USSF Development Academy In-Depth

But the style of play is about style, not about quality of development.
A team can consistently play 5-4-1, yet their striker and left wing back might end in MLS. Still the DA would get a one star rating for style.

 

@the fella mentioning the player leaving Chivas for Pats. I am not involved with either club, heck I don't even live in the country...BUT...

There could be a MILLION reasons why the lad switched clubs. I wouldn't go reaching too far and making assumptions.

 

A story for those of you that think kids need to be at DA squads to get a good scholarship. [I think only few of us fit into this category.]

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school.../4906/st-johns-picks-up-midfielder-from-texas

Josh Dillon, from AYSES 94 Gold in Plano has been picked up by St. John's. Dillon also plays high school soccer for Jesuit College Prep in Dallas.

So this is a kid that lives in Dallas-Fort Worth, where there are 4 development academy teams................and his performances elsewhere have earned him a good college opportunity.

Recently another player at this club, Tony Santibanez, trained with Club America in Mexico.

http://ayses.com/home/597525.html

I could go on about other youth clubs in the DFW metroplex but will leave it at that.

So here's the thing. Kids in DFW have THE CHOICE whether they want to play 10-month development academy ball or high school/club ball. And they can be successful either way.

 

My overall impression of posts is that we are not espousing that the DA is only way to "make it". whatever "it" is for the individual. what we are saying is that to maximize the height of development as a whole in order to produce the greatest population of professionals to choose from, we need programs being implemented to raise the bar and the DA is one piece to the puzzle

 

It isn't based on formation. It is based on the quality of the team's play. A great example is the team closest to me - McLean. They have an 8 -0 - 2 record in their division and a 10 - 4 - 7 record overall. They sound like they are a good team that even have had stars like Junior Flores and Bill Hamid play for them. The problem is that they don't do a good job teaching players how to play. They play in the weakest division of a weak region and they have learned how to beat weak teams without playing good soccer. They do just enough not to have one star rating by playing the ball on the ground to the middle third of the field which they are able to do because most weak teams in the DA aren't that organized about how the pressure the players in the back. Once they get to the middle third of the field, they get the ball out wide and then try to ram the ball down the throat of the opponent. There is no change of speed, very little change of direction and rare that they attempt to create numerical advantages with some kind of combination play. On the rare occasion that they do, they do it at full speed, never changing the speed of play so it ends up being ineffective. They make up for this lack of creativity through intensity. They are a very consistently intense team.

On paper they look good, but in reality, their players aren't learning how to play at a high level. This is particularly disappointing because northern Virginia has a lot of skillful players to choose from. The two stars that came from that academy spent a very short amount of time there before moving on to better places to develop (DC United's Academy and Bradenton).

If you look at McLean's rating, the two stars both for overall rating, player development and style of play is accurate. I watched a practice game between DC United and McLean this winter and DC United played them off of the field. The ironic thing was that McLean really tried to play and played the best soccer, by far that I had ever seen by them, but they still were run off the field by a team without as good of a record, but with a much better rating and also from a stronger region.

If you go out and watch the games regularly than you can compare the ratings for yourself. After all the years of people only measuring win loss records, it is refreshing to see fairly accurate measurements of things that matter. Go to a game - the teams that know how to play the game have the highest rating for style of play. That is just how it works.

 

That's right. It's simply one piece of the puzzle. There are multiple paths.

Here's the difference between the options as far as this UYNT board goes...............

If a kid wants to play for an elite youth national team, he better well be at a development academy club.

At our January U18 national team camp, there were 24 players. 21 of them were current development academy players, and the other three were academy alumni. Enough said.
I believe that on our Milk Cup roster from this past summer, the non-pros (in other words take out the Euros and Gil, Salgado,) and they were overwhelmingly academy players. I think only one kid wasn't. (Luis Rendon?) The same was true of our roster for the Lisbon Tournament last spring.

I'm not even saying these are the best U18 players in the country. I'm simply saying that the USSF is making it clear that these are the kids who'll be called up to that level of youth national team camp. If you're not at an academy club, you're not going to get the same opportunities at the ELITE levels of youth soccer.

 

http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/club...-23957/-Development-Academy-recap-March-17-18

Some interesting tidbits in this DA recap on TDS.

1) Ruben Siguenza scored a hat trick for Colorado Rush in their match against Classics Elite.

As part of a partnership between the Rush and Futbol Academy in El Salvador (FESA), Siguenza and Jonathan Barahona, also from El Salvador, are playing for the Colorado Rush U18 Academy for the rest of the season. FESA also sent players to other Rush clubs across the country.

That's kind of an interesting partnership, no?

2) Down in Dallas, someone finally managed to slow down FC Dallas . . . at least for one day. Internationals, from Ohio, claimed victories in both the U18 and U16 games on Sunday.

Who was it that said FC Dallas was going to stomp the struggling Internationals??? Didn't remotely happen................

FC Dallas did enjoy part of the weekend though with a pair of wins over Crew Soccer Academy on Saturday. Antonio Aguilar and Kelyn Acosta scored in a 2-1 win for FC Dallas U16. It was not all-positive news though, as Acosta was forced to exit the game early due to a broken wrist.

3) Even in the pouring rain, it is difficult to stop the slick play of RSL-AZ. The MLS residency program slid past Strikers FC 3-0 on Saturday in the U18 game. In the U16 game, U.S. U18 national team forward Benjamin Lopez and Jose Navarro scored for RSL-AZ in a 2-0 win.

4) UCLA commit and U.S. U18 national team midfielder William Raygoza scored twice on Saturday in a 4-1 win for LA Galaxy U18 over San Jose Earthquakes. UCSB commit Drew Murphy also scored twice in the win. Galaxy also won Sunday's game against Cal Odyssey 4-1 to improve to 13-1-3 overall on the season.

etc. etc. Read the article for more interesting results.

 

i agree 100%. And don't get me wrong, high school soccer can be a viable option if the coach is good. But at the same time, i think Academy is the way to go if u can afford it (honestly my only gripe towards it is the cost for some of them).

I mean look at basketball for example, and look up basketball recruiting. In the Rivals top 150 for 2012, a lot of those guys play for either academies, AAU ball or high schools that are known for developing division 1 basketball talent (obviously other high schools are sprinkled in, but still)

http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recruiting/rankings/rank-2509

I think the problem with high school soccer is partly the schedule, partly the rules, but i think the biggest reason that there just isn't a lot of soccer coaches at that level capable (or at least have the knowledge of the sport necessary) of teaching and developing high school players. A problem i think will be mostly solved with time, but at the moment I think that is a valid problem.

 

Re: the 5-4-1 = rating....Bonetti said what I was going to say about it. 5-4-1 has a place, certainly. It's the way in which the team uses the ball that makes it a good formation re: style of play, not the formation itself.

 

The problem with high school soccer to the USSF was that it represented the status quo.

The status quo was not going to provide the USMNT with the talent required to legitimately compete for a World Cup title. (or so the power brokers believed anyway)

Everybody had been telling the USSF this since the Q report back in the late 90's. The primary recommendation of the Q report was that US soccer needed to establish a full-fledged "professional league" for players under the age of 19.

And as was said at the time by people like Robert Wagman:
http://www.soccertimes.com/wagman/1998/sep01.htm

"The most likely scenario would be for this new junior professional league to be established as part of, or at least in cooperation with, Major League Soccer. In other words, each MLS team would develop a youth side who would train in partnership with the senior club, and would play an active schedule among themselves, with minor league professional teams and with foreign youth sides.

As Queiroz envisions the system, it would seem to differ from MLS’ current Project 40 in two major ways. Much younger players would be admitted, probably as young as 15 or 16 if they had the potential; and there would not be any of this putting money away for some future college education. You would finish your high school education, but in reality you would be a young professional soccer player, period."

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Period, exclamation point!!! Sounds an awful lot like what the USSF is doing with the development academy almost 15 years later.

 

Style of Play = 20%
• Offensive Style of Play – 10%
• Quick Transitions/Finishing – 10%
• Position Specific – 10%
• Formation (4-3-3, 4-4-2 w/ a diamond) – must use Back 4 – 20%
• Technical (Passing/ Receiving, Shooting, Ball Control/Turning) – 12.5%
• Tactical (Play out of the back, Possession, Offensive/Defensive Transition) – 12.5%
• Physical (Speed/Agility, Endurance, Strength/Power) – 12.5%
• Psycho-Social (Respect/Discipline, Cooperation, Competition) – 12.5%

 

Note that they got the two star rating last year when their record was a lot worse than it is now. Also, when exactly did Junior Flores play for them?

 

I was down in California for the RSL Arizona matches. Game against Strikers was a dominat perfromance by both ages with Possesion bordering on 70 percent. It was raining very hard which made the games a little sloppy but RSL held the ball well. I did not see the 18s game against Patedores but heard that it was a rough one. The RSL 16s looked amazing the first half against the Patedores with great possesion and style. Then the first 15 minutes of 2 half against a very strong wind the defense made some blunders and Pats were up 3 to 2. The windy conditions seemed to help turn the game into an agressive affair as the players had trouble controling the ball. The pats energy level was very very high as the pressed the ball everywhere on the field. The RSL team looked a little fatigued in the second half. Now the calender points to a trip in two weeks to play the Galaxy and then Chivas on the same weekend trip to so cal.

 

Goal at the end of clip is Benji Lopez : One off the post is my son Lucas. Not very good conditions for a game but the team played well.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQKOmxvdkJA&feature=youtube_gdata_player"]Real Salt Lake-Az U16s v. Strikers FC U16s (March 17, 2012) - YouTube[/ame]

 

I'd like this to be expanded upon. I'm somewhat skeptical that it does, except as an outlier condition or a misnomer (such as the 5 including a 'libero' who attacks so much it would make just as much sense to call him a midfielder), but I'd like to see that place described to see what I'm missing. And I'm discounting "it's a way of keeping your team in games when they are overwhelmed", because I think that's precisely the type of thing US Soccer is trying to get rid of at its highest levels.

So, can a 5-4-1 be used to facilitate the kind of forward and creative play that US Soccer is looking for--and in such a way that another formation wouldn't do it more (because that last part is the real key)?

 

the RSL pats game was great. both games. i had a chance to see them both. RSL 16's were very aggresive in the first couple minutes and took an early lead with the wind being a factor. seemed like pats could not get control of the ball. Refs didnt seem that good to me. 2nd half was completely different. Pats came out strong. seems like they have a very dynamic trio of forwards of christian carrillo kevin de la torre and brian pacheco. i heard they go back to the old days playing together? RSL's defense couldnt stop them in the second half and they took advantage and eventually won the game. Real interesting that pats swept RSL this year... cant wait to the last couple of weeks of the season...

 

Do not think Flores ever played for McLean Soccer. I believe he made the U15/U16 DA team but then completely blew up before he joined. He did play a season of HS for Manassas Park and they won the state championship. With U17 Residency Program, Youth MNT, and pending Professional Contract (not sure in what combination), I assume he is a level beyond DA now.

 

Yes I think the rest of the So Cal Division U-16 owes the Pats a thank you if not for the Patedores RSL 16 would be running away with the division. I have watched RSL dominate most everyteam but the Patedores. And even in this game when the Pats sat back the first 20 minutes RSL was dominant but once the Patedores picked up the intensity and chased pssesion a little more they started to get in the game. I think that second half it appeared the Patedores just wanted it more and it showed. Patedores have a lot of team speed and I think that is why they are able to match up so well with RSL.

 

Another DCU Academy player to Wake Forest. Why the pipeline?

 

yes Carrillo, de la Torre and Pacheco were on the dominant WestCoastFC 96 team that went to back to back Dallas Cup finals only to lose 1-0 each time. There winning record is tremendous and they had reached such notoriety that they were simply known locally as "nick's team".

 

The Rush group of clubs has quite the international reach...Kekuta Manneh came to Texas Rush from their sister club in Gambia.

 

But how do you determine "quality of play"? It's something completely subjective.

How do you know?

So "good soccer" is:

It sounds pretty much like the average EPL game.

What is "high level"? It could be said the EPL is pretty high level soccer; yet the intensity of the games is enormous. There are hardly any tempo changes and there aren't too many teams playing the passing game.

But like you said, this could simply be a case of a stronger region vs a weaker one.

What are the "things that matter"?

I do the correct implementation at youth level of ie. 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1 or w/e you want to call it will lead to more creative players, and players who can play a ball out of the back, etc.

But there should be a place for 5-4-1 (or 4-5-1, 4-4-2, 3-5-2, etc.). Why? Because many teams play 5-4-1. 4-3-3 vs. 4-3-3 are exciting games to watch, but in reality hardly any team in the world plays 4-3-3.
Very often the 4-3-3 goes one goal up but has no clue about how to defend the lead, they don't know how to switch to a defensive 'bunker'/counter attack formation.

Second of all, only playing 4-3-3 will lead to a filtering of specific talent. Guys like Onyewu won't make it through a 4-3-3 youth development system. They can't pass the ball out of the back and are technically too weak.

Other than this I think USSF made a good move with the introduction and publication of the DA ratings. But in my opinion they have to keep rethinking and improving. Hopefully a matter of time.

 

Clint, Clint, Clint ... who said FC Dallas would stomp the Internationals, and who said they were struggling? They certainly turned out on Sunday and played very well. They definitely outplayed FC Dallas. FC Dallas players said it was their worst game of the year. Maybe so. A few calculated observations, though:

1) FC Dallas is an MLS-sponsored club, and has yet to lose to an MLS club. This is obviously important to them.
2) FC Dallas is close to locking up the division. If they finish in the top 2 of the division, they needn't compete on points/game for a wild-card spot, so non-division games are not critical for them at this juncture.
3) Taking #1 and #2 into account, I suspect that when FCD has a weekend with more than one game, they'd prefer to play their starting lineup in a division game, then an MLS game, then a non-division game.
4) They played a very tough game against the Crew -- an MLS team -- less than 24 hours before they played the Internationals.
5) When you look at the lineup against the Internationals (a non-division team), FCD didn't roster three of its perennial starters (Ambrose, Ashby, and Garcia). Instead, those players traveled with FCD reserves to play in Denver today, where they shut out the Rapids reserves 1-0 (coached by their former coach, Oscar Pareja).
6) And, as you mentioned, Kellyn Acosta, a frequent national team callup, went out at the 40th minute of the Internationals game with a broken wrist.

So, while the Internationals may have outplayed FCD on Sunday, I'm not quite ready to predict that the Internationals will beat FCD in the finals. You never know, though.

 

This person.......................

You don't have to sell me on FCD's youth teams.

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school...sporting-kc-hits-stride-as-league-play-starts

Nice little article on SKC's youth teams.

"Sporting Kansas City has been just fine, when it hasn't had to mess with Texas."

Also a recap of last weekend's academy action:

http://espn.go.com/blog/high-school/boys-soccer/post/_/id/5014/development-academy-recap-march-17-18