I recognize some of the kids on the team, they sometimes work out at the fields where my kids practice. It is impressive they have 39 players on roster..... D.C. United-826521 - Premier (upsl.com)
https://www.acmilan.com/en/news/art...milan-academy-in-the-united-states-of-america Unclear if this will be a legit academy with real ties/pathways to the club or just a licensing deal where some youth club gets to use the AC Milan name. If it's the former, it could have an impact on DCU's academy.
D.C. United Academy DC United Academy Graduates on International Duty Griffin Yow - U.S Men’s Olympic Team Kevin Paredes - U.S Men’s Olympic Team Jeremy Garay - El Salvador 1st Team Matai Akinmboni - U19 Congratulations to our Academy Homegrowns!
Here's a ranking of MLS Academies, out of 26 teams. Detail in the link: https://www.ussoccercollective.com/mls/mls-academy-rankings
We have the best turf. That is why we can have a Monster Truck event on Monday. A concert on Tuesday, a wedding on Wednesday, a petting zoo on Thursday, a Spirit match on Friday, and still have the pitch in tip top shape for a DC United match on Saturday... We should be booking more events...
That's what the people are saying ..... - No-one ever questioned the quality of the turf at RFK - except maybe around that funky pitching mound there for a bit
there was a bit more than the pitcher's mound on the elevator that FUBARed the field after the city fell all over itself for beisbol: the turf seams caused by filling in the infield dirt track, the field never drained as well, and then they made the soccer pitch a trapezoid.....
Would everyone mind taking the pitch/turf discussions to the proper thread, instead of the Academy Thread. I was hoping to get a discussion started about the Academy, or lack thereof.
Damn. I wanted to point out that there is a "double header" tomorrow with a 2 hour break between games. I assume it's due to the lack of additional locker rooms.
I thought they fixed the locker room issue (added a 4th) so I assume this is a cash grab (unless they are allowing "in and out" privileges....)
What MLS is trying to instill: Inside the French coaching course that could propel U.S. soccer into a new stratosphere - The Athletic (nytimes.com) In the coaching world, it is known simply as ‘the French Course’, and its reputation precedes it. First, it’s tough. Alumni share stories as soldiers would badges of honour, comparing their hardest moments, the points they considered walking away, and the moment it all came together. To the uninitiated waiting to take part, it all provokes excitement and dread. Often, the mastermind behind the course uses the diamond analogy — you don’t produce them without pressure. But it is also transformational, not just for the coaches who fly from the United States to France to learn from some of the best in the world, but increasingly for Major League Soccer itself, which began the programme 12 years ago to try to emulate the quality of Europe’s big domestic leagues. The Athletic went to the Institut national du football de Clairefontaine — French football’s renowned training centre — to watch the latest band of MLS coaches go through the final week of the Elite Formation Coaching License (EFCL) course. . . Notable EFCL graduates include current MLS head coaches Nico Estevez (FC Dallas), Luchi Gonzalez (San Jose Earthquakes), Wilfried Nancy (Columbus Crew), and Greg Vanney (LA Galaxy). Four current head coaches in the MLS Next Pro reserve-team league have also completed it. If the visiting students forget just how effective this place is at producing excellence they need only glance at the plaques on the doors of their bedrooms, each listing a French soccer great who stayed there during their rise to global fame — from Zinedine Zidane to Thierry Henry to Kylian Mbappe. An even more direct link comes in the form of one of their main teachers during this extraordinary course. Jean-Claude Giuntini, now 67, is the former manager of several successful France age-group sides, including winning the European Under-17 Championship in 2015. Giuntini has guided Kingsley Coman, Dayot Upamecano (both now at German giants Bayern Munich) and Mike Maignan (AC Milan) to name a few. Alongside him on the staff is Jose Alcocer, the current France Under-17s boss (who coached his team to glory in that age group’s Euros two years ago), and Ligue 1 side Le Havre’s technical director Michael Bunel, another highly regarded educator. The man who brought the team together is former Strasbourg and Le Havre B-team coach Fred Lipka (he of the diamond metaphor), who is now MLS’s vice-president and technical director for player development. It is a much longer article, and a nice one, even with some glaring editing problems (who is Nandy that seems to have already own the 2024 Rothenberg Cup?!?!?). Interesting to me is that it in spite of its very long relationship with IMG in Bradenton, FL, for the last 12 years MLS has been sending its premier coaching talent overseas for training. Nothing wrong with that, I just wonder if that has impacted the relationship with IMG (it shouldnt). I also wonder how MLS selects coaches to participate...
Posted from another thread - DC United is losing a lot of young players to various European teams: idk how much of these players leaving is cuz of DCU not having a NP team, but‘06 Tey Mohammed - Montpellier ‘08 Milo Robinson - Swansea‘06 Alessandro Maldonado - NK Istra‘07 Luka Bentt - Brentford‘06 Gleb Bogdanov - Casa PiaAll in the last ≈18 months from DCU to Europe https://t.co/CHPMR2yqMx— CONCACAF Wonderkids (@CONCACAFWONDERS) October 12, 2024 Not even including the players who are in college now (Dash Papez, Garry Zhang, Graham Jones, etc) Not saying that this is a bad thing at all. Just outrageous it is now season 3 (almost 4) and there is still no DCU NP team, and DC United is just losing all of this talent.— CONCACAF Wonderkids (@CONCACAFWONDERS) October 12, 2024
https://www.soccerwire.com/news/d-c...TfpbVVrstnrCntdsNg_aem_uTshkyJcFG5ydIGaKHsEfA D.C. United has announced the launch of a full-time program for select players in the D.C. United Academy. The program is designed to enhance the club’s efforts in recruiting and developing young talent in the DMV region and will promote further opportunities for players to be integrated into the D.C. United First Team. The program will start with the Under-16 team in 2024 with plans to expand in the future.
Finally seems like somebody at the GM level is serious. It will take about 3-5 years for talent to show up with any impact, but this sounds like a great step forward.
From the US Soccer Collective, DC has two 2010s in their "Top 20" list: https://www.ussoccercollective.com/rankings/2010