Miller Tonight’s Starting XI 🙌 pic.twitter.com/oPUcQMMH8J— New England Revolution (@NERevolution) July 20, 2024 Peyton Miller has wheels #NERevs pic.twitter.com/ZVg0MBM9Od— Seth (@SethMan31) July 21, 2024 16-year-old Peyton Miller almost scored in his first MLS start. #NERevs pic.twitter.com/FU6OKmixQb— Seth (@SethMan31) July 20, 2024 Verhoeven Congratulations to our homegrown @QuakesAcademy alum Oscar Verhoeven on making his first MLS Debut & start 🎊! pic.twitter.com/iHrMVE3Nl8— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) July 21, 2024 At 18 years and 50 days old, @SJEarthquakes Homegrown Oscar Verhoeven became the fourth-youngest player in club history to start an MLS regular season match.Verhoeven is the eighth 2023 @MLSNEXT All-Star to make his @MLS debut in the past year. pic.twitter.com/ewijWiJKQM— MLS Communications (@MLS_PR) July 21, 2024
Miller assist 🇺🇸 16 year old Peyton Miller (‘07) gets an ASSIST on his MLS debut! One for the future 📈🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/AB1WkK0xEm— American Ultras Talk (@ameriultrastalk) July 21, 2024 Nice game for him 16-year-old Peyton Miller's stats from his first MLS start:-82 minutes-44 touches-20/24 on accurate passes-2 chances created (including the #NERevs' goal)-2 shots (hit the woodwork)-2 clearances-2 headed clearances -3 interceptions -2 recoveries-3/4 on ground duels-1/3… pic.twitter.com/0zCAGuDypq— Seth (@SethMan31) July 21, 2024
I think technically he gets no assist because the defender got the last touch, but still deserves a bunch of credit.
Man I know there's a large subset of USMNT fans who want to see MLS improve by enlarging TAM, GAM, overall budgets etc. but I think at this point I disagree. Maybe increase budgets a million or so gradually but there comes a point where teams fill their rosters with journeymen and meh vets instead of playing the kids. Practically every week you hear about a debut or a kid getting more and more minutes and I think to myself the USMNT and the US pool/soccer culture as a whole needs these kids getting minutes. Given opportunities when they're ready and excelling. That's how we grow as a soccer nation and that's how we encourage kids to play soccer and sign home-grown contracts. Whether they're good enough for the national team or not we as a soccer nation are better for them having participated in our domestic league. Seeing teams embrace that one of our own mindset helps tremendously. Am I out here on the island all by myself or are there others with similar opinions?
No. You're not. ...................but you're fighting against progress. We've hit the dog days of summer with international callups, fixture congestions, injuries, card accumulation-related suspensions, etc. Lots of kids getting into some games. The loan system from MLSNP has allowed that. Dallas got into the act in that game against the Revs. Two '05s were brought on in the second half. Anthony Ramirez and Tarik Scott. Anthony has been with the US and Mexico, but more recently with Mexico. Scott earned the penalty that led to Dallas' goal (by Arriola.) 89' It's an FC Dallas debut with our final swap ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/SsOFoow4hf— FC Dallas (@FCDallas) July 21, 2024
It's a fine balance. I've beaten the same drum you've been beating for a while -- be careful what you wish for as if MLS increases payroll too quickly, the American player will get left behind. Right now, there's a good balance. The quality of play is higher than it used to be, but the young players are better than they used to be. MLS mechanisms allow for some really strong players and added depth now, but also still create a situation where the homegrown allowances create a real advantage and the lack of depth creates a need to play the kids. MLS did just loosen the purse strings a bit -- teams now can choose before the season to have 3 unrestricted DPs and three U22 players or 2 unrestricted DPs and 4 U22s plus $2M in GAM. Previously, you couldn't have 3 "real" DPs and 3 U22s, so it was more 3+1 or 2+3 and now it's 3+3 and 2+4+$2M. But they didn't increase the cap for the first group -- which means a team still has to take $700k on their payroll. There's still a decent amount of payroll pressure here that pushes for good young players. Plus, because you can still generate GAM via player sales, which is a huge edge as well. So that's incentive. That said ... the league shouldn't try to be static, neither for their own sake or player development. There's no reason why MLS can't continue to get better in overall quality and development to get closer to the lower end of the BIg 5, which should help. As long as the interim steps are built up in the middle. USL, MLSNP need to improve along with it so that we still have a reasonable path of increasing difficulty. But yeah, I never want to see it wide open where there's no reason to play Americans in general and young Americans specifically.
Glad to see Miller did well! The San Jose debutant was a mixed bag. He’s very good at passing out of pressure but his defending as a defender needs to be better. Could have been he was left in the game too long but he got beat too easily a # of times in the 2nd half. I hope they give Duan Jones an extra week of rest so avoid reinjury with Miller doing well. MLS congestion and concurrent play during international windows is a great recipe for HG success. This is still going to exist every season regardless of the rule changes coming which only some teams will take advantage of.
You can incentivize playing youth and increase the wage bill. Ideally that brings in more positions of quality which can also help drive up the overall culture and expectations of youth players coming up. i do not think it is mutually exclusive.
You can balance them, but they absolutely are in conflict at a fundamental level. Right now, I think there's a pretty good mix.
I think with 30+ teams, a good reserve league, and a robust USL that offers competitive salaries it’s possible to increase the wage bill in MLS to equal and even surpass the top leagues in the world and still maximize the development of young American players. If the money is better and the bar is higher, those are good problems. I’m sure that’s a non-linear process with bumps in the road, but I also don’t think it’s mutually exclusive.
Peyton Miller video 16-year-old Peyton Miller made his first start for New England Revolution last night, playing 82 minutes against FC Dallas. Here are clips, quotes, and stats to help us understand why he’s such a promising talent. #NERevs pic.twitter.com/JNjmYxe6hy— Seth (@SethMan31) July 21, 2024
I totally buy what you’re saying about Verhoeven. What’s funny is just that his strengths and weaknesses are essentially the exact opposite of how he played, if so. Soccer can be weird sometimes.
I think the kids that are legit prospects to play on USMNT and/or be plus MLS players will be able to crack into the league as youth players as long as the league doesn't go wild loosening salary control mechanisms. Maybe it delays their debut by a season, but if it also pumps up the quality of play in practice and the quality of MLS Next Pro and of the USL that could be a positive for all US Prospects. I think the main casualty will be fringe prospects who's ceiling in more back third of a MLS roster or USL anyway. The Sullivan's and even the next couple Tiers below him as prospects will still be able to crack through while coming up in a more challenging developmental pyramid, but can't go up in cap spend while neglecting the pipeline below it.
I mean, its fine. A lot of it has to do with the development of MLSNP as a legitimate reserve league for kids to hone their crafts in. The ability to "loan" players on MLSNP contracts to MLS first teams (even for a limited number of times). Caleb Wiley is the 39th youngest player to appear in MLS this season at 19 years 2 months old when he first appeared. If you keep building and building and building MLSNP and USL, then you don't need to worry about increasing the quality of play in MLS. It just means the young Americans that do break thru are better and better and better. They have to match that level if they want to play. By the end of 2024, we'll probably have 50 players 18 or younger appear in MLS. Which isn't that different than say...............Croatia. [I picked Croatia out my butt.]
Just to add on to what I said above. MLS is first and foremost a business.....................and business is good Is developing young players good for business? YES!!! [Although that's not part of this "key business metrics" article.] So, we shouldn't have any concerns about MLS moving away from that. Even the biggest clubs in the world that can buy anybody they want still put in the effort to develop young players. The quality of young player that can break thru with those teams just gets higher as you move to the ladder. And those that are good, but don't make that level, move on to another club to continue their careers. MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER SETS RECORDS IN KEY BUSINESS METRICS AT MIDSEASON (prnewswire.com)
Yes, it's simply a balance to manage over time. But as you note, one key area to keep up will be ensuring we have the proper levels of developmental leagues if MLS gets too much better. Right now, MLS is trying very hard to find ways to improve MLSNP without losing the developmental aspect, and the gap is a big reason why there's been more loans of prospects to USLC this year than last.
With the latest growth in salary - about 50% in the last three years - MLS is about even in payroll with Eredivisie and Championship. Outside of PSG, MLS is in striking range of Ligue 1.
Indeed, and that may not change for a long time. MLSNP is recognized as a third tier league by the USSF (along with NISA and USL League One). Not 2nd tier. A team should really be stashing a whole bunch of 21-year-olds in their MLSNP team. Yes, it makes sense that in a roster crunch during the dog-days-of-summer, its a lot of 16-18 year olds getting an opportunity on rosters. That's who should be "next man up." An important development has been the ability of MLS clubs to "loan" an MLSNP player up to the first team. Even for a limited number of times. What's interesting, of course, is the progress of the independent MLSNP teams. Another one was announced earlier this year in Connecticut. Chatanooga is having a nice season in MLSNP after moving from NISA. Competitive at least. Anyway, does anybody really have any concerns? An MLS club just played a 14 year old.
Here are the top 10 in pro minutes in USA by all 07s and younger, out of 157 players in all. pic.twitter.com/YihcoXr6dn— Paul Harvey (@Thundering165) July 22, 2024 Only one of these players plays in USL. If you compared this to, say, 02s in 2019 I think you’d see a big difference. It’s going to be really interesting to see if these high level minutes pay off down the road. I think it’s going to be phenomenal.
I obviously meant a team shouldn't be stashing a whole bunch of 21 year olds on their MLSNP team Other than recently signed draft picks, that's not what MLSNP should be for.
Obviously there’s balance to be had but if teams don’t make an effort to field competitive teams, MLSNP quickly becomes a de facto U19 league and that’s not its purpose either. You need some guys with experience to challenge the young players coming up and give them someone to beat out. Plus, it should turn into an effective proving ground for USL sides - see MD Myers who went from MLSNP Golden Boot to Charleston Battery. I think they’re getting the balance right so far. Now, putting my GM hat on, there’s no reason not to stash as many top international U22 players as possible on your MLSNP team and develop them before moving them up to MLS on a U22 initiative deal. That’s what Charlotte did with Nikola Petkovic. With the added U22 slots that becomes an even more viable approach.