MLS teams in Development Academy playoffs

i was going to do something similar. not the exact results but just which teams qualified and how they were seeded. i guess i'll still put it in here because i think it is interesting to see how the MLS acadmies are stacking up against each other and against all academies.

Code:

[U][B]U 15/16    [/B][/U]    

TEAM                              PPG    SEED 
[I][COLOR=Red]Baltimore Bays Chelsea U15/16[/COLOR]     [COLOR=Red]2.50     1[/COLOR][/I]
FC Dallas U15/16                  1.88    13
DC United U15/16                  1.87    14
Chicago Fire U15/16               1.73    21
NE Revolution U15/16              1.72    23
Chivas USA U15/16                 1.69    24
Crew Soccer Academy U15/16        1.64    27
KC Wizards U15/16                 1.64    28
[I][COLOR=Red]Birmingham United U15/16 [/COLOR]         [COLOR=Red]1.43    32[/COLOR][/I]
        
[U][B]U 17/18  [/B][/U]     

TEAM                              PPG    SEED  
[COLOR=Red][I]Indiana United Academy U17/18[/I][/COLOR]     [I][COLOR=Red]2.57     1[/COLOR][/I]
FC Dallas U17/18                  2.16     7
RBNY U17/18                       2.14     9
Crew Soccer Academy U17/18        1.91    13
LA Galaxy U17/18                  1.89    15
Chicago Fire U17/18               1.88    16
DC United U17/18                  1.85    18
Houston Dynamo U17/18             1.62    25
NE Revolution U17/18              1.59    29
Washington Premier* (SSFC) U17/18 1.41    32

Teams in red are not MLS affiliated and are only for reference.

PPG is points per game earned over the USSF-DA regular season.

Seed is the seed of each team out of 32 that qualify for the group round of the playoffs.

*Washington Premier is becoming the SSFC Academy next year

 

So. Observations on the above.

1. FCD Youth Academy looks to be the tops in MLS for the regular season achieving the highest PPG for any MLS team in both U15/16 and U17/18. And this is in what is probably the most competitive conference overall.

2. FC Dallas, DC United, Columbus Crew, NE Revolution, Chicago Fire all qualified teams in both the U15/16 and U17/18 play-offs.

3. MLS teams seemed to have performed slightly better at the U17/18 level than at the U15/16 level.

A) 7 U15/16 MLS teams qualified compared to 9 U17/18 MLS teams qualifying.
B) The average PPG for MLS U15/16 teams was 1.74 compared to an average PPG for MLS U17/18 of 1.83
C) The average SEED for MLS U15/16 teams was 21st compared to the average seed for U17/18 MLS teams of 18th.

4. Looking at the full seedings it is clear that while the MLS academies are competitive and getting better they are still young and being out performed often times by more established "for profit" youth academies, especially in talent rich/competitive markets like TX an CA. Hopefully this is changing year by year and the MLS teams will come to be the aggregators of the top talents from each market leaving the "for profit" youth academies with the 2nd tier of talent.

 

The Group Winners In The U15/16 Playoffs and the Finals Week Groups have been finalized.

Group 1
Group A Winner - Chicago Fire Academy
Group B Winner - De Anza Force
Group C Winner - D.C. United Academy
Group D Winner - Sockers FC

Group 2
Group E Winner - CASL Chelsea FC Academy
Group F Winner - Internationals
Group G Winner - Baltimore Bays Chelsea
Group H Winner - Cal Odyssey

Only 2 of 7 MLS academy teams won their groups and made the finals. Here is how the other teams did:

FCD U15/16 - 3rd in Group E (0-1-2/2 PTS/-1 GD)
NER U15/16 - 2nd in Group D (1-0-2/5 PTS/+3 GD)
CUSA U15/16 - 3rd in Group G (0-2-1/1 PTS/-3 GD)
CREW U15/16 - 2nd in Group E (2-1-0/6 PTS/+2 GD)
KCW U15/16 - 2nd in Group G (2-1-0/6 PTS/+2 GD)

 

well don't we just seem to be thinking (and posting) exactly alike

 

How many of these teams have you seen play?

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/USSDA/94697553122

 

Only 1 MLS academy team made it to the final 8

 

The Group Winners In The U17/18 Playoffs and the Finals Week Groups have been finalized.

Group 1
Group A Winner - Derby County Wolves
Group B Winner - Crossfire Premier
Group C Winner - FC Dallas
Group D Winner - CASL Chelsea FC Academy

Group 2
Group E Winner - Real So Cal
Group F Winner - Concorde Fire
Group G Winner - Vardar
Group H Winner - Baltimore Bays Chelsea

Only 1 of 9 MLS academy teams won their groups and made the finals. Here is how the other teams did:

RBNY U17/18 - 2nd in Group A (2-1-0/6 PTS/+2 GD)
CREW U17/18 - 4th in Group B (0-2-1/1 PTS/-2 GD)
LAG U17/18 - 2nd in Group C (1-1-1/4 PTS/0 GD)
HOU U17/18 - 2nd in Group D (2-1-0/6 PTS/+3 GD)
DCU U17/18 - 4th in Group D (0-2-1/1 PTS/-4 GD)
SSFC U17/18 - 3rd in Group E (1-2-0/3 PTS/-5 GD)
NER U17/18 - 4th in Group F (0-3-0/0 PTS/-11 GD)
CHI U17/18 - 2nd in Group G (1-1-1/4 PTS/+2 GD)

 

The MLS academies will get better. Hopefully they are working hard and improving.

It looks like FCD is leading the way.

 

It will be a slow process. There clubs have been in the areas for decades and MLS clubs are relatively new.

Nice to see some of them making progress though.

 

To be fair, RBNY and DCU home grown their 2 best players, Agudelo and Najar. FCD still has Luna

 

truth be told that is far more important than the results. but in terms of "relative" strength it is good to see the MLS academies getting better and better results.

getting the best talent away from the pay for play "trophy" mill academies is a key for the US moving forward in developing talent. even under the USSF-DA where that is not supposed to be the emphasis old habits (and shysters) tend to die hard. the whole system is definitely moving in the right direction but i still hope to someday see the best young talent in the academies of the professional MLS (and other) teams.

 

The Sounders are already making inroads and have essentially pooled together the best players from the two academy teams already there (Crossfire and WPFC). That team will be pretty darn good in the years to come.

 

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Develo...nals-Week-With-1-0-Win-Against-Crossfire.aspx

FCD played its first match of the U17/U18 Finals last night.

A patient FC Dallas offense finally unlocked Crossfire Premier in the 75th minute to earn a 1-0 victory under the lights at The Home Depot Center. With a sublime ball dropped into the center of the box, David Robledo found Bradley Baladez who trapped and fired to score the first and only goal of the game.

FCD: 0-Eduardo Cortes; 4-Giovanni Gomez (27-Michael Ambrose, 90), 2-Daniel Premenko, 14-Jacob Gerondale, 3-Moises Hernandez; 7-Victor Ulloa (capt.), 23-Marlon Duran, 12-Damian Rosales (11-Steven Adams, 52), 20-Bradlee Baladez (8-Christopher Figueroa, 79), 10-Jose Perez (17-David Robledo, 71); 9-Ruben Luna

Current group standings:

CASL 3 points + 1 2 GF 1 GA
FCD 3 points +1 1 GF 0 GA
DCW 0 points -1 1 GF 2 GA
CRS 0 points -1 0 GF 1 GA

There are plenty of names in that FCD roster that people will recognize. Yes, that's the same Marlon Duran that spent time at Bradenton & the US U17s. Others in the squad like Ambrose and Hernandez have also been with various US youth teams. And of course, Ruben Luna is a very promising player. I'm also a fan of Victor Ulloa, the hard-nosed central midfielder and captain. I don't know if he'll end up being MLS quality, but I'm keeping an eye on his development.

The next game against Derby County Wolves (a name that makes zero sense to an Englishman) should be telling. I believe that team won the U16 title last year........... I really do think this FCD youth team has a chance to win this title. I watched them stand toe-to-toe with Chelsea (yes....that Chelsea) at the Dallas Cup this year, and didn't look intimidated or played-off-the-park (which I was fearing).

 

FCD drew with Derby County Wolves 1-1. Not a bad result against a good program.

FCD are now in a good position to advance from the group phase.

Here's another article about this competition from July 12th (i.e. before the second round of games)

http://www.fcdallas.com/news/2010/07/mls-youth-teams-look-claim-ussda-titles

Dallas is still in line to compete for the U17/18 develoment academy title, with DC & the Fire competing for the U15/16 title.

 

the Chicago Fire U15/16 team has already clinched a birth in the U15/16 championship game with one game of the group stage to go. they will face Cal Odyssey in the championship match.

FCD U17/18 will play their 3rd and final group game on thursday against CASL Chelsea FC for a spot in the U17/18 championship game. if they win or draw they will move on to the championship match.

http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Development-Academy/2010/07/Finals-Week-Day-Five-Notes.aspx

 

Yup, FCD/CASL is the last game, they'll have everything in front of them.

 

yeah. sorry. totally wasn't even thinking about crossfire premier and the other game. if they win their game it makes winning a must for the Fire.

 

Saw this thread and started looking around.
http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Development-Academy/2010/07/Finals-Week-Day-7-Notes.aspx

Crossfire took first in that group with CASL 2nd, FCD 3rd and Derby County Wolves 4th.

http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/Devel...Finals-Week-Home/U-17-18/Group-Standings.aspx

 

Chicago Fire beats Cal Odyssey in PKs to win U15/16 USSDA Title: http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Develo...alties-for-U-15-16-National-Championship.aspx

 

Point missed! Whether the team is "pretty darn good" or not is meaningless. Whether the training amd organization is good is meaningful. But ultimately it is all about individual player development not team success!

 

Point missed? The post is about MLS teams in the development academy playoffs. Taking two above average academy teams and combining them into one would logically make that academy team a good team and a likely entrant into future playoffs. I think you might want to work on the reading comprehension.