Vancouver will have the first residential European-style academy in MLS

I can understand why Canadian teams want to go residential. They need to develop their own talent to meet the domestic quotas, whereas American MLS teams still can rely on the NCAA for talent.

 

NCAA is getting littered with foreign talent anyways, top players in the NCAA arent always American

 

I don't think you have any clue what goes on in America. We have an entire 77 team Development Academy League (including every MLS team) for both U16/15 and U17/U18 levels.

http://www.ussoccer.com/Teams/Development-Academy/Academy-Overview.aspx

 

Not every MLS team, there's no Real Salt Lake, Earthquakes, or Sounders, but 11 out of 14 ain't bad.

 

How many of them are residential? How many of the residential teams are run by MLS clubs?

I'm well aware of the DAL, it's pretty awesome and I actually had hoped that the Canadian MLS sides would be able to join (although they've worked out their own solutions since then). DAL is what the SAAC here in Canada is modelling their league(s) on, except SAAC is not endorsed/overseen by the CSA, because the CSA is retardedly provincial like that.

Thanks for the link, though. It would have been handy years ago when I first heard of it being planned.

Obviously I'm also well aware that there are developmental academies in the States. But my post (and this thread) clearly referred to the residency aspect that the Caps and now TFC are implementing.

You don't need to go all "we're your Big Brother, and you better acknowledge that" on people every time someone mentions something positive that is happening in Canada.

 

I think he's referring to teams that have a residency system.

 

Yeah, that much was obvious to anyone without a chip on his shoulder.

 

It's not the residency that makes a good academy. It's the number of hours of training per week, quality of coaching, and quality of games.

If a kid lives in the Chicago suburbs within 20 miles of their academy, is there really any reason to waste money when he could just live at home with his parents? Residency is only useful if you're bring in kids from other parts of the country or other nations. Most MLS clubs are in large cities so they can find all their players locally.

 

Yeah, I don't get the hype here.

RBNY don't have a "residency-style" academy........and this year they've signed Giorgi Chirgadze from their academy, have reportedly offered Juan Agudelo a contract, will draft Dilly Duka.........and perhaps even figure out how to get Matt Kassel. And it's not a "residency" program.

What makes an academy good is the facilities, quality of coaching/training the kids receive.....not whether they're living in a stinky dorm with each other. And although I don't know much about Thomas Niendorf, he's the reason people are interested in their academy.

Don't get me wrong. I like the fact that it's a residential program. It's just not the be-all end-all factor in this. I hope the Vancouver academy produces some great young talent.......and in particular Canadian talent. I'd say having the Canadian national team take the next step into becoming a real rival for the USA and Mexico.......would provide an even greater push for developing talent in the states.