You are missing a few of HG players: Houston - Francisco Navas Cobo LA -Jack McBean plus the newest FC Dallas & Sporting KC kids, but those just were announced.
Wasn't really sure where to post this, but Diego Fagundez scored a beautiful goal against NJSA this past weekend for the Revs U16s. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1la8fnZau8"]YouTube - Revs U-16 vs. NJSA 04 U15/16[/ame]
Good. I'm a firm believer in pushing these kids as high and as fast as they can. Nice to see the Revs understand the importance of not letting the kid run circles around inferior competition.
Yep. He racked up a ton of goals for the Revs U16 last year as a 95 going up against mostly 93s and 94s. I'm not sure how much more he can learn at this level. You don't want to overwhelm a kid who only turned 16 last month, but it seems like he's ready to play with bigger and stronger players on the U18 circuit.
Oh yeah. I wouldn't throw him in against the first team but if he's doing that well against 16's he should definitely be moved up.
http://revolutionsoccer.net/news/2011/03/youth-update-march-14-2011 Two goals and two assists for the U-18s against PA Classics on Saturday. I think he'll be all right at that age level.
As far as the FCD homegrown players go, many of them played in yesterday's 4-0 victory over Central Arkansas. This was technically an FCD reserves game, coached by Oscar Pareja. The lineup was: FC Dallas - Josh Lambo, Moises Mernandez (Daniel Garcia 73), Zach Loyd (Jack Coleman 46), Scott Gordon, Victor Ulloa, Bobby Warshaw, Andrew Wiedeman (Michael Ambrose 52), Bruno Guarda, Andrew Jacobson, Peri Marosevic (Bryan Leyva 46), Ruben Luna (Jonathan Top 46). Of note was the inclusion in the match of Daniel Garcia............another kid currently in the academy. Schellas had praise after the match for Michael Ambrose and Jack Coleman. These are two FCD academy kids that have been called into US youth national teams recently (U18s), but will be attending the NCAAs next season. Ones to keep an eye on. The academy leaves for their trip to Spain tomorrow (to play Atletico, Real, and Getafe). It's worth noting that Jonathan Top, Bryan Leyva, and Victor Ulloa will be joining the academy team on that trip. That should tell us something about their chances of getting playing time with the FCD first team in the short term.
I have a feeling that FC Dallas is going to be tough for a long time. It seems that they have followed Soccernomics to the bone of player moves.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/real-salt-lake-ink-first-home-grown-player Real Salt Lake said Monday that they have signed their first-ever Home Grown player, Donny Toia. The 18-year-old Tucson, Ariz., native is expected to join the club later this week. According to RSL general manager Garth Lagerwey (above), Toia is “really athletic, left-footed, fast, can jump – likely an attacking player.” However, he went on to explain, “He’s so young – as Luis [Gil] was when he started – we’ve got to see how he fits in with the group, and see where he projects over time.” Although Toia is from Arizona, he is not a graduate of RSL’s Academy program located in Casa Grande, but did participate in the RSL youth program in Arizona for two years.
Chirgadze released (Fixed link from above post) Is Chirgadze the first HG player to be released? I can't think of any others.
UPDATE Chicago Fire Aug-10 Victor Pineda, M Chivas USA (* denotes some are debatable since they preceded the rule, but still spent in the clubs academy) Jul-07 Jorge Flores, M * Mar-08 Gerson Mayen, M/D* May-09 Cesar Zamora, M Mar-10 Carlos Borja, D Aug-10 Bryan De La Fuente, M Colorado Rapids Aug-10 David Armstrong, M Columbus Crew - none FC Dallas Sep-09 Bryan Leyva, M Jul-10 Fernandez Moises, D Jul-10 Victor Ulloa, D Jul-10 Ruben Luna, F Jan-11 Jonathan Top, F Feb-11 Richard Sanchez, GK DC United Sep-09 Bill Hamid, GK Aug-10 Conor Shanosky, M Mar-10 Andy Najar, M Dec-10 Ethan White, D Houston Dynamo Feb-09 Tyler Deric, GK Mar-10 Navas Cobo, M Jan-11 Josue Soto, M Jan-11 Alex Dixon, F Sporting Kansas City Aug-10 Jonathan Kempin, GK Mar-11 Kevin Ellis, DF LA Galaxy Nov-08 Tristan Bowen, F - traded to Chivas USA Jan-11 Jack McBean, F New England Revolution Nov-10 Diego Fagundez, M/F New York Red Bulls Sep-09 Giorgi Chirgadze, F (released Mar-11) Mar-10 Juan Agudelo, F Jan-11 Matt Kassel, M Jan-11 Sacir Hot, D Philadelphia Union Dec-10 Zach Pfeffer, M Portland Timbers - none Real Salt Lake Mar-11 Donny Toia San Jose Earthquakes - none Seattle Sounders - none Toronto FC Aug-10 Doneil Henry, D Sep-10 Nicholas Lindsay, F Mar-11 Ashtone Morgan, D Mar-11 Matt Stinson, M Mar-11 Oscar Cordon, M Mar-11 Keith Makubaya, F Vancouver Whitecaps Nov-10 Phillippe Davies, D/M Feb-11 Nizar Khalfan, M Mar-11 Brian Sylvestre, GK Mar-11 Russell Teibert, M
Looks like I need to update the database. They really keep these signings hush hush. PS - Chirgadze is the first ever homegrown released. Reasons still unknown... though I've heard he didn't take the game serious enough.
I don't believe Nizar Khalfan qualifies as a homegrown player. I don't see Vancouver classifying him as one either. Week 2 Roundup is online... considering the amount of players away on international duty, disappointing only a handful saw time this week. Several made their club's respective benches, but didn't see action.
The fact that the Crew are the only team (non recent expansion) to not have signed anyone yet is concerning. And the whole "the white kids on their team would rather go to college" seems like an excuse to me.
Ok.... but New England, Philly, Colorado, and Chicago have only 1 signing each. And all 4 of those teams have seen their homegrown players play zero minutes of MLS time. I think it's a bit too early to go into panic mode with the Crew. As an aside, I wonder if Friedel's Academy had any impact here?
Doubt it. One of the starting centerbacks on the U17's is a Crew kid............Andrew Souders. I'm not positive, but he may even be the captain of the U17's. It wouldn't surprise me if he ends up being a homegrown signing for them. It's important that MLS clubs sign the "right kids" as homegrown players. No point signing kids up just for the sake of signing them up. That's doing a disservice to a kid that could be attending the NCAAs with their peers.
And that I think is exactly what happened with some of the first wave signings. Some of the Chivas USA guys, Red Bull's Giorgi Chirgadze, perhaps a few others. You can already see a few busts or perhaps guys who were unable to adjust the size, speed, and physicality of MLS.
Our GM has said that many of our academy of our kids want to go to college. He expect to be able to get a couple as they move through college. They have tried but just havent hit it yet.
Again this sounds like a cop out from management. You think kids from Cbus are the only ones that have thought about going to college? There has got to be some other reason these kids aren't getting signed, whether it be the front office being tight with the wallet or something else, I'm not sure but something isn't adding up. Especially when you consider how long the Crew have had their academy, some kids should almost be done with college now.
I think it's possible that that's true that the kids want to go to college. RSL's Donny Toia wanted to go to college, too. He went to college, found out he wasn't getting anywhere there, didn't like college, quit, and came back to RSL hoping they'd give him another chance.