DC United Academy - aa strong academy or not
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Anonymous
Right, because the development pathway for a youth footballer ceases to exist when they are 17 years old????? What a complete joke. Shows how little you know about development of footballers and how much parents believe these false narratives about the player pathway. Why most European clubs have a U19 AND a second team (u21 or u23) to continue to nurture the talent because they all develop at different rates. DCU has neither of these opportunities for the players because they don't actually care about developing pros in the academy. The academy is the cost of doing business in the MLS and if a player does happen to surface from the academy they certainly leverage that. They don't put everything they have into building players and selling them. Just isn't the focus. |
Anonymous
Ok sure, we can say that’s what happened. Whatever makes you feel better. |
Anonymous
Oh right. Cool. Give me your kids name and I’ll see if he’s there. No? Was he at a national team camp and had to miss and that’s why? Also no? So multiple DC kids on a better pathway to pro and national play than most but hey, Arlington won a scrimmage game used for season prep. Good job. |
Anonymous
Wrong again lol. DC has a U19 and a U23. |
Anonymous
Great. And DCU still can't develop them. |
Anonymous
Ok cool. Stand corrected. Doesn't change the fact that DCU is a dead end for pro soccer. |
Anonymous
lol how about you tell me what your definition of “develop” is? Especially for a U23? If by U23 you need development and aren’t standing out, then you are probably one of the people who didn’t know there was a U23 team because you weren’t offered the spot to move on in the club. Will they all get contracts? No. That’s not how professional soccer works. Some will do MLS Next Pro when it’s available. Some will play USL Championship or USL 1. Some will finish great college careers and move on. That’s the reality of any professional sport. |
Anonymous
I don't care about Arlington winning a game against a younger DCU squad. That is irrelevant. What matters is the development of the kids. DCU has proven, over and over again, that it can't develop talent consistently. It can't even keep it's leadership or coaches because the entire program and organization is dysfunctional and on a shoe string budget. I hope all of those kids do great things with soccer and hopefully they all succeed. But there are realities of soccer development that just can't be overlooked. With a soccer education fully garnered at DCU, a known inferior development system with minimal funding, the chips are stacked against them. It just is what it is. Better chances at pro soccer than if a player was at Arlington for sure. But Arlington isn't the competition. The other MLS academies are. And they are pretty much all running circles around DCU. |
Anonymous
Like I said it’s not really facts you want. You just want to complain about something you either know nothing about or you have a personal grudge with. So don’t say that facts aren’t being given but your biggest response when shown to be wrong is “who cares they still suck”. |
Anonymous
No organization is perfect. Changes continue being made to bring the academy to the next level. A huge investment this year with adding a school option which expands next year. It takes time and money which you don’t want to allow for. You just think it should all be built instantly. Philly Union didn’t build theirs instantly. The other MLS residential programs and systems weren’t built instantly. Did DCU start up behind them, yes. So it takes time to catch up but they have great talent. They may not win every game but they aren’t getting blown out regularly. And a preseason scrimmage is not the measure for that. They are competitive with a lot of international and national team players. The new academy director is already implementing changes to continue to grow the academy and take them to the next level. The old director made changes to do that also. It takes time. Period. But the kids out their with talent and busting their tales don’t deserve the commentary from someone who’s sitting at home on their couch with zero pro soccer experience trying to discredit their work or sell other local talent on why they shouldn’t consider the club. |
Anonymous
My view is that development of a footballer never ends until they are done playing. Even the best of pros are still developing and getting better. And many change clubs to further themselves and their careers. Why someone like Jamie Vardy for example could get to the Premier League from the 4th and 5th division at 25. It comes down to the learning environment you're in and how that environment impacts your progression as a player. DCU's learning environment and methodology is not strong in any of the ages really and there is no focus or accountability for the kids improving. When you have accountability and a systematic way of measuring how the kids are progressing individually as players then you're in an environment that is more focused on your development. Without that, you're just out there practicing and playing with no real north star for how, why and by what means you should be getting better. This is DCU in a nutshell. At u14 or at the oldest age. Playing and practicing but no real focus on how to make each kid better and closer to a professional. They all need different things but are treated pretty much the same. At U23 you're right, some decisions need to be made about the best path if you're not first team material. But after U19 we are talking more about pro soccer than academy soccer. Different calculations. |
Anonymous
No one is talking about the kids. Just about DCU as an organization and their lack of ability to develop the kids. Yes, DCU is trying. I will buy that argument. But they are so far behind it will take many years for them to catch up. Too much time to be relevant for our kids who are of age now and in the next 3-5 years. Wait and see approach on DCU is not wise. |
Anonymous
You have literally no idea who has what experience. Wouldn't go there |
Anonymous
I will agree with your first sentence and that’s about it. Every player continues to learn throughout their career. But at some point, the responsibility transfers from the club to the player. The club can provide resources and opportunities but the player has to put the work in to improve. Talking more about the older players. DCU has the focus you speak of for the younger players and they are developing them tactically, technically, and the soccer iq. The coaching staff is being held accountable. Not that anyone will consider that is why ppl are or have left. They aren’t going to lower the level of expectations because not all scouted players can continue to the next level. That’s the reality of playing for a MLS academy. It’s meant to develop the talent for the first team. It’s still a business. It’s a significant investment. So it’s a delicate balance of business and development but they are developing. |
Anonymous
I definitely agree with the notion of responsibility transferring to the player at some point. That is a well stated point. Especially at the older ages. The older teams aren't focusing on skill development more on how to actually assemble the teams and deploy them to win the games. So we are in agreement there for sure. Where I disagree is when you say DCU has the focus. I just don't see that and haven't experienced that. Maybe you have. If you have, definitely tell us how and in what ways they have this focus. Hiring a new doc is a step in the right direction but there isn't much else going on. I greatly respect the tone and politeness in your message actually and it also seems like you are reasonable unlike some others on this thread. But, how are you drawing the conclusion that DCU is in fact developing players? We know it's a business. But if selling players is their business, they are really bad at it. |