Arlington 2012 ECNL Boys

[Anonymous]

This spring, I took my son to practice/tryout with Arlington for 2025-26 and all I can say is this team is solid. The coach EA was great. Excellent drills (fitness, agility, and decision-making). He had them doing excellent drills and he was engaged the whole time, even playing and showing them how it is done during the scrimmage. My son is in a MLSN1 in Maryland and I would have taken the offer on the spot but the drive was brutal. So all this talk about MLSN1 is better than ECNL is nonsense. Focus on the coach and the team (player dynamic) regardless of what league they are in. Do not go for clubs, go for coaches. There are a lot of what I call "ghetto" coaches who are at these clubs who are clueless about soccer development but they have the club branding backing them up. I call it cheap labor. EA, like many great coaches, has a masters in business administration so you know he knows how to speak to the players in a professional and proper way. Research the coaches before you commit to any team/club. My two cents. I have seen lots of these poor coaches here in the DMV. Do your research! Arlington ENCL 2012 would easily win against my son's MLSN1 team both in goals and style of play (possession and no kick ball strategy). The only negative comments you will find after my post are probably from those poor coaches who monitor this forum. Cheers!

[Anonymous]

Great post Arlington Coach!!!

[Anonymous]

Arlington Boys 2012 ECNL is certainly a strong team with good players.

Last time they played, for example, the Alexandria MLSN1 team, it was a competitive match and I think Alexandria won by one goal. And the Alexandria MSLN1 team is very solid.

I don't know if this says anything about ECNL vs MLSN1, however. Arlington may just be a particularly strong team at this age group.

The consensus still seems to be that overall MLSN1 has stronger teams than ECNL. Not taking a position on that here, just noting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arlington Boys 2012 ECNL is certainly a strong team with good players.

Last time they played, for example, the Alexandria MLSN1 team, it was a competitive match and I think Alexandria won by one goal. And the Alexandria MSLN1 team is very solid.

I don't know if this says anything about ECNL vs MLSN1, however. Arlington may just be a particularly strong team at this age group.

The consensus still seems to be that overall MLSN1 has stronger teams than ECNL. Not taking a position on that here, just noting it.

Arlington is a rock solid club with good college placement (it's not just U-12...look at the older age groups like 2009, 2007. Academies have identified it as a talent pool which is why so many of their players are getting recruited to out of state academies of late. If I had a U-14 player, I'd take it over most MLS clubs except maybe Bethesda which has a really strong college placement program. In the end, ECNL or MLS league doesn't matter. Its the coach (for development), the connections they have with college coaches or professional clubs and exposure via showcases where your player can be seen...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This spring, I took my son to practice/tryout with Arlington for 2025-26 and all I can say is this team is solid. The coach EA was great. Excellent drills (fitness, agility, and decision-making). He had them doing excellent drills and he was engaged the whole time, even playing and showing them how it is done during the scrimmage. My son is in a MLSN1 in Maryland and I would have taken the offer on the spot but the drive was brutal. So all this talk about MLSN1 is better than ECNL is nonsense. Focus on the coach and the team (player dynamic) regardless of what league they are in. Do not go for clubs, go for coaches. There are a lot of what I call "ghetto" coaches who are at these clubs who are clueless about soccer development but they have the club branding backing them up. I call it cheap labor. EA, like many great coaches, has a masters in business administration so you know he knows how to speak to the players in a professional and proper way. Research the coaches before you commit to any team/club. My two cents. I have seen lots of these poor coaches here in the DMV. Do your research! Arlington ENCL 2012 would easily win against my son's MLSN1 team both in goals and style of play (possession and no kick ball strategy). The only negative comments you will find after my post are probably from those poor coaches who monitor this forum. Cheers!

Holy knee pads, Batman!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Great post Arlington Coach!!!

HAHAHA. +100

[Anonymous]

I’m surprised that there are still people who generalize teams as good or bad based on what league they are in. EVERY team is different. Nobody cares if you are MLSN1 or ECNL or ECRL or etc.

EA is a great coach for this area. He’s only been with Arlington for one year. He has done a good job with that team, but he didn’t develop most of the players on that team and has only had them for 7-8 months.

2012 Boys has a lot of competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised that there are still people who generalize teams as good or bad based on what league they are in. EVERY team is different. Nobody cares if you are MLSN1 or ECNL or ECRL or etc.

EA is a great coach for this area. He’s only been with Arlington for one year. He has done a good job with that team, but he didn’t develop most of the players on that team and has only had them for 7-8 months.

2012 Boys has a lot of competition.

Yep. VDA has their number.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m surprised that there are still people who generalize teams as good or bad based on what league they are in. EVERY team is different. Nobody cares if you are MLSN1 or ECNL or ECRL or etc.

EA is a great coach for this area. He’s only been with Arlington for one year. He has done a good job with that team, but he didn’t develop most of the players on that team and has only had them for 7-8 months.

2012 Boys has a lot of competition.

Yep. VDA has their number.

ORLY

[Anonymous]

This is a plant…NO STARTER in MLS 1 is interested in ECNL except for maybe SYC once the kid stops growing and SYC no longer finds them useful.

And sorry Arlington, you have great coaches. I can agree with that. But with MLS academies being the ideal pathway for those without dual citizenship, the ECNL ship has passed for the boys and I do hope you join so all of those boys don’t have to drive to NC to play great competition in their backyard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a plant…NO STARTER in MLS 1 is interested in ECNL except for maybe SYC once the kid stops growing and SYC no longer finds them useful.

And sorry Arlington, you have great coaches. I can agree with that. But with MLS academies being the ideal pathway for those without dual citizenship, the ECNL ship has passed for the boys and I do hope you join so all of those boys don’t have to drive to NC to play great competition in their backyard.

interesting to hear that the next teams only play local games in their backyard. Had thought they drove up and down to DE, PA and NY 10+ times a year.

Not that it matters much-- but the local ECNL clubs just sent more players to academy teams in the past 3 months than the local next teams combined. Academies don't care where they find the players so long as they have been coached well.... so again, it all comes back to the coaches and connections.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a plant…NO STARTER in MLS 1 is interested in ECNL except for maybe SYC once the kid stops growing and SYC no longer finds them useful.

And sorry Arlington, you have great coaches. I can agree with that. But with MLS academies being the ideal pathway for those without dual citizenship, the ECNL ship has passed for the boys and I do hope you join so all of those boys don’t have to drive to NC to play great competition in their backyard.

interesting to hear that the next teams only play local games in their backyard. Had thought they drove up and down to DE, PA and NY 10+ times a year.

Not that it matters much-- but the local ECNL clubs just sent more players to academy teams in the past 3 months than the local next teams combined. Academies don't care where they find the players so long as they have been coached well.... so again, it all comes back to the coaches and connections.

And academies play in what league again…

So…ECNL>MLS Next because ECNL supplies their best players to clubs in MLS Next.

Make American soccer parents great again 😜

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This spring, I took my son to practice/tryout with Arlington for 2025-26 and all I can say is this team is solid. The coach EA was great. Excellent drills (fitness, agility, and decision-making). He had them doing excellent drills and he was engaged the whole time, even playing and showing them how it is done during the scrimmage. My son is in a MLSN1 in Maryland and I would have taken the offer on the spot but the drive was brutal. So all this talk about MLSN1 is better than ECNL is nonsense. Focus on the coach and the team (player dynamic) regardless of what league they are in. Do not go for clubs, go for coaches. There are a lot of what I call "ghetto" coaches who are at these clubs who are clueless about soccer development but they have the club branding backing them up. I call it cheap labor. EA, like many great coaches, has a masters in business administration so you know he knows how to speak to the players in a professional and proper way. Research the coaches before you commit to any team/club. My two cents. I have seen lots of these poor coaches here in the DMV. Do your research! Arlington ENCL 2012 would easily win against my son's MLSN1 team both in goals and style of play (possession and no kick ball strategy). The only negative comments you will find after my post are probably from those poor coaches who monitor this forum. Cheers!

Congrats that a county with the population of Arlington can put together top notch boys and girls teams. What if Fairfax had one club in its county? Hmmm…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a plant…NO STARTER in MLS 1 is interested in ECNL except for maybe SYC once the kid stops growing and SYC no longer finds them useful.

And sorry Arlington, you have great coaches. I can agree with that. But with MLS academies being the ideal pathway for those without dual citizenship, the ECNL ship has passed for the boys and I do hope you join so all of those boys don’t have to drive to NC to play great competition in their backyard.

interesting to hear that the next teams only play local games in their backyard. Had thought they drove up and down to DE, PA and NY 10+ times a year.

Not that it matters much-- but the local ECNL clubs just sent more players to academy teams in the past 3 months than the local next teams combined. Academies don't care where they find the players so long as they have been coached well.... so again, it all comes back to the coaches and connections.

I keep hearing ECNL dads going on about local ECNL clubs sending more players…present the facts please.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a plant…NO STARTER in MLS 1 is interested in ECNL except for maybe SYC once the kid stops growing and SYC no longer finds them useful.

And sorry Arlington, you have great coaches. I can agree with that. But with MLS academies being the ideal pathway for those without dual citizenship, the ECNL ship has passed for the boys and I do hope you join so all of those boys don’t have to drive to NC to play great competition in their backyard.

Said it best: “the ECNL ship has passed…”.

It must be frustrating to know MLSNext lapped ECNL in just 4 short years and MLSNext would very easily admit Arlington if they applied. At least a few years ago. Now? The window is closing fast.

My guess is VDA blinks first and joins up.