...................and oh man, the state of a couple of academies. When they have to pick Eryk Williamson as the "homegrown player" to watch for the Portland Timbers...................
S.L. Benfica and FC Dallas announce talent development partnership | FC Dallas S.L. Benfica and FC Dallas today announced a talent development partnership that will bring together two of the global game’s most successful youth academies to offer players a pathway to first team soccer both in the United States and Portugal. [Folks will remember FCD had a similar partnership with Bayern Munich that resulted in a lot of training stints and loans for American prospects in Germany. Chris Richards was the big success story of that partnership. Bayern Munich announced a new partnership with LAFC last year.]
By the black flag, I'm guessing McFarlane is from revolutionary Spain, or maybe Rojava? Or some pirate utopia?
Here’s the article itself since the tweet seems to have gone away https://theathletic.com/5280019/2024/02/16/mls-young-talent/
Feels like it could be a breakout year for Quinn Sullivan. Had two MLS/Hockey assists tonight, but made the best and most important pass on Carranza's second goal and outran the defender and secured a long ball, then made the smart pass before the assist on Carranza's third. Check out Carranza's second -- it's a real pretty play. Dude is playing with a new level of confidence, clearly. Philly was the better team, clearly, but Saprissa in Costa Rica has never been a pushover.
Cavan has been coaching him up. Jokes aside, Quinn has always looked the part and has been patiently waiting for his opportunity. I expect him to grab it with both hands.
Hadn't seen this in a while, and thought it was worth posting here. 2024 MLS Player Development Guidelines | MLSSoccer.com First off, its the best outline of homegrown territories that we've seen in a while. But a reminder that the homegrown policy has really changed. Clubs can only "protect" 9 total players from their territory outside of their own academies. That's a huge change from the past. Registered Academy Players An MLS club may establish Homegrown Exclusivity over up to forty-five (45) academy players between the U15, U17, and U19 age groups. Additional Players (“Plus 9”) In addition to the 45 registered academy players, an MLS club may establish Homegrown Exclusivity over up to nine (9) players who: are not registered academy players; have a permanent address or currently reside with their parent(s) or legal guardian(s) in the MLS club’s Homegrown Territory; and are in one of the U15, U17, or U19 age groups.
Philly needs to commit to being in the Quinn Sullivan business for an extended period, over underwhelming talents and producers such as Uhre, Donovan, etc.; unlike the past couple of years. Quinn hasn't lit the world on fire, but he's been decent, and never got an extended run like Uhre, thru much more lackluster play. Also, Curtin hasn't wanted to integrate more than 1 youth at a time (Brenden then McGlynn). Hopefully now that Quinn is more mentally and physically mature, that's the tipping point for both sides.
I'd think Philly would play Quinn just to have a better shot at his brother. Cynical but he probably deserves it anyway and would build goodwill with the family. I mean if your trying to sign Cavan with sort of promises that Philly gives you the best chance of minutes pre 18 but his brother is languishing on the bench it's not a good selling job.
And Uhre has declined rapidly. The guy doesn't even seem to have the speed he used to have. He's not doing really anything for them -- it's basically the Carranza show. They started Quinn in midfield over Bedoya, who just signed, and I know a lot of people on here see him there. But regardless of his best position, he's a pretty good speed striker type in a two striker system. His finishing needs to improve, but he stretches the field and can play with pretty much anyone.
FC Dallas Loans Homegrown Antonio Carrera to North Carolina FC | FC Dallas North Carolina FC are the 2023 USL League One winners and will rejoin the USL Championship in 2024 following two years in USL League One.
Nimfasha Berchimas earns his spot in history as the ninth-youngest player to make his MLS debut. ✨ pic.twitter.com/6LLAi8ZKmy— Major League Soccer (@MLS) February 25, 2024 A debut for the 16-year old Homegrown 👏 pic.twitter.com/FtBLIMmbRT— Charlotte FC (@CharlotteFC) February 25, 2024
The first attempt I've seen at drawing a homegrown map with the territories outlined in the quoted link. Its not perfect. San Jose isn't added in Northern California. It does show us the major metro areas currently not in a HG territory that teams can all recruit from. Multiple current USMNTers come from the El Paso area (Pepi, Zendejas). Multiple current USMNTers come from Alabama (Richards, Tessmann). [Dallas has youth affiliates in much of that open space in Texas. Its just that only the El Paso one has provided real impact homegrowns. They have academies in Laredo, RGV, Midland, Amarillo, Tyler, etc.] [Also a reminder per those stated rules that clubs can only protect a limited number of players in their regions from outside of their academies. So talent rich areas like Southern California and North Texas should be exploited now by others.] MLS homegrown territories map 2024 (per MLS website) pic.twitter.com/GITe3HgD0q— Fußball Hank Hill 🇺🇲🇩🇪 (@BayernAusBoston) February 22, 2024
Intriguing homegrown signing by the Union on the way? I’m hearing the Philadelphia Union have come to terms with recent U.S U-17 World Cup attacker David Vazquez— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) February 27, 2024
We haven't had a true MLS breakout youth player since...Adams? Pepi sort of? Not seeing any of that in the current crop.
Disagree. Berchimas looks to be on a similar or higher development curve than Pepi. Pepi was certainly an MLS breakout by scoring 13 goals in his first full season at 18.
We have a bunch of really good young players in the league right now. One difference, from even 5 years ago, is how much the league is paying these young players to stay. Brian Gutierrez of Chicago is an example of that. Bajraktarevic is one with an ever-increasing ceiling. Totally impressed so far by what Quinn Sullivan is doing in the first couple of weeks. We can make a long list. In the first week of just MLS play (so not including CCC).............37 players aged 20 or younger saw action. [Not all Americans/Canadians, but a huge chunk were.] There is A LOT of talent on the way.
Brenden Aaronson was a breakout. He was best xi and ended up fetching 35 million. Araujo & Paredes arguably fit. Tolkin may in retrospect. I'm pretty confident in Gutierrez. Esmir & Quinn Sullivan are realistic ones. The notion there's been no breakouts since Adams is pretty dismissive. The aforementioned David Vazquez is on my near future watch list, incidentally.
There’s been a good crop. Here’s a few more to remember. Mark McKenzie played every minute for the Shield winning Union at 20. Jesus Ferreira scored 18 goals! Gianluca Busio was wearing the ten shirt and getting 90 touches a game at 18.
Yup. Pepi was a breakout because of his age. ..............but Duncan McGuire scored more goals last season across all competitions than Pepi ever did in MLS. And frankly more goals than Pepi has scored in any season anywhere. As did Ferreira and Brandon Vazquez the year before. That's not meant as a dig at Pepi. As an FCD guy, I love Ricardo Pepi. I'm just saying we continue to have "breakouts" amongst domestic players in MLS. We have so many young kids breaking thru that even the youth watchers have to go back to their notes to figure out who they are. Markus Andreson debuted last night for Philadelphia. I had never heard of him before. 20 year old American left winger that they'd acquired from a 3rd division team in Spain.