http://www.dispatch.com/content/blogs/covering-the-crew/2012/12/trapp-leaving-akron.html Wil Trapp has hired an agent, and is mulling over a homegrown contract offer from the Crew. Apparently he may also have Euro interest.
The last sentence of this article is of interest: The Crew is looking to sign as many as four homegrown players for the 2013 season, but Trapp is the only one who was not a senior this past season. Based on the work provided in this thread................a good guess of the four would be Trapp, Wiet, Barson, and Luthy.
That's exactly right. I think Luthy is likely and I feel pretty good about Wiet. The bigger questions are Trapp and Barson, does Trapp try his luck in Europe; does Brason choose med school.
http://www.newyorkredbulls.com/news...y-players-santiago-castano-and-armando-moreno The New York Red Bulls announced today that they signed Red Bulls Academy goalkeeper Santiago Castano and forward Amando Moreno. Castano and Moreno become the sixth and seventh academy products to sign with New York’s first team via the Major League Soccer Homegrown Player rule. The duo will be added to the roster pending passing a team physical.
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/12/11/clavijo-fcd-targeting-homegrown-defender-woodberry FCD has offered a homegrown contract to London Woodberry
With the first HG signings of the winter being announced today, it's time to keep rolling. Next up, the Los Angeles Galaxy. The academy system is a gift to the Galaxy, who have the luxury of sitting on the biggest soccer hotbed in the country. While in theory they'll have to share the spoils with Chivas USA, there is plenty of talent to go around. The youth club scene in LA is hardly limited to the MLS academies, of course -- there are a number of proud clubs in SoCal with impressive lists of alumni. Because the youth soccer scene in SoCal was more developed than average, perhaps that's why LA hasn't yet been able to reap the rewards of geography. Despite all that, this certainly looks to change in the near future. LA signed the very first homegrown player, Tristan Bowen, back in 2008. After receiving some playing time during an injury crisis, there was a brief boomlet of enthusiasm for Bowen, but he hasn't done much since. More recently, the signings of Jack McBean and Jose Villarreal have had promising starts and LA just announced the signing of Oscar Sorto today. I can't speak to the quality of teaching in LA's academy or any other academy, but I do get the sense that the natural recruiting advantage of MLS clubs is really starting to manifest itself. LA absorbed a number of key players from the Pateadores team that won the 2010-11 USSDA, including Villarreal and Sorto. Their current team also includes a few former US U-17s like Paul Arriola and Nathan Smith, although I'm not sure if they are eligible to sign with LA under current rules. Who can say how the rules will change in the future, though. In terms of tracking players, LA did suffer some attrition due to players seemingly quitting soccer in college, players who didn't go to college, or players who went to JC and called it a day. Seniors GK -- Eric Shannon, 1991, Cal State Bakersfield GK -- James Stroud, 1991, Chico State (DII) GK -- Billy Thompson, 1990, Loyola Marymount (redshirt) DF -- Everett Pitts, 1990, UC-Irvine (redshirt) MF -- Dersu Abolfathi, 1991, Stanford Pitts earned an All Big West Honorable Mention. Abolfathi earned an All Pac-12 Honorable Mention. Juniors GK -- Omar Zeenni, 1992, UC-Davis DF -- Joe Kearney, 1992, Harvard MF -- Jorge Cervantes, 1991, Chico State (DII) MF -- Alejandro Covarrubias, 1991, MIA MF -- Ritchie Gonzalez, 1992, Cal State Fullerton MF -- Spencer Johnson, 1991, Cal State Fullerton FW -- Christian Alvarado, 1992, Loyola Marymount FW -- Trent Clifton, 1992, Loyola Marymount FW -- Ivan Garcia, 1991, UC-Riverside FW -- Ruben Valencia, 1992, UC-Riverside FW -- Reed Williams, 1991, UCLA FW -- Gyasi Zardes, 1991, Cal State Bakersfield (redshirt) Zardes is a name most reading this thread will be familiar with. He's the big one on the list and from all accounts, LA's biggest HG target at present. The Galaxy reportedly went after him last winter with a sizable offer, but were rebuffed. Zardes is almost certainly leaving school this winter; the only question is whether he'll get a more lucrative offer from Europe. LA is making no secret of the fact that they are eager to sign him. In 2012 Gyasi scored 15 goals, assisted on 9, and was the MPSF Player of the Year. Reed Williams was named to the All Pac-12 First Team after a 7 goal/4 assist season with UCLA. Zeenni was tabbed for the All Big West Second Team. I mentioned Covarrubias because he was supposed to transfer from Cerritos to UCLA, which I thought was notable. Cerritos mentioned that he didn't qualify academically and instead was heading to Cal State Dominguez Hills, but he didn't show up on their roster in 2012. Sophomores GK -- Vince Paldino, 1992, Loyola Marymount DF -- Gabriel Rivera, 1993, Cerritos College (JC) DF -- Drew Lind, 1992, Boston University (redshirt) DF -- Matt Mardesich, 1992, Cornell DF -- Mark Vasquez, 1992, Cal State Fullerton MF -- Lucas Dall'Orso, 1993, Cal State Bakersfield MF -- Alan Rovira, 1992, Tyler JC MF -- Cameron Souri, 1993, Boston University MF -- David Velasquez, 1991, Cal State Bakersfield (redshirt) MF -- Riley Wolfe, 1992, Duke FW -- Angel Ayala, 1993, Cerritos College (JC) FW -- Neil Ignacio, 1993, UC-Riverside FW -- Dylan Seedman, 1992, Loyola Marymount Dall'Orso scored three, assisted on nine, and was named to the All MPSF Second Team. Wolfe is a name who has popped up on various YNTs over the years; he's now a starter for Duke. Freshmen GK -- Juan Cervantes, 1994, UCLA GK -- Alex Padilla, 1993, UCLA (redshirt) GK -- Adam Zepeda, 1993, Cal State Fullerton (redshirt) DF -- Grady Howe, 1994, UCLA DF -- Sagar Jambusaria, 1994, Northwestern DF -- Mamadou Kebe, 1994, Cal Poly DF -- Jacob Laporte, 1993, Air Force DF -- Matthew Tilley, 1994, UC-Irvine DF -- Javan Torre, 1993, UCLA DF -- Derek Vogel, 1993, Navy MF -- Jose Bautista, 1993, Cerritos College (JC) MF -- Justin Kim, 1993, Army MF -- Abel Leon, 1994, Cerritos College (JC) MF -- Francisco Magallon, 1993, Long Beach City College (JC) MF -- Juan Mendoza, 1993, UC-Riverside (redshirt) MF -- Nati Schnitman, 1993, UCLA (redshirt) MF -- Ludwing Vargas, 1994, Cerritos College (JC) MF -- Eric Verso, 1992, Stanford (redshirt) FW -- Dyllan Stevens, 1993, Cal State Fullerton (redshirt) FW -- Pedro Velasquez, 1994, Loyola Marymount Howe was a regular starter for UCLA. For whatever it is worth, College Soccer News named him to the national All-Freshman Second Team. Vogel was Patriot League Rookie of the Year and also earned All Second Team honors. He was called in to one of Tab Ramos' U-20 camps as well. This all sounds like a promising start for a potential pro, but at the Naval Academy he might have other priorities. Pedro Velasquez led Loyola Marymount in scoring with six goals. Javan Torre is a player who has had some U-20 involvement, although he was not a regular starter in his first season at UCLA.
Velazquez was also WCC freshman of the year. He played for both Chivas USA and Galaxy youth teams, so I'm not sure if there might be a conflict over his homegrown rights.
I was surprised when I didn't see Velasquez's name on the All WCC Freshman team. I should have been less surprised; checking again, I was looking at the 2011 list.
http://www.thecrew.com/news/2012/12/keeping-trapp-black-gold-was-priority-bliss Wil Trapp officially signs his homegrown deal with the Crew. These signings are coming hot and heavy now.
Looks like FCD is trying to sign both London Woodberry and forward Bradlee Baladez to homegrown contracts right now. http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/12/18/fcd-notebook-pertuz-return-hits-snag-homegrowns
If he signed before Woodberry, yes. http://www.fcdallas.com/news/2012/12/fc-dallas-inks-texas-native-bradlee-baladez-homegrown-deal
Let's check in on the Houston Dynamo. According to the Dynamo's website, their academy began play in 2007. However, they didn't entered the USSF Development Academy until the 2009-10 season. Three of their four homegrown signings (Tyler Deric, Josue Soto, and Alex Dixon) left the academy for college prior to the 2009-10 season. I'm not sure if there are any other pre-DAP prospects still filtering through college -- I don't know where to find rosters from those days. Anyway, Houston's array of post-academy college talent is fairly weak, although there are bright spots. The 2009-10, 10-11, and 11-12 U18 teams yielded a TON of Hispanics and others who fell off the radar immediately after HS. Of the players who did make it to college, there just aren't many guys who are even regular DI starters. Right now, there's only one surefire HG target, along with a couple of interesting freshmen worth following. Seniors I've only seen academy rosters for the past three seasons, so I don't know of any seniors. Juniors GK -- Patrick Wall, 1991 Notre Dame DF -- Sebastien Ibeagha, 1992, Duke FW -- Mark Donohue, 1991, Drexel FW -- Steven Salinas, 1991, Our Lady of the Lake (NAIA) Ibeagha is the crown jewel of the Houston system right now. He's well-known from his days on the U-20 national team. In 2012, he was the ACC Defender of the Year and named to the All-ACC First Team. Houston will probably try to sign him, but based on past history Ibeagha may be reluctant to leave college before getting his degree. Sophomores GK -- Kevin Suarez, 1992, Houston Baptist DF -- Leonardo Ayala, 1993, Central Florida DF -- Alan Hernandez, 1993, Rhode Island DF -- Yannick Iwunze, 1992, Valparaiso DF -- C.J. Odenigwe, 1992, North Carolina (redshirt) DF -- Uchenna Uzo, 1992, Coastal Carolina MF -- Miguel Zapata, 1992, Tulsa FW -- Chance Bergen, 1992, Oregon State FW -- Martin Fiemawhle, 1993, Duquesne FW -- Abe Matamoros, 1992, Tulsa FW -- Adrian Mendoza, 1993, Houston-Victoria (NAIA) Uzo was named to the All Big South Second Team. Ayala was a regular starter for UCF and had been on the conference All Freshman Team in 2011. Freshmen GK -- Fernando Pina, 1994, Akron DF -- Bradley Bourgeois, 1994, Tulsa DF -- Hector Ramirez, 1993, Houston-Victoria (NAIA) DF -- Orlin Ramirez, 1993, Lincoln Land CC (JC) DF -- Christian Camera, 1994, Tulsa MF -- Jose Cubillan, 1993, Georgia Perimeter College (JC) MF -- Isaiah Noreiga, 1994, Duquesne FW -- Juan Lopez, 1993, Purdue-Calumet (NAIA) (FW -- Bryan Celis, 1994, Kentucky) -- spent time in the Houston academy but finished his career at Texans SC Houston Bourgeois made the All Conference USA Freshman Team. Pina redshirted this year, but he's a "name" from the US U-17 national team. Akron's incumbent GK is graduating, so he may get his chance in 2013.
http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/2008/04/academy-whips-trials-team-3-1 http://www.houstondynamo.com/news/2009/05/academy-breezes-past-trials-team-5-0 Can't help with rosters, but the lineups above should give a pretty reasonable list of who was there. The name that stands out to me is Mitchell Cardenas, who was a senior at Campbell this fall and led the nation in assists. Note that Tyler Deric played at UNC in 2007-08, so the Dynamo must have had some kind of academy activity before then.
The Revs have signed Scott Caldwell from Akron: http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/12/21/revs-homegrown-caldwell-i-have-be-mentally-ready
http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/artic...star-steffen-latest-out-union-production-line Article from MLS about Union academy goalkeeper Zack Steffen.
http://www.soccerbyives.net/2013/01/fc-dallas-signs-woodberry-to-homegrown-player-deal.html FC Dallas has added London Woodberry as their 9th homegrown signing.
Their first three post-Pareja signings are Acosta, Baladez, and Woodberry. Unlike their previous homegrowns, these three are all much closer to the traditional American soccer mold, which is to say, big and athletic.
I don't know......it's hard to say. Ruben Luna may have been Mexican, but he was a tank of a player. By the time he was finished at FCD he'd grown into a beefy 6 foot battering ram. He wasn't playing a really technical game. I wouldn't necessarily say Ulloa, Hernandez, and company do either. Bryan Leyva was the "technical player" that FCD released because they felt he wasn't up to the physical/athletic challenges of MLS. I don't know what to make of that. BY the way, I don't know what to think of the Baladez signing. If he hadn't been picked up by FC Dallas, would he have been drafted? He didn't have a good senior season at South Carolina. To me he reeks of roster filler, not a guy that's gonna get many first team chances (barring injury).
Baladez was a junior in 2012. I agree that it's concerning that his output decreased from his sophomore year to his junior year. However, South Carolina posted a much worse record in 2012 than in 2011. Perhaps that's in part due to an off-year from Baladez, but it's also quite possible that he had a weaker supporting staff. I think the reality is that you are going to see some HG players signed as serious prospects and others signed as a free second round pick, which as we know are hit-or-miss. Not sure where Baladez falls on this spectrum.
Portland has grabbed midfielder Steven Evans as their second homgrown player signing. http://www.portlandtimbers.com/news...dfielder-steven-evans-second-homegrown-player Evans, 21, played four seasons with the Timbers’ development team from 2009-12, helping guide the Timbers U-23s to the 2010 Premier Development League championship and three playoff appearances. He recently finished his junior season at the University of Portland, where he was a three-time All-West Coast Conference (WCC) selection.