The game-winning goal: Congrats to the @DCUyouth 16’s on winning the @MLSNEXT Championship today with a 1-0 win over Strikers FC! #RepDMV Sydney Aggrey scored the game winner in the 5th minute and was selected as the MOTM, also sharing Top Goalscorer honors with teammate Alem Ignacio 👏🏆 pic.twitter.com/cm49fqWjIp— DMV Soccer (@DMVSoccer96) July 3, 2022
Saw these two threads on twitter today and thought they were interesting: To say this group for DC winning was not a surprise would be the understatement of the century. This group has been very highly rated for a few years now, and they've been a must watch team all season. Here's a thread I made on them from months ago: https://t.co/DvIqOtkLMM— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) July 17, 2022 A thread to follow on an anomaly of an age group at DC United.— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) January 13, 2022
Well I guess if Kasper can't find good players and our ownership isn't willing to pay for them our last hope is for the soccer gods to divine us lots of talent through the academy. It's a shame that by the time they mature enough to get a shot with the professional side Rooney will have quit DC United out of hopelessness and they'll have to learn the ropes from Chad Ashton
Thread on instability with the DC United first team and how this effects the academy players they produce. 👇— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) August 25, 2022
I only hope he’s here long enough to see it through. If the idea is to replace lower level journeymen (Alfaro, Guediri, Skundrich), with HG’s, I love it. A team with 3 dp’s , a couple of Tam guys and 20 kids is an interesting team, to me, and a worthwhile experiment.
I saw this clip from MLS Next on Twitter: Not a bad way to get us off the mark at @MLSNEXT Fest 🔥👀#DCU17s || #VamosUnited pic.twitter.com/qdLEOIV8BQ— D.C. United Academy (@DCUyouth) December 4, 2022 Anyone know who this kid is? The first team needs him!
Anybody know the circumstances of Stiven Gimenez, a local kid who signed a contract with FC Cincy? I know they had to get homegrown rights from DC. Interesting to me because i just found out that Cincy was the 1st to offer Ted KdP a contract while he was in DC academy. It was only after that, that Kasper decided to offer him one. Im still bitter we never moved Eryk Williamson up before he left for Portland.
Seems like we sold his rights for Garberbucks: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/fc-cincinnati-make-stiven-jimenez-youngest-signing-in-club-history It also says he joined Cincy's academy in 2019. Super weird that they poached him or he wanted to go there or whatever happened...
Do we know that for sure? Not doubting you just wondering if that was ever verified or if he didnt want to play here because they never really wanted him.
I don't have documentation but I seem to remember he was offered a HG contract but he didn't sign it. There were rumors of his reasoning, but I can't confirm. So DC traded him to Portland for an international spot and he signed with Portland for whatever reason.
Looked at his Wiki page and it is clearer now. I remember Goff reporting that Williamson - who went to UMd - was interested in going overseas and didn't want to play for DCU. His rights were traded for Garberbucks, but Williamson thought he would get an offer from Schalke. That didn't occur, so he went to Portland and has since suffered two severe knee injuries.
This whole issue of homegrowns, academies and like raises the issue of territorial rights. At some point -- today -- the territorial rights should go away. There should be a free market for kids with promise to play where they want to play, not arbitrarily put them in an MLS's academy due to their birthplace or residence. Right now, the only alternatives for a US kid are to go abroad or join a USL team sponsored academy. The sooner we have full free agency from the youth ranks on up, the better it will be. The quality of academies and FO's will have to improve substantially because talent identification and development will critical to a team's commercial success. As pointed out earlier, Dumpster Diving Dave only got interested in TKDP when it was apparent another team was sniffing around, but he also knew that he had "rights" to Ted that he could sell regardless so there was rush to decide if DCU really was interested in him. In free agency, DDD would have remained asleep at the switch and TKDP would be wearing Orange and playing with Lucho.
I came across this on twitter today. It's dated June 2023, but for us at least, it lists several guys who have already signed first team contracts in the list of Top 10 "prospects." Not sure how they are defining prospect, or if they are just hopelessly out of date. I think their critique of DCU not taking advantage of the talent in the area is accurate. Anyways, I found it interesting and thought I would pass along. I did note that the top prospect for Columbus is Owen Presthus, who I gather is Tom's kid. Man do I feel old... https://www.ussoccercollective.com/mls/mls-academy-rankings
https://premier.upsl.com/dc-united-...my-to-join-upsl-13th-mls-club-to-join-league/ The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is proud to announce that DC United Academy has joined the league, becoming the 13th MLS club to take part. The club joins Philadelphia Union as the latest MLS club from the Northeast to join.
Every once in a while, the DCU organization does something that might make you think they're not an utter joke. But that impression never lasts long.
El Diablo hired as U15 academy coach: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/08/16/marco-etcheverry-dc-united-academy-coach/ He was voted league MVP in 1998. In eight years, he recorded 37 goals and 114 assists over 191 regular season matches and 23 playoff games. Last year, Etcheverry was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in Frisco, Tex. “The first thing you notice is his passion for the game,” Ouckama said. “You still see it. He lights up like he’s still a player.” In other moves, United appointed Mattar M’Boge, an assistant coach at second-division affiliate Loudoun United, to also oversee the under-19 squad. Phil Gordon, formerly with MLS’s Orlando City, will guide the U-17s and Phil Nana, a former D.C. academy assistant, will handle the U-14s.
The fall UPSL schedule is out. Yesterday, the listing below said DC United Academy and now says DC United U19. https://premier.upsl.com/schedule/ Check under DMV South for the schedule. The DMV South Premier Division is 11 teams this fall, with each team playing everyone else once; half at home, half away. Based on attending a few games in the spring season, I note that locations/times sometimes change, so keep an eye on the schedule. Home games listed at Segra Field. Away games are slated for Arlington (Wakefield High School), Falls Church (Meridian High School), Alexandria (Limerick Field), Leesburg (VA Revolution Sportsplex), and Glen Allen (near Richmond; Deep Run High School).