Since all of the MLS youth academy teams are now competing in the USSF Academy, how are these teams faring competitively as well as they way they look. The reason I ask is that I watched the KC Wizards and the TSC/DTH Texans today in Houston and was not impressed with the KC Wizards. It looks like they recruited a bunch of big physical guys with no great skill. The U15/16 game went 1 - 1 and I said the only way KC would score would be on a dead ball. They did. They were a bunch of big physical guys who were not impressive individually but organized as a team very well. The second game the U17/18 Texans outclassed KC 2 - 0 and KC were a bunch of big physical guys who looked more like rugby players than soccer players. Is this the kind of player we are trying to create to send to the senior team? I hope not.
I don't know about KC, but others have done well in the USSF academy. Columbus Crew, FC Dallas, NY RedBulls, and DC United have all done pretty well. I believe past statistics are on ussoccer.com.
Dynamo are first and FC Dallas are second in the Texas U18 division and FC Dallas are the runaway leaders of the U16 division List of college commits for this year: http://sports.espn.go.com/highschool/rise/soccer/news/story?id=3860470 32 kids from MLS academies are committed to 2010 scholarships so far...thats a ton
Doesn't that average out to 2 per MLS academy team? I wouldn't call that a ton. Besides, I think we are still too early to tell how the academy teams are faring. Now, you can certainly look at the standings but, for the most part, the teams are just a bunch of recruited kids, rather than a group of kids that they clubs have developed over a number of years.
MLS Academies are faring as expected. They are sucking the area talents from the other club teams. Seems like clubs are investing some money into the youth program as both marketing and future development. (Except San Jose). Chicago Fire Academy just decimated the chicago magic academy teams. Galaxy pilfered 4 to 5 Arsenal FC USA players.
It's early. Last year I know DC United and the Columbus Crew sent over half a dozen guys each to major programs. I agree it's early yet. You'll have to look at what former academy players are doing 5 years later to truly know.
First the "pilfered" comments make no sense. Teams like New England, Galaxy, Chivas etc. just started so all those players are going to have to come from somewhere. Also it is not like it is anything new for clubs at the top of the food chain to get good players from other clubs. Arsenal took over an entire Necaxa team and gets kids from clubs like Celtic; LAFC takes mostly kids from outside their program and took the entire Strikers team that the Strikers took from somewhere else. Real SoCal took Valley United teams. When the Academy started Pats took Strikers U16 for their own and a couple years later took Monarcas. The list goes on and on. Second it is hard to believe teams are faring as "expected." For example the Rapads teams have consistently been among the worst in the program. Chivas U18 team is 1-8-1 so far. Both are now in their third year of the program and I would have expected them to get stronger not weaker. Depending on the travel required for their division, I wouldn't be surprised if MLS teams are spending close to $10K per player. Given that spending I am surprised how teams like the Rapids are struggling so much.
That's kind of the point. You want the best kids filtering to the top........and hopefully "the top" will very soon be the MLS academies (where kids have an opportunity to get "signed" to the MLS first-team).
I was just stating a fact not much of a commentary but my personal thought on this is MLS clubs' academy program runs the gamut. I fully expect the clubs to identify talent and offer slots to area talents. The player gets club fee free training in a professional environment(supposedly). It's a no-brainer. Like I said it's wide spectrum of good and bad. Red Bull gets player in the U14 range and actually have them in their system for 3 years. LA Galaxy added some YNT players but Chicago Fire U18 is BS. adding 13 HS seniors from Chicago Magic into their U18 team is about winning not identifying possible pro talent or development.
The Chicago Fire Academy is popular, not BS. The coaches stress soccer, not winning. You obviously have a personal beef with the system in some way.
Well, there's a third possiblity between "winning" and "development," which is "scouting." Essentially trying to increase the possibility that they'll pick up some guys without having had to draft them a year or two from now. But picking up a bunch of 17/18 year old HS seniors obviously wouldn't be "development" in the sense that the program was designed for, if that's what they really did. Even still, it's better that they be concentrated as much into one program as they can be, as that last year before college is often one of the biggest wastes of time in the classic youth structure.
You hit it right on the head. There are a few players the Fire want for future use. When those players defected, the rest came with. Of course, theyt won't mind winning the Academy Finals next summer.
could really care less either way, but having the best 17/18 year olds in the area defect to your club can only help recruit younger talent.
I didn't realize Ruben Luna had committed to them. You'd think that SMU could really recruit some good players in that area. The other big schools in the Dallas/Fort Worth area don't have men's soccer do they? I know TCU doesn't. I don't think North Texas does. I also believe that Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Baylor, etc. don't. But they all have women's soccer of course..........Title IX strikes again?
SMU and possibly Rice are the only D1 programs in Texas. The other kid in their recruiting class that I've seen is AJ Corrado from Carmel United and he was the best player on the field in the game between the FCD Juniors and them last weekend.
Kind of off-topic but you wonder just how many more 5k+ crowds it's going to take for the Big 12 to go D1 for mens. Pretty ridiculous that it's not with all the talent in the south.
Robert Derschang may be their best get. He's got wicked left foot (1:46 mark) [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywaFvQ3o7io"]YouTube- June 26, 2009: Top 10 DA Goals - Day 1[/ame] SMU snagged 2 more from Chicago Fire(formerly Magic) Zach Barnes MF Flower Mound, Texas Marcus Dallas Texans Academy A.J. Corrado MF Zionsville, Ind. Zionsville Carmel United Academy Robert Derschang MF Englewood, Colo. Cherry Creek Real Colorado Tyler Engel Ill. Chicago Fire Academy Ruben Luna F Garland, Texas North Mesquite FC Dallas Max Rockwell MF New Port Richey, Fla. Mitchell Clearwater Chargers Cal Roselieb Ill. Chicago Fire Juniors Dylan Schauder D Houston, Texas Clear Lake Texas Rush Academy
Exactly. You also have to go through a lot of players to get to the very few that stick. For instance, a look at this roster indicates on how hard it is to project youth players to future professional careers. A couple are on the fringes of the national team, a few more are viable MLS players, the balance are either out of the sport or are fringe players at best. FIFA U-17 World Cup 2003 Finland - United States: 1 GK Phil Marfuggi 15 January 1986 (aged 17) 2 DF Kyle Helton 20 May 1986 (aged 17) 3 DF Jonathan Spector 1 March 1986 (aged 17) 4 MF Eddie Gaven 25 October 1986 (aged 16) 5 DF Dwight Owens 23 January 1986 (aged 17) 6 DF Chris Germani 10 July 1986 (aged 17) 7 MF Brian Grazier 17 March 1986 (aged 17) 8 MF John DiRaimondo 23 April 1986 (aged 17) 9 FW Michael Harrington 24 January 1986 (aged 17) 10 MF Guillermo González 4 January 1986 (aged 17) 11 MF Freddy Adu 2 June 1989 (aged 14) 12 DF Steven Curfman 8 October 1986 (aged 16) 13 FW Jamie Watson 10 April 1986 (aged 17) 14 DF Julian Valentin 23 February 1987 (aged 16) 15 MF Corey Ashe (c) 14 March 1986 (aged 17) 16 DF Adrian Chevannes 17 June 1986 (aged 17) 17 MF Danny Szetela 17 June 1987 (aged 16) 18 GK Quentin Westberg 25 April 1986 (aged 17) 19 FW Jacob Peterson 27 January 1986 (aged 17) 20 GK Stephen Sandbo 23 February 1987 (aged 16)