2020-21 Academy Season

I think an often overlooked aspect that having a good usl team brings is a tough training environment that doesn’t allow for complacency and breeds competition. Think this has been a down fall for Red Bull 2 this year is they don’t really have much competition internally for spots

 

Not only is there a lack of competition for spots there is a lower level of competition in practice and game prep. If your #2s are 4 year college guys it at least makes things more challenging for the 1s. Its almost as if the mls2 teams would benefit from signing guys to essentially be practice players and spot starters for the "prospects" in the club.

 

Plus those college kids are fighting like hell to make a career out of the game it the last shot it’s worth taking flyers on a few of them.

 

I didn’t here great things about etienne and he was cut by Red Bull. Perhaps that woke him up but heard he was kind of lazy and would fake injuries to get out of games

 

The Crew 19s dominated possession against Vardar this weekend as well. Solid team. Fun to watch. Final 3-1.

 

He is for sure making 6 figures this year

 

Can you imagine being his coach at Portland when he calls (or texts cuz he looks like a total frat boy tool) and says I’m not coming back to school cuz I’m in the sway house bruh and I need to put out 7 videos a day of me dancing.

the Portland coach walks away from that convo like What. The. Heck. Lol.

 

Any chance the MLS will run the MLS Next professionally and have timely updates on schedules, standings, scores, player profiles, stats (i.e. like the DA used to have)? Also, is counting and reporting on assists too much to ask? If we are training refs to be professional refs, shouldn't we ask them to record the assist and the MLS Next report on it? Just my 2 cents......

 

accept a college scholarship to play at a top academic/soccer program or take a USL offer?... what would you choose and why?

 

Depends on your families financial situation, the school, and how academic a kid is, without soccer.

If you grew up in a very poor house, are decent at school, and barely getting offered a USL deal, then take the college deal. Some of the Ivy league schools could be completely free for a lower income kid. He gets out of college as the first person in his family to go to college ( maybe Princeton or Yale) and he can change the course of his entire family tree.

If you have parents that can afford to put you through college after you get done screwing around in the USL for a few years, then go to USL.

If you are not a very smart kid and won't be able to make it through a 4 year school even if it is free, then play USL before you go out in the world doing whatever it is you will get by in life doing. ( at you took your shot)

I would say in general, its probably better to take a free $300K degree if you get the chance. But some want to chase the dream.

BC I am in Dallas, I look at the NTXSC USL team. I see Arturo and David Rodriguez signing with them for what I would imagine was no more than 40K a year. It does not appear ether of them will go much further ( Arturo was league MVP and can't get passed USL-One, and David now is not even getting on the field). If they could have gotten free rides to Clemson, Duke, UNC, Harvard etc would it have been a better decision? Only time, and them alone, will be able to tell you that. But something to consider.

 

I’d say college, but I agree it’s individual circumstances that should guide that decision. I also played college sports and loved it. It’s a hard grind but an amazing experience that shaped me so much.
As a soccer fan I’d love to see more guys go USL as I think it would raise our end product more and the bubble guy or the sleeper prospect will most likely develop in the UsL environment. But as a parent id encourage college over a few years going nowhere in the USL.

but I agree with the circumstances listed above.

and I’d like to amend my Noah beck comment. On second reading it’s a bit harsh. I don’t know him, only what my teens have shown me via tiktok. I don’t fault him for going for instant fame and money but as an adult and a parent it’s a bummer to trade a college athlete experience for shirtless dancing photos imitating having sex and flipping off the camera for my 13 year old daughter to see. So he could be a great kid. And it could be the right decision for him. But as a parent I’d be a little sad that all that hard work ended up with this choice.

And my point it’s a pretty funny phone call for the Portland coach to get. I’m walking away from this experience to go make more than you by uploading 1 minute videos with my shirt off. Just a crazy time in our world.

 

With that I could not agree more. My daughter showed me some girls named Charlie and Addison dancing around and then said "these girls make 4 million a year dancing around on tick tock" I laughed it off and then discovered she was right.

If my kid could make 4 million a year dancing around or instead going to college, he will be dancing around making 4 million a year. Bank it while you can.

That is definitely in the range of high paid MLS DP money, or even euro big five league money for a starter.

 

Those girls have parlayed their following into other ventures. That’s where the money is. The sway house guys have yet to diversify and from reports inside the house it’s a real shit show.

I guess we will see when it all shakes out. I can’t imagine this ending well for these kids. Lots of money for no discernible talent except abs and hair and parties isn’t a great formula. I’m old and annoyed cuz my epl fantasy team is shredded this week but haven’t we all seen this movie before? These kids end up just wrecked. How much is a healthy, whole life worth?

 

If they put away the money, their parents keep them grounded and help teach them the value of hard work, etc., and have them still develop life skills for later life, great.

The internet era is not the first era of child stars. Many of them will burn through the cash and be left with a drug addition and little else by their mid-20s.

Keep tik toking, but like, you know, still stay in school.

 

The MLS Next so far is a disgrace of a league from an organizational standpoint. It will get better..it has to. As for your request, yes, counting and reporting assists is too much to ask even for professional FIFA referees. No soccer referee in the world records assists as that's not part of the Laws of the game.

As it is, American refs are viewed as some of the most incompetent in the world stage. Just look up historically how many Americans have officiated at World Cups and of those, how many officiated meaningful games (ex. finals).

 

I would also have to agree to go the college route, but not all kids (especially in soccer) will be getting free rides unless you assume they are so good to be in the USL that it is either/or in this situation.

 

I am hearing the same thing from some parents and different Academy Directors and Coaches.

Rumor on the street is MLS has only a couple of people running the entire league. Emails and phone calls not being returned, registrations lagging, and generally unorganized.

I’d like to say we need to give it some time, but we’ve been saying that about a lot of things MLS has its hands on.

 

It seems like it was something thrown together super last minute that they weren’t planning on doing for another 2-3 years...probably because this is exactly what’s happening. We no doubt will get the stats that we need but it does seem like resources were diverted to other things happening in the league (mostly the bubble) when some attention should’ve been made to this.

 

What are the odds that they never release stats and things like that so it's harder to scout their players?

 

I think its a double edged sword that is discussed frequently in MLS circles. They should be promoting MLS Academy players at every opportunity they get, but they realize it is done at the risk of European clubs discovering players that would have been difficult to do so otherwise.

 

I don't think you will ever hear them come out and say it, but I know its part of the conversation.

Even for me, a big critic of MLS, I think the language of "hostage" is a bit too harsh. As mentioned, European clubs are identifying American players younger and younger. MLS has to know this, and I'm guessing it is worrisome. A contract keeps a player from ever becoming a hostage, but I agree that a bad contract can make a player feel like a hostage during the term.

I don't think its any different than the mindset in MLS for the past 20 years. There is a balance between survival and growth they just can't seem to figure out. I'm not sure they view players leaving in numbers to Europe as a positive thing. My bet is they view it as a negative in the fact they are losing players.

While speaking about a website, lack of schedule, rosters and box scores might be pedantic, it is a legitimate complaint. While we aren't exactly there yet, we are getting closer to a tipping point with some of their antiquated ways. Players like Gomez leaving for USL, the situation with Clark and the Cappis fiasco are viewed as one offs, but these will become more common and ultimately force the leagues hand into adapting to present time.