While there are many possible reasons that the Galaxy Academy to the Galaxy MLS team pipeline is not robust enough, I'll save that for another time and focus on why all of these Galaxy Academy YNT players (and it applies to really all USYNT players) don't get to the USMNT. A few reasons that the jump from the USYNT to the USMNT is massive: 1. The pool is dramatically larger for the USMNT. USYNT teams are age group limited and the USMNT obviously isn't. For example, Tim Ream, at 38, is still in the MNT pool and he's old enough to be the father of Alex Freeman, who is 22. 2. MLS Academy/MLSNP players have an advantage under FIFA rules for being selected to a USYNT. Most times during the year, clubs aren't required to release players for the YNT camps under FIFA rules. That often means the YNT coaches rely upon young MLS players where the league/teams are more flexible about releasing their players and where it is often logistically easier to get them to the camps. 3. Dual nationals, especially playing abroad, are often hesitant to commit to the USYNT. It doesn't commit them under FIFA rules, but those players who grew up elsewhere often only really commit at the senior level and are still trying to climb the ranks of the YNT system of the country where they grew up. So, the USYNT teams often aren't the best players who could possibly play for the US. 4. So much can happen to a player coming through the YNT ranks that can derail their careers before they can get to the USMNT. They can get passed by as players develop physically and emotionally. They can get injured. They can lose their love for the game. They can have a drop in form and lose their confidence and their starting positions at their clubs. Even the ones who last rarely make it. For example, check out this random Academy recap from 2018 The U19 players, many of whom had USYNT experience at some point, should be in their prime in MLS. Of that group, Pulskamp is playing for Sporting KC, Alvarez played for the Galaxy and is now having success with Chivas in LigaMX, Traore played for the Galaxy briefly and then went back to France and is currently out of contract, Zico Bailey is with New Mexico United in USLC, Taylor Davila is with Louisville City in USLC, and most of the rest washed out during college if not before. You have to go all the way to Harbor Miller with the U-12s to find a player mentioned in this recap who has played a significant amount with the Galaxy other than Alvarez. 5. Scouting is lazy or inadequate in the first place and then path dependence takes over. Players are spotted when they are young, typically because the kids make an MLS academy and US scouts figure that the MLS Academies winnow things out a little and focus their limited resources on those players. Problem is that this is a big country and many of the MLS Academies are mediocre at scouting. So, lots of players get missed. Those that do get selected are then known and are the first players coaches consider for the next camp, getting priority over unknown players. Then, those selected players get better simply because they are given advantages in training etc. By the time they get to later stages of the YNT stage, though, it become apparent they aren't good enough.
I'll also point out that when any academy, but especially a higher-profile academy in a big city, like LA, has a real stand-out, can't-miss prospect, they usually get poached by a European team that can afford to spend millions taking chances on young prospects.
thank you for your insight, much appreciated. I think point 5 really hits home, my nephew here in Alabama is really good at soccer, and I've noticed a few things that seem to hinder any potential he has, 1. I don't believe he is motivated enough or has the work ethic to succeed, right now he gets by on natural ability. 2. the scouting here is horrible, all the kids with money or the parents that influence everything here takes precedence regardless of talent so the kids with financial backing get the spots and opportunities, 3. coaching, private coaching is big here and most of the time the kid doesn't have the ability to match the coaching or the coach is being lazy and is going through the motions, coaches here don't take the time to teach fundamentals and their goal is to win so the more "name" coaches hoard all the more advanced players and the rest are lumped at the bottom, and they lose out on players who will blossom late or need some coaching to really bust out. 4. the culture and backward thinking, my nephew has been here 3 years so because he wasn't born and raised here, he is an outsider so he doesn't get a lot of opportunities because the person running the league is good buddies with billy bob and he's known billy bob junior longer than this carpetbagger so billy bob jr gets the spot because he is kin I think in a nutshell this is why soccer in the US will never grow properly because of the money, ego and backroom deals involved, It feels like the Donovan, Dempsey, Howard years were the peak of US Soccer and I don't see it coming back anytime soon
@Dawdler That's so frustrating for you and your nephew. Back in the day a parent volunteer coach proudly proclaimed in my hearing that he believed coach's children should have precedence for all-star teams. I mean, what a joke.
What an idiot. You say that in private to your buddies in power, not in front of the lowly parents! After all the parents are only there to be fleeced. Youth soccer has changed so much. It’s all about the $ now. My son has 3 kids playing and he must be spending $10k a year to keep them all in their expensive team uniforms and academies and special tourney fees and multiple team fees.
it is and I'm not that involved in their activities as much as I'd like, also the city council here is also pushing a multi million dollar sportsplex, I'm in a town of under 20k people and a sportsplex is not needed, the people voted for better sidewalks and roads and the city council blocked the vote and decided to continue with the sportsplex, they've already spent close to 10 million and they have not even broken ground and many people are upset and feel there is major fraud going on but no one has the power to fight back because these crooks have been the pillar of the community for decades and most people shrug and go on living their lives, its crazy to me that know one wants to fight to improve their lives and the lives of others but then again I live in a ruby red state *sigh*
he was an academy player for a few years, I recall there was some shenanigans that led him to leave the academy for the NY Cosmos https://www.topdrawersoccer.com/clu...ight-finds-his-place-with-the-cosmos_aid36310 I know he has had a decent career but the way things went down, it left a bad taste in my mouth and I wonder if he would have had a more distinguished club career if he wouldn't have tried to take shortcuts, however on the flip side the Galaxy track record of developing players from their academy isn't great and he is on the USMNT so it turned out well for him
Good catch! You are right. It wasn't very long (in part because the Academy age groups didn't start as young as they do today) and he left for what was briefly called the NY Cosmos West because he and his parents did not want him to be tied to MLS through a contract with multiple unilateral option years, but he was here long enough for us to claim him!
It takes a lot of time and persistence and networks to fight these things. It's harder with the sad state of local journalism.
Let me get this straight, you are upset that a parent volunteer coach would refuse to coach an all star team unless his/her child was selected to the team. Why? By definition this is a generous act for someone who gets no financial compensation for the hours he/she puts in or reimbursement for the expenses they incur. In my geographical area, this is a commitment that runs from mid-October to mid June (over 8 months) with 2 or 3 practices a week lasting 1-2 hours each (more if you include the pre and post practice time). Tournaments eat up long holiday weekends precluding family vacation opportunities and spring league games take even more. There is also practice and game prep time, mandatory meetings as well as education requirements. So you are saying in essence that this parent should give up spending this valuable time with their own child to spend it with other peoples' kids for free with the possible reward for this sacrifice is that it may improve the development of the sport? That's a joke. To my mind having their child be one of the 12 to 18 or so players on a side seems rather trivial compensation.. In my over 15 of coaching and refereeing AYSO, I only saw a few examples of a coach not having his/her child on their team. And without exception, those were coaches whose own children had aged out and they were coaching for personal enjoyment. Taking this a step further, its not just the coach's kids, its the need for parents to support the team. As a male who coached girls, I required another adult preferably female to be at all practices, games and other activities. You can bet that these parents get priority when picking a "select" or all star team. Finally, it was my observation that it was very unusual for the coach's or involved parent's kids to be at the bottom of the select team's talent barrel.
Good question, and I'm not upset. I don't disagree that a parent volunteer of an all-star team should have their child on the team. And their supporting coaches also should have their children Ideally, one of the children who would be selected anyway has a parent who will coach the team, as you stated it is common for parent coaches to have talented children, and also it's common for a successful coach from a successful team to be chosen to select the all-stars. To be clear, this parent coach was going beyond, and was advocating for all the coach's children, not just the coaches of the all star team. He was implying that selection to the all-star team, which in this year also included a trip to Hawaii, was a just reward for regular season coaching. So instead of one out of 12 to 18 players, we're talking 6-10 or more. He wanted to select his friends' kids. My child did lose out from this discriminatory practice, and was not chosen, while one who had better connections at his position was. But I didn't protest or talk to other parents or commiserate with my child. It was just youth soccer and my kid just moved on to another sport, where he did fine. I remember the incident all these years later, so it did make an impression. This coach was not a bad person, and he was a good coach, and I'm sure from his point of view it made perfect sense. To me it makes a mockery of an "all-star" team concept.
Yeah this can be good (like 73Bruin pointed out) or bad (as you mentioned). When I was playing AYSO as a wee lad, the players were randomly assigned to teams, to keep any one team from recruiting the best players and keeping some parity. The only exception was the coach's kids could stay on their dad's team. Which made total sense. The problem was they didn't specify how many coaches a team could have. So one jerk gamed the system and he had 6 assistant coaches. And wouldn't you know it, totally by coincidence, those 6 assistant coaches happend to have the 6 best players in that age group in the entire AYSO region. They went undefeated and usually won by 4 or 5 goals.....
I agree that this is gaming the system and wrong. I saw a slightly different version where a coach wanted to go to the club level and selected his "all star" team from players who wanted to play club the following year. While I don't know the details, bringing in a ready-made team made it easy for the club to hire him.
I coached 20 years in AYSO for all 3 of my kids, and what drove me to utter frustration was the lack of volunteering from other parents. Coaches would end up coaching and refereeing because parents didn't want to do any of it. Most didn't even want to stay for practice, and as a coach of girls, I needed others there (and also bathroom runs at dodgy public parks). 3 day tournaments when I arrived two hours early, spent weeks collecting money, getting the roster signatures, filling out all the paper-work to enter the tournament, getting uniforms etc and no one else wants to referee a game so me and my family end up staying at the field all day to cover everything. After my first child, I always picked kids for all star teams if their parents were referees or fellow coaches, because I was done doing a ton of free work for parents kids who wouldn't step up in any way and because I felt they deserved that reward for spending the time to help out when so many others simply refused. Not saying that is the case with @Dawdler or Geneva, and Club soccer is different, but I understand the sentiment from the coach who took all volunteers to Hawaii. I don't think many parents understand how much time it takes to coach a team (the meetings before the season starts, the certification classes, safe haven videos etc). Volunteering in AYSO or Little League is Saints work...sorry for the rant, that touched a nerve!
Thank for you this perspective. I guess I lucked out with two unathletic kids who spend all their time buried in books and despite dad's best efforts never got into playing soccer. But I do get to brag that I have a 23-year old who collects 70s classic rock and jazz standards LPs, has read every book ever written by Kurt Vonnegut, and lists Rosemary's Baby as her favorite movie of all time.....
There was is certainly nothing wrong with kids not liking organized sports. I had coached a girl one year.for U8 soccer, whose father was the chief compliance officer for the company i worked for. Both her parents were active volunteers. Her mom came to all of the practices. They both came to games and he became a referee. At practice, she listened politely when I or my assistant coach spoke, but otherwise spent her time reading. We did our best to.draw her out and asked her parents for ideas, but we could never get her to participate in practice. When I asked if she wanted to play her response was "I would rather not".
OK, JPAR. Well said. I let my volunteer refereeing cease after COVID but after your post im thinking it may be time to dust off the latest laws of the game.
The U19 USYNT beat Japan 5-2 today as they prepare for U20 World Cup qualifying. Harbor Miller was one of the captains and received praise for his play The U.S. U-19 team defeats Japan 5-2 in a 120-minute friendly. It's the final game before U-20 World Cup qualifying. Some thoughts- Marvin Dills with 2 very strong goals- Braden Dunham, still in college at Furman, was excellent in defense. Blocked 5 shots- Seattle's Snyder… https://t.co/p3X7uHpoUi— Brian Sciaretta (@BrianSciaretta) June 9, 2026
This helps me understand the coach who I was criticizing better. I was never qualified to coach soccer - learned to love it watching my kids play. I did volunteer ref for a couple of years. It’s not enough and there should be an expectation for parents who are able to assist with equipment or coaching or wrangling kids or whatever is needed to keep the volunteer league going. Would be nice to think that a “select” team would have a strong concept of fairness in that selection built in, but since everyone is human it’s probably not possible. Kids sports is a minefield, honestly. I hope that in your experience you had some rewards for your hard work.
When I was coaching all the parents but one did the few assignments I gave them. The main one was lining the field on game day. Well I pushed this one reluctant single mom until she finally showed up. I go out to the field early on a Saturday morning and there she is pushing the chalk machine in her high heels, tight skirt, fancy blouse and full makeup. She drove an old car and I realized then that she likely worked 6 days a week to keep the rent paid and her kids fed. I thanked her and let her off the hook from then on.
PS - I still don’t think they should be called “All Star” teams if they aren’t awarded on playing performance. I understand the need to reward the parents that help out but there has to be a better way. If I’m a kid who practices hard and am outplaying the others then I’m going to feel like crap when I’m left off the AS team for reasons never shared with me. It should be called the Most Helpful Families Reward Game.