I didn’t post Munie because you already posted him but yeah he is from St Louis and played at Indiana.
Thanks, Falvo! Yes, my cognitve decline is showing. It was indeed Stickney's that I was thinking of, not Spivey's. I think I have a case of "Broasted Brain"!
Bottom middle is the goalkeeper they just stole from us lol The amount of talent Philadelphia Union has is quite scary 👀All of these guys are 2007-2009 born, and you can’t even fit 5-6 more guys who deserve a spot in this graphic pic.twitter.com/HHpwzCBW9X— Youth Soccer Central (@yscentral) August 13, 2024
2024 MLS Academy Rankings 11. San Jose Earthquakes (↓2) Talent pool: B+ Development: B Pathway: B Retention: D San Jose should be much higher on this list given the talent that has been within their academy. Even with the departures, they still have one of the most talented academies in MLS, with four prospects on my top 50 list. Developmentally they have done a decent job. Tomo Allen took a big step forward this year, but Cruz Medina has stalled out a bit. Given the struggles of the first team and the talent in the academy, you would think they would be more open to giving out homegrown deals and moving kids through the pathway. It's shocking that they have not played Tomo Allen in MLS Next Pro, nor have they offered a homegrown deal. I also thought they held KK Spivey back a bit this year. He has been ready for higher level academy play for some time, but did not get his opportunity until MLS Next Cup. The biggest problem with the academy has been their departures. They have lost guys who have proven to be valuable players like Diego Luna and Fidel Barajas. And they have also lost guys that look like they could have been first team contributors like Ethan Kohler and Drew Murray. In the younger age groups, they have lost promising prospects including Marcelo Avalos, Oliver Tan and Owen Anderson. Of all the areas, this is where San Jose has to get better because they are throwing away value. Top 10 Prospects CM, KK Spivey (2009) CM, Niko Tsakiris (2005) CF, Tomo Allen (2007) RB, Oscar Verhoeven (2006) AM, Cruz Medina (2006) AM, Will Ostrander (2009) GK, Emmanuel Ochoa (2005) DM, Edwyn Mendoza (2006) DM/CM, Rohan Rajagopal (2007) WING, Warren Boyce (2009)
Re: Tomo Allen. Maybe I have the wrong impression because he's a tall guy with big strides, but he always seems slow to me. Also, are they sure he would have taken an HG contract vs. going to Stanford?
It sounds like MLS has come to a resolution on what the compensation will look like. Process from start to finish for his rights took ~6 months. MLS currently mulling over a tampering charge that SJE has filed against RSL after deal was approved.Deal now in a holding pattern. https://t.co/woNHYQRCuh— USMNTProspects (@ProspectsUsmnt) August 17, 2024
I hope we see a lot of Tomo for The Town over the next year. I notice he did finally get his first few minutes. Unfortunately if we want to sign him once he goes to Stanford we may lose him in the draft.
Huh, I used to do a lot of reffing on the Peninsula and remember seeing Rohan Rajagopal more than a couple of times - IIRC he either played for MVLA or Red Star. You don't forget a kid named Rohan!
The man who delivers (assists: Max Arfsten) The Man Who Delivers 💌 pic.twitter.com/5Dp5f8exhV— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) August 17, 2024
I can't even tell anymore if this guy is right-footed or left-footed. It doesn't seem to matter. He crosses and shoots with either foot equally well it seems, and plays equally well from either side. Meanwhile, we're running with Niko One-Foot Tsakiris .
According to this, it appears that we can sign a player to an HG contract while they're in college as long as it's before 12/1 of their senior year. But if we sign them earlier (before they've finished competing in college) they would lose their college eligibility, right? But there does seem to be a window where we could sign an HG just as they're finishing their college career. That said, I don't know what a "post-formation player" is. For Post-Formation Players enrolled in college, Homegrown Exclusivity expires December 1 of the player’s scholastic senior year in college, at which point an MLS club must offer an MLS contract to sign the player as a Homegrown Player to remove him from the MLS SuperDraft.
Thompson, Marcinkowski, Lima, Richmond, Cilley, Tingey. All examples of players who went to college before signing homegrown contracts.
Right but in all of those cases they either finished college or dropped out (TT), right? The speculation was really about Tomo, and what happens if he rakes in college and we really want to sign him to HG. We can sign him while he’s in college which means he loses college eligibility or he drops out or we can sign him before 12/1 of his senior year, after which point he goes into SuperDraft. That’s my understanding anyway.
Not really any different from any of those. If the Quakes want to induce him to leave early, they can offer him a contract and it's up to him to take it or continue in college. They convinced Thompson to leave early, they could try to do that for Tomo. Also that rule says that the team must offer a contract by the 12/1 deadline, not that he has to sign by that day. Though a four-year player will be done with his college career by 12/1 unless his team goes deep in the playoffs.
BTW - speaking of JT, I never thought his upside was huge, but I'd take him WITH a torn up knee way before William!!!!
Honestly for these fringe Stanford kids (Tingey, Cilley, Richmond) a significant part of the appeal is probably being able to stay near home, finish out their senior year, and stay plugged in with other career paths in the Bay while playing pro soccer. It's not like the HG contract provides much in terms of financial incentive (do they have to pay for winter/spring quarters after they sign their pro contracts?).
Yeah, I was just speculating mostly about that edge case where he completes (or almost completes) his 4-year college career but we can sign him before he becomes a SuperDraft player. I suppose it's possible that he could leave college early, but I think it might be harder to convince a Stanford player to blow off college early and take an HG contract. In TT's case, he went to college and was immediately one of the best players in the Big 10, so I could see him making the calculation that he doesn't need another 3 years of the same and he could challenge himself at the pro level.
Generally I think the Stanford guys intending to go pro finish up most coursework by fall quarter (Dec) senior year then move off campus. In most cases they're not enrolled in the most unit-intensive majors and it's easy to complete many of the programs in 3 years.
Yes and I think the Quakes would be lenient about letting guys finish up school anyway (and have in the past I think). So for example if Tomo wanted to complete his degree, if he's still got a decent amount of classes, we could offer him a contract by 12/1 of his senior year, and he could accept and not really join the club until the summer.
Maybe they should do a better job of signing guys who didn't go to Stanford?? - Drake Callendar - Max Arfsten - Diego Luna - Fidel Barajas - That GK they just lost to Philly
Speaking of college dropouts, Kahveh Zahiroleslam (from Saratoga/Prospect High and Yale) has 3 goals and 1 assist in 4 matches for Sint-Truiden in the Belgian top flight this season. He was never part of the Quakes setup right? 📹 ⚽ Kahveh Zahiroleslam https://t.co/okZ5G2FC2Q— Gol Bezan (@GolBezan) August 17, 2024 📹 ⚽ ⚽ Kahveh Zahiroleslam https://t.co/aQ5z5cD2A0— Gol Bezan (@GolBezan) August 17, 2024 📹 🅰️ Kahveh Zahiroleslam https://t.co/3HxlWyBE9X— Gol Bezan (@GolBezan) August 17, 2024
Why aren’t the Quakes rewarding players that ACTUALLY develop instead of taking a bunch of flyers on young players who MIGHT develop? I think the Quakes are one of the only teams that have not promoted a single player from a NextPro contract to a MLS deal. Best players currently on The Town FC are Aaron Edwards and Lalo Blancas. Neither have an MLS deal.
Other candidates - guys that I think are worth consideration for promotion: Beau Leroux, Sean Bilter (not sure why he hasn't been playing much recently), and Riley Lynch. Also, left back Ricardo Ibarra. He's completely under the radar but quietly playing pretty well. He's quick, pretty good technically, and doesn't make many mistakes. From San Jose, played for UC Irvine.