Academies:the good and bad ones

What are your judging criteria?

 

Feel free to be more vague.

 

So TFC's Academy team was in the main draw of the Dallas tournament, played well and has already had players signed from the Academy by European teams but that makes the Academy set-up 'decent'?

I too am a little interested in the judging criteria.

 

Also, how does your criteria work once Vancouver joins the MLS? The Whitecaps Residency program shames every other Academy set-up in North America.

 

The FCD U-16's were undefeated up until the last game of the season where a bunch of the best players played for the U-18's. Both of the teams got into the DA playoffs which are going on this weekend, and both have had players called up to the youth national teams.

 

The question is certainly interesting. I'd like to look into it to establish some criteria. Right now mine would be almost as vague as the original posters, so even though I've tried to read a lot about them, my effort below, putting them in similar categories, is decidedly first draft.

Good:
FCD, NYRB, Chivas*, TFC*
Decent:
DCU, RSL, Columbus, Chicago, LA
Poor/Early/Developing:
NE, Colorado, Houston, maybe KC*, SEA
Special award for not having a team without a very good excuse:
SJ

I can think of a couple of criteria that when I get time I'll try to flesh out to come up with a better effort.

 

During a Q&A at a recent season ticket holder only event Quakes boss David Alioto reiterated the team's intention to develop a youth academy, mentioned the scope of their "territory", and their desire to bring the best players into the Quakes fold. Right now they are negotiating with the city of San Jose to have a 9.3 acre parcel next to the stadium site become a youth soccer complex paid for by the city of San Jose. In 2000 the voters of the city passed a $200 million bond to pay for sports fields etc. and have so far San Jose has been dragging its feet on spending any of it. Granted, only 4 fields would fit in that space, but, it is better than nothing, and they won't need to use any of it for parking since they can use the stadium parking. The Quakes Youth Academy would have access to these fields, and of course they would be available for public use.
In the interim, the Quakes will be leasing 2.4 cres of the site for a $1 million all grass training field, (paid for by the Quakes). Once everything is built it should be nice. Team stadium, team traing headquarters, and youth academy all on the same site, in a central location, with great access.

 

Well FC Dallas, NYRB and DC United are the 3 MLS teams to have one of their two academy teams in either the U16 or U18 Finals week so those are probably the top 3 American MLS academies.

 

Link?

 

http://ynt-ussoccer.blogspot.com/

 

I'm going to take a wild guess and say that the thread starter doesn't have any idea WTF he's talking about.

 

Perhaps, but it seems like there is a real lack of information and understanding about these academies. I'd love to see a real analysis of the different programs. I wouldn't know where to look for one.

 

What kind of analysis do you want? I can give you a ton of info on the FC Dallas Academy. I don't really know the coaches of any other teams, but FCD is coached by Oscar Pareja and I've gotta think that's at least the biggest name coach among MLS teams.

FCD is adding a U14 team that is all paid for by the club next year...I don't believe any other MLS team has one that is sponsored by the team.

Last year I believe the final games were broadcast on ESPNU...I'd love to see that again this year.

 

yup. it's the old lob a wild ass grenade into BS and see what happens.

professional academies are judged by the pro players they produce.

 

Besides developing players for the league, the idea behind the academies is to get a few prospects a year claimed before they go off to college. Team success is a symptom of good development, not a cause.

And everyone knows the Revs were late to the game, but they do have U-18's and U-16's as well as being one of the few academies that are fully funded. I fail to see how they have a "bad" or "poor" academy.

 

Red Bulls is the one MLS club who is ahead of the curve. everyone else are in the same boat.

 

Toronto FC's Academy is coached by former Canadian NT player Jason Bent who played professionally in Germany (Zwickau), MLS (Colorado) and England (Plymouth Argyle).

TFC's U-18 and U-16 teams play in the Canadian Soccer League. A semi-professional league based mostly in Southern Ontario. It's level is approximately that of USL-2. USL-1 Monteal Impact also have their reserve team playing in the CSL. Toronto FC's academy currently has players identified with 4 nationalities, Canadian, Jamaican, Chilean and Greek.

Former TFC Academy goalkeeper Lucas Birnstingl signed this past season with Dundee of the Scottish First Division (one level below the Scottish Premier League).

In this year's Dallas Cup, Toronto FC's Academy drew the youth team of Mexican First Division side Tigres 1-1, beating the youth side of Italian Giants AC Milan 3-0 and losing to the youth side of English Premier League side Manchester City 4-0.

 

That AC Milan team was a farce...that was certainly not the best players they have at that age...not trying to take anything away from TFC, just saying that team was terrible.

@Chowda, I'm pretty sure every MLS team that has teams in the Development Academy is funded from within...I could be wrong, but I believe every DA team has to be funded by the team.

Pwip is 100% right in saying NYRB was way ahead of everyone else...the gap is starting to close, but they will always have one of the top teams considering all the multinational talent they will have to choose from...same goes for FC Dallas and the LA teams.

Whoever's team hosts the SUM cup next year has the burden of scouting every team for us...sorry, you have no choice

 

thanks for posting this. I was enjoying the irony that MLS academies were supposed to deliver US youth soccer from the "win at all costs" syndrome, and then people start grading them on the basis of tournament win-loss records.

 

Yep. It's nice that those teams are doing well in the D.A. playoffs. You certainly don't want to create academies that lose although that shouldn't be the primary concern (and I don't think is).

But we're not going to know who has the good and bad academies for 5-7 years when we see who can promote players, which teams actually use those players, how quickly they adjust to the pro game, etc. I would hope that the new CBA will allow teams more flexibility to do all of this.

 

TCF management are looking into creating a U14 team as well. Not sure if they'll be playing next year, but sooner than later.

As far as i can tell FC Dallas have to be considered one of the top academies in MLS based on the amount of youth NT callups. I'd put TFC with 6 callups to the Cdn U17 squad (and 1 callup to the Portuguese U17's) and RBNY and Chivas who have signed players to their Sr. team up at the top with FCD.

 

Yeah, one difference is that doing well in the playoffs often depends on how good your 8-14th best player is, but really for a pro development atmosphere there are likely to be no more than 4 or 5 on any given team who have any chance at the pros (one of the vagaries of any system in the US that can be successful is that something must be done about players 6 and onward to make it worth their while, even though they will often be irrelevant, and other clubs might not have to do as much for them). And we won't truly know until these guys are pros how it went.

That said, some other factors that can be considered as possible early indicators when looking at how good an MLS team's program might be:

* YNT appearances, as noted. Dilly Duka's performance with the U20s suggests Red Bull probably did something right with him.
* College recruiting. (Sorry, it is what it is for now). Is the program sending guys off to top schools or middling programs? For instance, the Crew sent a lot of guys to a powerful Akron team, which speaks fairly well for them.
* Early college playing time. Red Bull's Matt Kassel got PT and contributed to a National Champion Maryland team in his freshman year, which says something good about that program.
* Coaches--are they hiring guys with pro experience? Any international experience? DC United, for instance, needed an interim coach for its U16 team. They hired Des Armstrong, a defender with 80 NT caps for the US, and probably the best player the District had ever produced up until Gooch. That probably says something good about the program. FCD's hire of Oscar Pareja sends the right signal too.

That's not meant to be a comprehensive list. Anybody got others?

 

The FCD left back for the U18's, London Woodberry is signed to go to Maryland in the fall. He's played for the YNT and is a real prospect for the future.