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Anonymous wrote:How did using 3 big biobanded kids on every team work out for the BSC U14's and U15's this weekend?
Bethesda U14's and U15's even with their multiple biobanded big kids were totally dominated by DCU teams with small players playing up.
Boot and Chase ball has severe limitations at top levels
I'm all for bashing Bethesda's misuse of the bio-banding rule. I was hoping that they would have changed the practice this season for the 2010s. They were blatantly floiting the rule last year playing 3 fully developed 2009 players.
At the same time, let's not understate DCU's physicality by saying "DCU teams with small players playing up." Sure there are some standout smaller players they play up and play portions of the matches, but on the whole, the U15 team is big fast and physical.
I haven't seen a small U15's team anywhere in MLS Next since the puberty testosterone and growth spurts are kicking in at those ages.
That said, DCU has multiple 2011's playing U15
What does playing portions of the match mean?
Everyone plays portions of matches, no?
you sound really defensive. its a big physical fast team. It's ok.
Because you sound simple and stupid discounting their individual technical skills and creativity they use to dominate a Bethesda who on average has a bigger, older more physically aggressive team.
now you sound extremely defensive. I love the players on that team. I'm not a Bethesda parent, or fan, and DCU U15 is not small. You said, "dominated by DCU teams with small players playing up." nobody discounted anything, just calling out your implication that DCU U-15 is small players playing up.
I thought the PP was talking about the U14's as well?
Whether the kids are small or big, the reality is that if you really watch any DCU game at pretty much all ages, what you'll see is a very unsophisticated way of playing (i.e. glorified kick and run football) and very weak philosophical/tactical underpinning at the club coming from the top of the academy and the leadership overall. DCU has most of the physically developed kids in the area (for the most part) with a few late bloomers thrown in (and kids who are playing up) which allows them to physically dominate most opponents. But, what you'll see very fast is that when a team can match their physicality and speed and actually knows how to play football against them, they are VERY weak. Not in one age, but all ages. It isn't the kids, it is how they are coached and assembled.
Bethesda is just trying to keep things together to stay competitive because they have realized that the clock is ticking on their relevancy. Why they bio band so much. Its sad actually because at the end of the day the only ones that are losing are these kids because they aren't getting developed like the rest of the world develops youth football talent. They are getting used to win games and, in DCU's case, keep them credible in MLS Academy world, and in Bethesda's case, keep the dumb parents paying ridiculous money for their kid to seem "elite".
True, think DCU wiped SYC this past weekend all age groups.
No. The DCU U15s lost to SYC 1-0. The other age groups won. Think about the gravity of that in the context of the competitive landscape. Here you have a club that takes the best players from the all the local clubs and STILL can’t consistently beat them. If that isn’t an indictment on the coaching and development methodology at DCU I don’t know what is.
Only in America where the soccer dunce feel a comfortable right to speak loudly in public would someone say a U15 team lost a game 1:0 to a good opponent so it's a statement on the organization's overall individual player development methodology 🤣🤣
How soccer dumb are some of you folks?
Please tell us how that scoreboard tells the story of the individual development methodology? Be specific.
(I guess academies in South America, Africa, Europe and the rest of America never lose games at U15, or they all have bad player development?) lol
Professional academies in Europe don’t lose to local teams because they have the best players and the best coaches. If they do it is because they are playing older kids. It would be like Real Madrid losing to the town team in the 4th division. It just doesnt happen. Of course u15 teams in Europe lose games. Just not to non professional academies. And if they do it is VERY rare. DCU has the best players but loses to local teams. Draw whatever conclusion you want about that.
If you have the best kids in the area and you’re a professional academy, you can’t draw the conclusion that the kids are developing if those teams are losing to local teams. If anything they should be absolutely shredding them. Your argument works if SYC and DCU are similarly situated but the reality is they aren’t. Winning doesn’t equal development. I agree. But no professional academy wants to lose to local teams.
Said like a true USA youth soccer giant suv driving suburbia parent.
If DCU Academy cared more about winning than individual development, they wouldn't be playing little 2012's against 2011's and several of their top 2011's wouldn't be playing 2010's
In that same vein, their top 2010's wouldn't be playing 2009's if they were only focused on winning.
Every age group at DCU has multiple players training and playing up.
Obviously development is the priority over winning games against MLS Next teams.
But you short sighted medals and trophies chasing parents with kids not at MLS Club level don't and wouldn't understand.
You are so soccer ignorant and stupid, you think after DCU signs 20 U14 kids every kid after that at Bethesda, SYC, Alexandria, Achilles, Baltimore Armor and top ECNL teams are not good players and there is a massive gap in talent?
Like every academy, DCU picks kids that fit their needs and philosophy and what they think are the best future potential, not just current performance.
You that daft to think only 22 good U15's are in the DMV?
What is your personal and professional knowledge and experience of what happens at a Real Madrid level academy or PSG or Ajax or Bayern Munich?
Those teams lose to non Division 1 club academies periodically as well because no youth team has consistency in game results when development is primary focus.
You basically didn't understand the PP's point about Real Madrid vs local club. The poster said PROFESSIONAL ACADEMIES in Europe don't lose to local clubs (non professional academies). PP didn't say they don't lose to other pro academies in lower divisions. This happens all the time.
The fact of the matter is that division 3 professional clubs in a country like Spain or Germany or England have solid academies because the emphasis is again on development of pros. This is how smaller academies and clubs in Europe stay alive. There are 2. Bundesliga clubs in Germany that have stadiums that are bigger than American Football stadiums. That is the SECOND league. Of course those types clubs and even smaller clubs can field competitive youth teams in their academies regardless of being in the first league or not. So again, it is very common for a smaller pro academies to have very strong youth sides because that is how they can compete with the big boys (developing players within and not pay for them).
And YES, there is a pretty big gap in the DCU kids and the rest of the MLS Next kids in the region. Why DCU usually wipes the floor with almost all of them at the younger ages. If there isn't a gap, again, DCU is doing something VERY VERY wrong (in scouting and coaching) considering they are taking the best of the best from the region. Are there some kids that can play that aren't at DCU, of course. But end of day, DCU has most of the top players in the area under their wing. Not all, for various reasons, but most.
Playing up is just not a very convincing argument that development is the focus. So what. You are bigger and faster than everyone in your age, so you play older kids. Not a hard decision to make. Literally you need no skills or coaching experience to make that call. Bravo if DCU can do that.
People that stupid around here that they really think after DCU recruits 20 players every kid not there is trash?
Then that means the whole DCUM except for a couple have kids that are trash players and way below the levels of DCU players
Let's stop comparing Real Madrid or Barca or PSG or Arsenal academy to any American academy.
Stop being ridiculous.
Nothing from the clubs to the academy to the coaches to the coaching to the parents to the culture is the same.
No one has produced a Win/Loss record to prove Real Madrid U15's or any academy U15's in Europe is unbeaten.
btw If this was Europe, SYC would be an Academy.
Alexandria would be an Academy.
Listen folks, if DCU rejected your kid like many of us, that's no reason to go on stupid anti-DCU crusades.
If Philly Union is doing a great job of recruiting and development of individuals, how does that translate to another academy isn't?
Corvettes are slow because McLarens are faster?
The PP actually said that their are good players outside of DCU. So your first two points are just not relevant. The argument that is being made is that DCU has the majority of the good players in the area (not all) because they are taking the best kids from ALL the clubs. I don't think this is really debatable.
European academies are the models that the US is striving for so the comparison is certainly valid. But, yes, we are not close to Europe in our academy system and that is clear. DCU is a clear example of that. Philly Union is an example of how we are getting closer to Europe. Same with Red Bulls, FC Dallas and a few others.
The PP didn't offer that European pro academies are unbeaten. The poster said they do get beat. Just not by LOCAL, non professional academies. It just doesn't happen.
In Europe, SYC, Alexandria, Bethesda etc would actually NOT be academy level soccer because they don't have a professional pathway, meaning that a youth player cannot sign a professional contract at these clubs and they are all pay to play. Academy level soccer in Europe is free like MLS academies in the US. This in turn means that they would be considered local clubs and the entry level to youth football in the country. Local clubs feed the pro clubs (clubs that actually can sign players to contracts) and players work their way up that ladder because in most European countries there are 3, 4 or sometimes 5 different levels of pro soccer and different levels of pro academies.
Funny how you assume that DCU rejected a kid for anyone to say things that are critical of the program. Here is one site that ranks the MLS academies. I stumbled on this googling the academies in the MLS and how they compare to each other:
https://www.ussoccercollective.com/mls/mls-academy-rankings
Of course, you can debate methodology, bias, blah blah, but end of day it is an opinion based on observation and also data. If you look at the analysis it isn't based on nothing. This site has a pretty solid grasp on the youth pool in our country. Of course it isn't perfect. No site is. But it does a better job than most.
DCU is 21st out of the 26 MLS academies. DCU was one of two MLS academies (Minnesota United, the one ranked dead last in the rankings. was the other) that was still pay to play as recently as 4 years ago (2020) which was a travesty. They only changed because the MLS made them fall in line with the rest of the leagues academies.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/dc-united-announce-operational-plans-youth-academy-departing-pay-play-model
The DCU Academy doesn't even have its own fields to practice on. Let THAT sink in as you think about management's commitment to the academy and the players. Meanwhile, only a few hours away, Philly Union and Red Bulls have made massive infrastructure investments in their academy with a vision for the future.
https://www.philadelphiaunion.com/news/philadelphia-union-announce-groundbreaking-of-wsfs-bank-sportsplex
https://www.frontrowsoccer.com/2024/05/14/and-so-it-begins-red-bulls-start-construction-of-new-training-facility-in-morris-township-n-j/#google_vignette
No, Corvettes aren't slow because Mclarens are faster. But Corvettes are clearly not faster than Mclarens because they don't have the same quality of materials, engineering, production, technology etc. Corvettes are great cars. Mclarens are in a different category and segment of cars than Corvettes. Just like the top MLS academies are in a different category than DCU.
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