Sac Republic FC affiliation with Timbers & Quakes??

If true, this is great. Win-win(-win?) all around. Will certainly help the club fill out their roster with promising, off-the-books talent immediately. Can't wait for this supposed announcement.

The only drawback I see for the Timbers and Quakes is if they both have a player at the same position they are wanting to get playing/development time, like if they both send a left winger in hopes of roughing him into the pro game, there are going to be some politics involved if one team gets short changed over the other. But like I said, that's the only "problem" I would see. Not a bad problem for SRFC to have though!

 

Honestly people make out this affiliation thing to be a bigger deal than it is. Portland will loan you guys 2 players, and the Quakes will loan you 2 players. Nothing special IMO.. PS: Please treat our Quakes players well! And do whatever you want with the Portland scumbags.

 

Not that it matters a lot, but are you assuming the teams would only send 2 players and not 4? Just curious. No reason for the MLS teams not to be able to loan 4 each ... obviously would help Sac get off to a good start with decent depth if nothing else.

 

I also think having more MLS players helps spread the USL Level of the player pool around to the other teams. They can't have 20 really good USL players if they have to roster 8 MLS players ... giving teams like the Blues and Pheonix a bigger player pool to pick from ... speaking of ... poor Pheonix ... they need a MLS team to come in an help them pay players!

 

I doubt its gonna be 8 players.. That would be messy. IMO its gonna be 2 each, but we'll have to wait and see. We also dont know if these loans will be for free. Do USL teams pay there big brother club money for the players? Or do they pay for the affiliation? Or do they just not pay anything?

 

If there is a cost, it's next to nothing. This is only "news" because it goes outside of the typical Higher Level club sending players out to get time and develop. If USL teams were paying for the loans then it would be essentially "status quo" and this wouldn't be limited to MLS/USL connections and could be done with the NASL. The deal between MLS and USL is that these players wages are paid by the MLS club and no fee is paid by the USL club.

 

Makes sense, but the number of players by each club is yet to be seen. 4 each could be too much because what if one club wants to send 2 forwards and 2 center backs? What if the other club wanted to send a forward or a center back. Would seem really messy to me.

 

USL teams aren't required to start these players or obligated to give them minutes. It's not messy unless the parent club gets their panties in a bunch and cries that their loaned players aren't getting minutes. Take Sporting KC's players in Orlando last year for instance (just because I followed that somewhat closely). Dwyer was a regular starter. Kempin was their #2 GK (started games when their #1 was injured), Ellis played a few games but wasn't consistent, Duke got some time but wasn't a starter game in and game out. MLS teams send players they want to see fight for minutes and ideally win minutes and develop some. If they go down there and their players aren't getting minutes, maybe it's because they're not that good and they should reconsider who it is they send there or who they want on the bottom 5 or 6 spots on their roster. It's still good for guys to go down and fight for a spot on the 18 ... which is likely more than they were doing on a 30 man MLS roster.

Numbers for San Jose and Portland haven't been talked about because it's not official yet. But the number is 4. Sporting KC have said they intend to send 2 to Orlando and 2 to Oklahoma City ... so I'm not saying sending down 2 per club isn't within the rules (that change to keep everyone comliant!) ... I'm just saying it shouldn't be because MLS clubs or fans should expect each loaned player to start and play all the time (creating what you describe as "messy").

Just my opinion of course !

 

I'd be pissed if the players we loaned out wernt getting consistent minutes. The whole point of sending them is for them to develop..

 

So being in a location so that you have to fight to make the 18 or starting 11 is only benefitial if you actually get in the starting 11? It would be better to be player 28 on an MLS roster than player 16 or 17 on a USL roster?

 

Yes it would be. Training with an MLS team>training with a USL team. The whole point of the loan is for the player to get minutes and develop. More minutes than they would have gotten with the MLS club.

 

Well, I tend to disagree with that black and white look at development. Going out there and going through the motions with no real shot of getting playing time vs fighting at every practice to get minutes (possibly starting minutes) is development. I understand being at an MLS training session may be better ... but when the limited MLS staff is concentrating on the Starting XI, the Gameday 18, the top 20-24 players on the roster ... I don't know that it's that much better than training at a USL location. We can stop this though as I respect a different opionion.

 

I respect your opinion as well and I agree that its true to some point. It really comes down to the player as well, how hard they are going to play in training even if they are in the starting 11. Its never a given thing to start you are right.

 

Each of the 4 players may be different too depending on age, how close they are to getting game day looks at the MLS level, that sort of thing. The 20 year old keeper SKC sent to Orlando last year was developing even if it was as a backup (something he was still a step away at the MLS level and may be again this year). This year maybe he goes to Oklahoma City and starts and is more ready to start due to his time last year as the backup in Orlando.

 

Keeper development is a whole different story tho. Field players dont have the luxury of the time Keepers get to develop because most keeper careers go until 37-40.

 

Depends on the player IMO. You guys know Adam Jahn right? I think he would be a starter for you guys. Maybe a JJ Koval or a AJ Corrado.

 

Quakes/Timbers announced joint affiliation with Republic FC.

http://www.sjearthquakes.com/news/2014/01/quakes-announce-affiliation-sacramento-republic-fc