year-olds to be, and by the evidence I saw on youtube and espn+ this week, they'd probably lose to the Barca u19s

Obviously it's not actually as simple as all that, but "pro environment" is certainly not always all it's cracked up to be.

 

I'm sure the coaching level is quite good at Barca AZ, so I don't think that's a huge gap.

But there is a couple of edges to be in a pro system -- you potentially get to practice against older professionals on a regular basis, which has to be highly valuable. And in USL games, you get to play against bigger and stronger players.

Once you reach a level where you can play at the MLS level, you also have a quick and easy route to the next step. If Raines stays at Barca and progresses rapidly, he's going to have to wait until 18 to get to that next spot. Whereas a Cowell, Nyeman, etc., can immediately start moving up.

Neither is all-defining, etc. and there's certainly plenty of reasons to stay at Barca, still, I'm sure. But regardless of results ... those are edges for the pro teams.

 

Yeah, I can't disagree with any of that. The fact that the MLS has gotten much better in the last couple years at selling kids on to europe as appropriate definitely makes it a much more reasonable option than I would have said even a couple years ago. It's a very interesting calculation as a talented 16 year old to decide whether a 5 year contract with the MLS is right decision or not, and there definitely isn't a one-size-fits-all answer.

 

He's going to be going to MLS teams with the Caden Clark situation in mind and as a template. I'm not speaking specifically of a guarantee to Leipzig, but there's a clear group of MLS teams who have demonstrated that they will sell a player who is clear about it, have executed, and some are even open to altering contracts. MLS still doesn't seem to be doing release clauses, but NYRB, Dallas and Philly all seem to be pretty on the up and up right now in terms of setting expectations.

And if you don't get that level or trust or documented to your choice, the USL path will be there.

Clark had an offer to sign with Barcelona, but he knew that making the first team there is particularly hard, and he knew he'd either play another year at the academy level here or simply practice in Spain. This is no knock on Barcelona, but it was smart to realize that Red Bull could offer a range of opportunities that, promise or no, could keep him moving no matter the progression.

That's a huge recruiting tool.

 

I think everyone is forgetting Sean McCafferty. Who is that? Why, he’s the Academy Director of NYRB who was hired away from Barca AZ. You think Caden ends up at NYRB without the McCafferty connection? I don’t. You think Raines goes to any other MLS team other than NYRB? I don’t. It still a “who you know” business. Maybe Chicago would get some compensation from it like Minnesota did.

 

Any word on match-ups this weekend at the MLS Academy Cup?

 

There isn’t a public master schedule but I know these clubs play these teams:

Philly u17: Charlotte, Miami, Atlanta
Philly u15: Miami, Galaxy, Atlanta
Dallas u17: Atlanta, Galaxy, Crew
Crew u15: NYCFC, Atlanta, Galaxy
Crew u17: NYCFC, Atlanta, Dallas

Outside of these I don’t know but I do know that there will be matches that will be streamed

 

NYCFC u15: Crew, Orlando City, Miami
NYCFC u17: Crew, Charlotte, Orlando City
Charlotte u17: Philly, NYCFC, Cinci

 

All games on fields 3, 5, and 6 will be live-streamed this weekend

 

The Philadelphia Union Youtube channel, right? Miami and Crew usually upload the games to Youtube and Veo, so it's sure that can be seen.

 

This may be an MLS Next stream like the rapids game at the start of the season was

 

Here is a link to the streaming channel for this weekend:



There will be 3 streams covering fields 3, 5, and 6

 

That guy sucks

 

Any lineups? @ussoccer97531 or @David Kerr