Whitecaps Academy/Player Development

Discussion in 'Vancouver Whitecaps' started by Kingston, Mar 6, 2012.

  1. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    Just wondering if any Whitecaps fans can fill me in on the status of the team's development program. The last time I checked was a couple of years ago. The residency program had just begun to graduate players to the first team who were actually seeing field time but that was back when the Whitecaps were in USL1.

    Is the program still in place? Has it been significantly altered with the jump to MLS?

    Are there any players about to graduate to the first team? A quick Wikipedia check of Vancouver's roster doesn't show much in the way of young Canadians (let alone any with actual playing time).

    Thanks in advance for your helpful insights.
     
  2. whiteisthecolour

    whiteisthecolour Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 10, 2007
    Miyazaki, Japan
    Club:
    Vancouver Whitecaps
    Nat'l Team:
    Canada
    Good question. Those of us in Vancouver keep up on the our team quite well, but I never thought about how little of the residency information would be easily available to outsiders.

    The short answer to your questions is that it it precisely this season that we are beginning to see the rise of the Residency players. Lee Nguyen was let go in part because of the rise of Bryce Alderson and Russell Teibert, both of whom looked strong in pre-season. And I believe that, moving forward, every season will bring a larger and larger share of our players, and that the quality of these players will be better in succeeding years as the program grows in renown and starts welcoming better players younger and seeing even greater development in those they have.
     
  3. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    So it would be fair to say that the Whitecaps development program is maybe a year or two behind TFC's in terms of where players are in the pipeline?

    Two years ago TFC had Academy players starting to see their first playing time with the top team. Last year saw considerable first team minutes for a number of Academy players and the first Academy player (Morgan) to earn a true starting spot. Last year also saw the first call up of an Academy player to the national team.

    Whether a development system is providing first team players for its club is really most important if you're a fan of that particular club. Ultimately, however, I hope to see the Canadian MLS teams providing more and more of a talent pipeline for the national team. In that regard we can all cheer for the development of good Canadian players even if they aren't being developed for our particular team.

    Toronto has reached the point where it is starting to contribute new players (however modestly) to the national team. From your description, it sounds like Vancouver is only a year or two away, which is very encouraging. If Montreal can also get going, that would be great. Ultimately, if the three Canadian MLS teams could among them produce one legitimate national team starter per year we'd be well on our way.
     
  4. JohnnyRanger

    JohnnyRanger Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jul 30, 2008
    Vancouver
    Club:
    Vancouver Whitecaps
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    I wouldn't call VWFC Academy behind TFC's, it's probably more like it's ahead. Of course TFC has graduated more guys through to THEIR first team, but TFC has been a poor team (VWFC last season notwithstanding) and the Residency has sold players abroad and seen guys not make the cut here and move abroad (Straith, Edwini-Bonsu, Gage, etc)

    I'm not claiming to be an expert on the TFC academy, but have they sold any kids onto European Clubs?

    To me the signal of success (behind/ahead/whatever) is are you graduating players to bigger/better things. I know the Caps first team really hasn't had the chance to enjoy much success from their academy, but that's only due to the nature of who has been developed and when imho...again Edwini-Bonsu, Gage, and Straith as examples.
     
  5. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    My use of the word "behind" wasn't intended in any sort of negative way - just as a statement of where they were in terms of graduating players to useful roles at higher levels.

    In that light, your point about a number of Whitecaps grads moving to Europe is well taken. I'm not aware of any TFC Academy grads going to Europe.

    It's encouraging to hear that the Whitecaps program may be farther along than I thought since my interest in the program is mainly due to its potential to ultimately help the national team.

    Are you aware of any other Whitecaps development players who are expected to step up this year?
     
  6. JohnnyRanger

    JohnnyRanger Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jul 30, 2008
    Vancouver
    Club:
    Vancouver Whitecaps
    Nat'l Team:
    Scotland
    myself personally no, but Alderson looks or sounds like the real deal this year.

    We've heard a lot of positivity surrounding Ben Fisk and Rowley
     
  7. dehun

    dehun Member

    Oct 19, 2011
    Vancouver
    Club:
    Vancouver Whitecaps
    Nat'l Team:
    Germany
    I'm relatively new to watching the WC development program, but I'd say you can add Caleb Clark to that list. I saw him in a number of preseason games and in one of last year's intra-squad games during that post-season camp Rennie ran after taking over. Clark never looked out of place against the men, and stayed very late at this year's preseason training camp. In fact, he had some chances in various matches where he was unlucky not to score. OK, it is only preseason, I know. And with Vancouver's potential depth in attack, he may be waiting for a while. But from what I saw of him, I thought Clark looked more dynamic than Salgado. So it'll be interesting to see which of those two develop first, or at all.

    As for players reaching the first squad, Stuart Neely's move here from TFC is obviously meant to achieve just that. There was a lot of press here about the number of TFC development players who moved up on his watch in TO.

    The WC have also announced publicly that their goal is to feed players into the national team program. Hart has already said he's keeping an eye on Tiebert, and both Tiebert and Alderson have been called up to the U-23 Olympic qualification team. Alderson captained the U-17s, I think at the World Cup.
     
  8. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  9. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    U-17/18 Semifinals, July 14 in Carson, Calif.
    Vancouver Whitecaps 4 PDA 1
    Goals: Andre Baires (David Norman) 32, own goal 50, Norman 52, Daniel Sagno (Terran Campbell) 68; Isaiah Young (Shane Kastl) 86.
     
  10. OldFan2015

    OldFan2015 Member

    Nov 29, 2015
    Club:
    Vancouver Whitecaps
    Thanks for the updates!!!!
     
  11. msilverstein47

    msilverstein47 Member+

    Jan 11, 1999
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  12. ChrisSSBB

    ChrisSSBB Member+

    Jun 22, 2005
    DE
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
  13. BearcatSA

    BearcatSA Member

    Jan 15, 2008
    Canada
    Like buying the winning Lotto Max ticket.
     
  14. hot potato

    hot potato Member+

    Feb 21, 2014
    Club:
    Vancouver Whitecaps
    and what a ticket its turned out to be !!

    he and his team have won 5 major cups since he joined bayern in januray, 2019

    he is being touted as a world-class player and the #1 left defender in the world; german bundesliga rookie of the year; top 11 bundesliga player for 2019-2020; signed a new contract with bayern until 2025; #3 in shirt sales in the bundesliga;

    and just helped bayern win the uefa cup!!

    and on a personal note to reflect his character, he has bought his parents an expensive home in edmonton and is raising money for charities involved in refugee camps where he was until the age of 5
     
  15. ChrisSSBB

    ChrisSSBB Member+

    Jun 22, 2005
    DE
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Whitecaps reportedly got a $1M bonus out of the CL championship. At least they managed to more than double on original transfer fee.
     
    msilverstein47 repped this.
  16. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    ChrisSSBB repped this.
  17. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005
    Who are the young players/prospects that are worth following so far this year?
     
  18. BearcatSA

    BearcatSA Member

    Jan 15, 2008
    Canada
    Draft pick Brown at RB.

    Now that Baldi is healthy, I hope we see him feature as a regular starter.

    There are high hopes for Habibullah but he just doesn't look up to it physically in his brief appearances, though the skills are there. He needs a couple of more years to become more of a physical presence. After doing relatively well at the Olympics qualifiers, Metcalfe has disappeared from the scene.

    The coaching staff is not big on Bair while Cornelius looks to be a fourth choice CB. Raposo runs hard and has his moments but I don't see him more than a squad guy sub. Hasal and journeyman Newton are available on the bench but inevitably Crepeau has been the constant starter.
     
  19. Kingston

    Kingston Member+

    Oct 6, 2005

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