I'm not trying to disparage Philly with these comments. Far from it. Simply saying it'll be really interesting to see what happens when they inevitably get Euro interest this window with these players. Will they be able to "keep the band together" for another season in MLS? This is the first window in which Paxten Aaronson, for instance, is eligible for a move. He's OLDER than Justin Che. I will say that one surprise for me was the total disappearance of Anthony Fontana. When we go back and look at the start of this thread, we were talking about Fontana stepping into the hole left by Brenden Aaronson. The opportunity was there. It didn't happen AT ALL. He only played ~350 minutes in MLS. Curtin skipped over him and went to the youngsters instead. Matthew Real disappeared too, although that was less of a surprise. He only played 145 minutes. Let's be clear. FCD's 03s (Pepi and Che) got a hell of a lot more playing time than Philly's 03s this year. Fact. I suspect that FCD blew Philly out of the water in terms of homegrown minutes overall in 2021. Quietly, might have blown the league away. I'll be interested to see the final totals. Justin Che was the youngest player in the league to get 1000 minutes. Its just the perception on these boards is different because the results were different. It cost Luchi his job, and rightfully so. The reward for him was a job with the USMNT. Such is the USSF. Down the stretch FCD was starting 5 or 6 homegrowns in many games. I thought they might make a go at breaking the record with 7 just for the sake of giggles, but it didn't happen. They could have. Nobody was paying attention anyway.
I wasn't implying you were disparaging Philly. More like I won't be surprised if they keep there young players another year or two until they are ready. They just seem to get better buy in on that then any other team in the league.
https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/philadelphia-union-announce-2022-roster-decisions From a youth perspective: Most interesting is "bona fide" offers for Fontana and Real. Collins, Ilsinho and Powell out of contract, bumping some HGs up the pecking order: maybe Craig becomes CB #4, Harriel RB #2 and opens up an offensive sub option for the HG midfielders. Also option exercised on Cole Turner which is interesting too.
https://www.brotherlygame.com/2021/...t=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter Sources have indicated that game day rosters for league games — there are 24 slated for 2022 — will have a requirement of 13 players on paid contracts and that the maximum number of unsigned academy players permitted to be on the field at the same time will be five. Also includes a positional breakdown of what players will be on the U2 roster and most likely to get playing time.
Individual match results do not determine the level and success of an academy. An academy could struggle in matches but if they have the players who can move into the second and first team and maintain the overall level than it’s successful. Philly have the players in their academy to do this and being at this event in person, it only looks like San Jose are matching this currently in both the u15 and u17 age groups
Seems a little bit restrictive, IMO. If MLS wants to expand the domestic player pool to late bloomers and fringe prospects, why settle for so few unsigned players. Feels like they just want to make their own knock off version of USL rather than a U-23 league.
Fontana and Real will have to be signed to senior contracts, right? That will then open up two developmental roster slots for two new homegrowns. Fontana and Real are good roster depth. Davo was a weird player to take up an international roster slot with. Corinthians? How many youngsters are brought in from big clubs in Brazil that end up being "not good enough" for MLS. FCD has had a bunch of them on loan over the years. Success rate seems low.
RB Leipzig and RB Salzburg are following Philadelphia Union's Paxten Aaronson with interest, I'm told. No surprise given family pedigree/clubs.Aaronson, 18, is the brother of Salzburg star Brenden Aaronson. Scored 3 goals in 600 MLS minutes, made US U20 int'l debut in November.— Tom Bogert (@tombogert) December 28, 2021
2022 could be a big year for Paxten Aaronson. Showed exciting ability in MLS this year for a kid that turned 18 in August.If you're not following @USMNTvideos on YouTube, do it.https://t.co/6GoY5i39Bh— Justin Moran (@kickswish) January 2, 2022
Mexico and U.S. youth international Diego Lopez has unfortunately left the Philadelphia Union Academy. Lopez is a really talented holding mid whose style of play I’m told didn’t always line up with the way the Union want to play. https://t.co/ostjWZaAZk— Matt Ralph (@MattRalph_) January 10, 2022
4th recent loss for the Union academy? Heard, Lacey, Bohui, and Lopez? Its the same type of stuff that FCD has dealt with in previous years. 100% retention is impossible. Lopez, though, will be on his 4th MLS academy. Goin' for the record!!! I'm not totally convinced about his ceiling....................
On one hand, recognizing a misfit with your team's style and moving to a place more suited to you is a smart move. On the other hand, if you have 3-4 misfits, it might be time to start wondering why you think everything is a misfit.
Shrug. When you have a deep academy you can't provide advancement for everybody. FCD and Philly have dealt with these defections. At a different academy they would have perhaps tailored the style around a prospect as good as Lopez. Philly's not going to do that. [Although, I tend to think the excuse of "he didn't fit our style" is an easy cover-up for something else. I personally have never been quite convinced by Lopez, but maybe that's just me.]
I don’t see how any of them are actual misfits. Seems like they left for other reasons. Bohui was behind the other 03’s (McGlynn, Aaronson, Sorenson, probably even Pariano, Huckaby, Stafford, Budler) in getting a contract. He had early hype, and hadn’t panned out to this point. Lacy got crowded out. Too much talent ahead of him. He’s a decent academy level player, but concerns have always been there about if he’ll have the talent to sign with an MLS club before having to go to college. I think those concerns remain at NYRB academy now. Heard played an important role for their ‘05 age group as an ‘06 years back. I don’t know the exact reason he left, but is he better than a player like Luke Zielinski (same year and position)? Heard is not that good IMO. Probably a player they’d rather have in their academy than not have, but I don’t think he’d be on a HG path with them. Lopez, the article doesn’t give a reason for now their styles didn’t match up. That may be a convenient public release of mutually parting ways. I know all don’t agree, but Lopez IMO was a very fringe prospect. I don’t see how he’s much loss for their academy. I don’t think he was on a HG path with them. They’d probably rather have him there than not, but he probably didn’t see the HG path with them.
Philly academy seems to be teaching the - get the ball forward as quickly as possible and press immediately when you lose it- style of play. So I can see why a holding midfielder would become disenchanted.
Shrug. I'm totally with @ussoccer97531 on this. Academies become victims of their own success. We've seen that in other places. Other domestic academies, agents, USL clubs, European and Mexican clubs, etc. know where to go to poach good players. Its inevitable. So there are fringe or rotation players (even USYNT caliber) that may be looking for bigger roles elsewhere. Places where they feel like they can maximize their potential more effectively We should all be for some kind of controlled movement like this. We dont' want the Wild West of key stars just moving and moving and moving. I think that just gets crazy. You don't have that in europe because those key youth players are under contract. I would say that MLS clubs need to develop role players for the first team as much as the stars. The Victor Ulloa types. And if you're losing your squad players, its not like its meaningless. It does mean something. It particularly decreases the overall quality in your academy teams when you lose that depth.
Also good that there are a number of different styles being taught in U.S. Thought the earlier trend to everyone-plays-4-3-3 was pretty misguided.
At the academy level, sure. Especially at this high level where players may have options. But in earlier ages, I do think some control has been good. Not necessarily a 433 (though that's fine) but more about forcing people to develop skills instead of compensate. Too many youth coaches hide players instead of develop them. In terms of the YNT, I'm fine with a standard formation. Makes it easy, and there's never enough time to suddenly be flipping things around. A 433 is pretty common, so it's a good basis for a team with a week of practice.
To be honest with you I watch alot of Philly Academy games online and tried to convince myself that because of their players individual talent and success at signing youth players that they are playing and teaching the game the right way, but the more I watch them I do not like what I am seeing in terms of teaching the game. I don't see a methodical, talented, possession buildup and player movement off the ball. I see a team that's ok with giving the ball up with low percentage passes, kicking the ball long too many times, impatient and somewhat frantic teams. Kick the ball forward run after the ball hard and press to win it close to goal then, quick one/2 passes to goal. Not really the way I want one of our countries top academies to be teaching and playing the game.
On the flip side, I don't believe it's a bad thing if academies focus on different tactics. If every single team played the exact same game plan then players would be poorly prepared to adjust when facing a team with a different style and plan. Philly dumping and chasing is good practice for opposing teams to learn how play effectively against that.
I couldn't agree with you more. I've been watching that 2008 team for the past 4 years. It was sometime during their u12 year (2 years ago), when they won the Adidas Cup, they switched to a more direct and press style- and it was disappointing to say the least. I could be wrong but I believe it was when Kleberson took over the team. It reminds me of old school American soccer. Agreed, not all teams have to play the same system and style but this isn't going to develop players and they have such a nice pool of players to draw from now.