Even more than the raised floor point, Haak is an example of the different type of player that we are now producing. He's an elegant possession type that we haven't seen much of until recently. He's an example of the shift in technical and tactical preferences that happened not too long ago.
Not a first start to remember for Luna. I liked a lot of what he tried - he moved well, tried some combinations with teammates - but it's pretty clear that he wasn't accustomed to the game at this level. Passes he was used to completing were getting picked easily, and he gave the ball away in some pretty bad spots before being subbed at half. Lots of talent, but lots to improve on. I'm sure he'll grow from this one and I hope the coaching staff gives him more time with the first team this year to improve.
I hope he gets more chances, but are we sure he’s better than Garcia? They are the same age. Luna has way more hype, but is he better? I believe Garcia’s development benefits from not rushing him. He’s doing well in Next Pro, so I’m not upset Luna has jumped him for playing time, but for me Garcia is the ‘03 attacker from RSL that I think has more tangible upside.
I wouldn't say I'm sure of anything with this group, but you may be right about Garcia's upside. Biggest issue I have with Garcia is one you've mentioned, which is his inconsistency. The Monarchs have been so bad that it's hard to judge individual players, but overall I'd say Garcia hasn't impressed at that level, outside of a couple absolutely terrific games. Sometimes he looks like a star, sometimes you forget he's on the field and he can't get much going. At the same time a lot of that is probably teammate quality - the Monarchs have 5 points through 15 games, and it's hard for a winger to excel when you're defending under fire constantly. So who knows really.
I didn’t watch the entire first half but when coaches review the game tape and focus on Luna it’s gonna be ugly. Not only was he giving the ball away in some bad places, he was also jogging away from his turnovers. He looked like a rec player scrimmaging with a club team.
Rooney could've moved Gressel up in the attack in the 4-2-3-1, but the new boss is very high on 18-year-old Jackson Hopkins wide right. #dcu— Steven Goff (@SoccerInsider) July 15, 2022
Oh oh. No quicker way to get benched. Gotta admit I don‘t think all that much of him as a future Nats player. I get why fans love him, I get why he can perform at youth level, hell, I like watching him, but this is different. I am paying attention to how he does as I am curious, but I also kind of have that of sinking feel. I get a real bad Freddy vibe sometimes.
I used to believe Russians would become good at baseball since they're good at chess. Something didn't work the way I thought it would there. Ability at software wouldn't explain Brazil.
Probably more of the way a country is set up. All central planning or more laid back and power spread out? Not sure what Brazil is but not a huge central planned type of place. I used to wonder why say Japan back in the 80's didn't take over and it was central planning and a very team oriented society. Good for some things but not others and and want to apologize up front for bringing it up at all and hope my extremely loose explanation doesn't evolve into a new political explosion.
Caden Clark started for NYRBII on Thursday and then was not in the squad for NYRB on Sunday. Not saying what it means, but it's strange. Strange would be how I would describe NYRBs plan for him the entire year. Kind of wasting a key development year for him. I hope he moves soon.— Marcus Chairez (@chai_asc) July 18, 2022
Weird to call Parks just "Not Bad" when he's one of the best holding midfielders in MLS. With the ball at his feet he's probably the best. He's also more than deserving of an NT cap but I'm not trying to relitigate that. Haak is a tidy player and could use this opportunity well, but the big thing that he lacks (as do his teammates Morales and Acevedo) is the final third ability that Parks brought to the table. They can handle the buildup and early progression phase just fine but they freeze in that final third, lacking ideas and without the same level of off ball movement. Both Acevedo and Haak are young players with plenty of time to learn, but it's a fairly rare skill in MLS in general. Parks has been extremely important in unlocking opponent defenses while also playing a key role in rest defense. While he's on the field NYC is the best team in the league, when he's not they're a good but not great MLS team.
Doesn't mean anything whatsoever. However, Buzz is as connected as a non-insider can be. If he's hearing rumblings about changes, that's a good thing. We'll see. I'm wondering if something is happening to the homegrown territory rule cause I am getting conflicting rumors... Rumor 1: it's "going away." Rumor 2: a cap on # of protected players either in total or by year. We'll see. Might just be wishful thinking.— 3rd Degree (@3rdDegreeNet) July 19, 2022
A couple Allocation Disorder episodes ago they were talking Homegrown Territories was going away To me: Rumor 2 seems pretty fair. I think teams that develop the player need to have some sort of protection so they don't develop a players for years and then he just leaves at a 18 year old, but ridiculous that teams can demand GAM because Caden Clark grew up in Minnesota when MNU don't even have an academy or on a players that never played a game in their academy.
It feels like there was a movement to do away with them and Option #2 is the compromise position that may be adopted. There's going to be more downside to this than people realize. I actually liked the current set up where players can move but the team has to invest something -- I don't think it's a bad thing that the signing team needs to put some skin in the game. But overall, it'll be good for, say, LA Galaxy products to be able to go to another club more likely to play them. The downside will be the recruiting and poaching are going to be very frustrating, and I wonder if it will actually discourage investment.
Shrug. We all know what'll happen when they eliminate homegrown territories. The rich will get richer. Same as it is in every almost European nation. Who are the academy recruiting monsters in Spain? I'll give you a hint: It ain't Elche and Rayo Vallecano. There isn't any mystery here.
Who's the rich though? I don't think any club in MLS is rich enough to buy up all of the prospects. I dont even think that is quite possible in the current landscape. I do think teams most known for their youth development will start to poach players.
I think if you're a club, rich or poor, big or small, that takes academy output as an important part of whatever it is you're trying to do (get first-term players, sell guys, whatever) then you'd have to believe that, over time, less rules around territory and recruiting will be a net positive for you.
Teams that have a history of developing, playing ad selling players? Dallas, and Philly first and foremost?
Roster limits and salary cap dynamics will made it different. I don’t think MLS is going to allow a system with a lot of open bidding.
I believe with the invention of Next/Pro they should increase the limit of homegrown players from the current 10 to 13. Three of the slots would be reserved for goalkeepers. They typically take many years to develop and mature and it’s difficult to get playing time when only a single keeper is on the field at a time.
What I will say is that the rumors Buzz is talking about aren’t exactly rumors. In addition to this The Athletic goes into a little more detail about them as well, but they aren’t 100% correct in their speculation as well. There are some other rule changes that are proposed that are pretty major in addition but I won’t talk about them but they’re all very logical. When would the proposed rules be implemented? Currently not sure, there’s been a lot of speculation about this. Hopefully by January at the latest but that’s me personally hoping Who will be the winners of this? These clubs in no order: Philly, Columbus, SKC, RSL, Austin, Atlanta, DC, Houston, San Jose, Seattle, and NYRB. These are clubs I see regularly at national and regional events, whether MLS Next, USYS, ECNL, USCS, or other levels. The scouts from these clubs all know each other very well because we’re all around each other so much The clubs not included in this list don’t really scout nationally currently. A few, like Dallas for example, let national talents fall into their lap, but this pipeline has really dried up recently for them compared to the other clubs I mentioned. Clubs that operate like this will be the ones that get hit hard. Some of them don’t need to scout nationally in order to field academy teams with top talents across the board, these clubs are Galaxy, LAFC, NYCFC, Inter Miami, and Chicago. If you are a fan of a club that’s exempt from needing to scout nationally, or a club I listed earlier that actively scouts around the country, then I wouldn’t have the highest expectations if the rules change
Usually when we have a whirlwind of rumors in MLS that means there are various points of view and the league will need to find a consensus. Who knows what the final form will be.
Nyeman starting for DC United tonight against Bayern. I believe it’s the first time he’s played for them since March.
I don’t think it will make a major difference in terms of many players switching from one club to another until some MLS clubs become more of a global destination for a young player’s development. There needs to be a strong enough pull for these player’s families to move to another part of the US. Yes there will be some prospects that jump ship if they think the grass is greener somewhere else and I expect there will be a decent amount of movement if/when this goes live and then it will taper off. Long-term when MLS passes Liga MX and rivals the Eredivisie then I think we’ll see some larger shifts with some clubs predominately focused on selling and developing talent, some with a mixed focus, and others who could care less (eg. Portland).