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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The truth is DCU isn't a credible academy in the MLS academy landscape.  It is FAR behind the best academies and not even really on par with the worst considering it doesn't have its own facilities and makes many of their players and families pay  money to participate.  No teaching methodology, no consistent results and leadership that gives no craps about the academy.  Recipe for failure and DCUs academy is in fact failing.  Overall, just not a good place to be.  [/quote]

Every academy doesn't have players in final USYNT camps. DCU has representation.
So how are they far behind all other academies?

DCU has players in the Premier League. 
All other academies don't. 
So how are they far behind all other academies?

All other academies aren't selling players regularly and consistently to top leagues. 
So how is DC far behind them?[/quote]

This is like saying Messi and Benteke are the same because they are both past their prime players playing in the MLS.  Or that Tottenham is the same quality club as Wrexham because neither club has won the premier league.  Or that the MLS is just as good as the Belgian league because neither has produced Ballon d'or winners.  Or that Ajax and La Masia academies are the same as Philly Union because they all have boarding houses and full campuses for their academies.  It has already been proven, over and over, that your line of logic fails miserably in this regard.

DCU is behind almost every other MLS academy in the country because of some very simple facts:

It doesn't own a facility for the academy and isnt investing in one.  Every other MLS academy has its own facility and most are planning to build bigger ones

It doesn't have enough personnel to run a credible academy.  DCU has 9 people dedicated to football in the academy. NINE.  And most of them aren't full time employees   Many of the MLS academies in this country just have more people focused on development. And they pay them more than DCU does which attracts better developers

It has poor scouting and recruiting.  With one scout to cover a vast amount of territory, many talents are overlooked.    Couple this with the fact that the primary scouting methodology is word of mouth not proactive scouting and you see why the DCU rosters don't always have the top kids.

It doesn't properly invest in the academy.  Other academies are investing tens of millions of dollars in their academies.   DCU doesnt invest in the academy and only tries to keep it running so the MLS doesnt take action against them.

Every other MLS academy in the US has a second team to further develop their players.  DCU does not have this.  This alone puts them way behind other Academies and has caused other MLS academies to petition the league to take DCUs homegrown territory rights away because it doesn't provide a real pro pathway to its players so why should they get to protect those players from systems that actually have a legit pro pathway.

DCUs academy doesn't consistently produce players for the first team.  It has been years since an academy product has played real minutes for the first team.

DCU has no grassroots program to cultivate young players   No real rationale needed.  This fact stands on its own.

DCU has an inferior methodology and system.  You can see this every week when the teams play real academies.  DCU always looks behind and unorganized

The academy itself is unorganized and unprofessional.  This is clear from how they communicate with the external world, their own players and families and their own staff.

Local clubs have more infrastructure and more to offer local players.  With good academies, the delta between what they are offering and what a local club is offering is massive.

DCUs reputation on a national level is far behind the best academies.  This is just known and uncontroverted. On an international level DCUs academy is no where.

[b]Some of the best players from this region in the last years have actually left DCU or decided not to go to DCU for better environments after they either saw first hand what the program is about or because they already knew DCU was poor and didn't want to involve themselves with the operation.[/b]

Could write a lot more and much more is offered on this thread in the pages before.  You just have to read it.  
[/quote]

💯 [/quote]

Stiven Jimenez, Chris Applewhite are just two examples (there are more) who are both pros now and deliberately left this area to play for better academies because they knew DCU was not going to be the best environment for their development.  Both grew up here and played for local DMV clubs.  [/quote]

Thank you for these.  If possible, can you share more?  It looks like they both played for Arlington.  I am not trying to argue about DCU merits.  I am simply looking for successful kids who came out of the DMV to see what they were doing at my son's age and network with the people who helped develop these kids.  I was only aware of Parades and Yow who play my son's position.  Akinmboni is a defender and completely different with his physical profile.[/quote]

Here are a few names that I know of personally.  And this is just off the top of my head.  If I really did research I could find more.

These players are all from the DMV and either never stepped foot in DCU or were in DCU for a short period of time (even when they had younger ages and a longer pathway):  All reached professional soccer either in the MLs or overseas.  All could have chosen DCU for extended periods of time.but didn't.

Aaron Heard (Leverkusen)
Jack Sullivan (Colorado Rapids)
Gabe Segal (Houston Dynamo)
Jeremy Ebobisse (LAFC)
Gideon Zelalem (Arsenal and NYCFC)
Nicholas Gioacchini (Asteras Tripolis)
Byang Kayo (OH Leuven)
Joe Gyau (Dortmund, Hoffenheim, FC Cincy and several other clubs)

There are also several younger kids (u14-u17) in top European academies from the DMV that will make waves very soon as well.

If you're genuinely interested like your post says, here you are. Many of these players had coaches that are still around the DMV.  If you're the PP masquerading as someone else thinking there are no other players to list, you feel about as dumb as your post right about now.  👍

[/quote]

I guess you forgot all of the above players that left the DMV for better environments who made it PROFESSIONALLY.  not some u17 world cup.  And there are others that aren't mentioned.  You can't win...[/quote]

Players who left the DMV for European academies would leave EVERY MLS Academy for a European academy.

Don't be disingenuous !

Where are the above players listed now and what was their peak professional levels?

Many many many average footballers spend years jumping around from bench to bench and practice squad to practice squad with the name of the club on their resume [/quote]

Does it matter?  They were pros.  Some at some of the best clubs in the world.  [/quote]

Then nothing matters

Unless you're saying a player left Philly area to go to Bayern Munich academy automatically makes Philly Union a bad academy [/quote]

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