I see that St. louis is 3-0. Anybody seen this team play? I know they have a really good forward but noticed he did not play in their last game......Any insight would be great.
It is very risky to read anything into any single PDL game or any PDL game that is played before June 1. St. Louis is a good example. Vedad, the forward you are referring to, did not play against Indiana because he was at his girl firend's prom. He missed games last year with his PDL team so he could play with a club team. When some PDL teams travel they often have light rosters. Older players are not being paid to play and cannot affird to give up their regular jobs to play. As a consequence the older players with families and jobs may only play home games. The new Colorado Springs team fits this picture. Compare their rosters for their home games to their week later travel games. Other teams may have many U19 players. Youth teams can pull a dual rostered player from the PDL team and often do for State Cup, Regional Cup and National Cup play. This means that in early to mid June many U19 players disappear from PDL rosters. St. Louis has a number of U19's including a U16 who played on the Lou Fusz team that took second in the nation last year. The NCAA D1 does not allow players to play prior to May 1, and they are not allowed to miss class to play. This means that unless the college is in the same geographic area as the team (St. Louis is a good example) you do not see the better NCAA D1 players until after June 1, or later depending on when the semester ends. And you usually see them only for the home games prior to June 1. St. Louis is also playing or has rostered four former professional players that played for the Steamers over the Winter. The Steamers have folded and these players may go elsewhere if they get contracts from MISL or A League teams. There is much that can change over the course of the season. So looking at a 3-0 start or anyother is close to meaningless. Look instead at the rosters and who is playing and when. Look to who plays at home and who is on the road. Look at the ages of the players and figure the U19's will be gone for Regionals. Teams that have a number of U20 National Team players will lose them to call ups for the Brazil and Korea games this summer. If you are looking for early teams that will win the league, look for teams that play a number of older players through out the season. These players are in reality pros playing in an amateur league who are paid by the club for being summer camp coaches or doing front office work. The cannot be paid to "play", but rest assured they would not have a job if they did not play. This gives the experience and committment that yields wins. It does not develop players within the Premier Development League, for these older players are often on their way out not up, but it does produce wins.
The Colorado Rapids (MLS) has a post on BS regarding thier game agianst the Reserve. Alot of good thing were said about the Boulder Raps Resrv. It should be a good game with St. Louis playing as strong as they have been.