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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]New England Revolution also dominated DCU last weekend.  Only the u19s won for DCU and that is mainly because most of the Revs talent at that age has moved up to MLS next pro.  While DCUs talent is still playing youth soccer waiting to go to college because they don't have a second team for them to play on. DCUs u16s and u17 were outclassed at every single phase of the game.  Same story every week...parents will still sign up for DCU because they chase perceived status.  But if you are really serious about your son becoming a pro footballer, DCU cannot be your option.  At least not for an extended period of time.  Use them as a spring board to something better.  [/quote]

DCU has played 8 MLS academies this fall season across three age groups.  U16, U17 and U19.  That is 24 total games against MLS academies across the entire program in the fall. DCU has won 6 of those 24 games with half of those wins coming from their U19s which are competing against younger kids at the other MLS academies because their most talented players at that age are playing for those clubs second teams, which DCU does not have so they park all their oldest kids in u19 as they prepare for college. Whereas the other MLS academies have moved their top talents on to the next stage of the pro pathway at u19. The U17 2009 age group has won one game all season against MLS Academies and the u16 age group 2010 has won only two games. And in three matchups this season against MLS academies DCU could not produce a win across all three age groups (against Union, Toronto and Montreal )  These are the facts.

I could accept these statistics and losses IF the kids were developing and what you saw on the field was DCU trying to play football and teaching the kids how to be better at their craft.  But this is not happening.  Why losing is so much worse.  They are losing AND not learning which is the worst of everything.

"But the younger teams are winning some games". This is what you'll hear repeatedly from the parents of DCU kids at those ages.  To that I will say this...1.  no one cares about u14 or u15 football.  This is still kiddie football and you're not even close to understanding what real competition looks like yet.  Not everyone has hit puberty, serious injuries are less common because most of the kids aren't powerful enough yet to really cause physical damage and 2. DCU always does well at the younger ages because they mostly (not always) take physically dominant kids at initial intake to the program.  This physical advantage wears off fast at DCU because the kids don't learn anything and just rely on physicality and speed to get by.  Why you see the results you see when the games start to matter more at the older ages.

This state of play will not change.  Their bulls#t RDS money grab program which is literally only to make money, let's be clear about that.  You have pretty much no chance of going through RDS and making DCU.  The fact that they have no real u14 team but a 40+ player pool of kids that they work with sometimes and play some games.  Great!  The feelings that will be hurt when that player pool gets cut in half will be epic.  Couple all of this with the state of play in the academy, which you have seen above, and you just have a really sad state of affairs.

[b]When all the rich, elitist, snobs start realizing that DCU is not actually elite and it gives no real edges to their son, THEN and only then will DCU start to really crumble. [/b] From the outside in. Right now, rich people still believe DCU gives their son an edge in college entrance.  But the reality is that you can achieve the same result and have a better player and better academic experience without DCU.  When this notion becomes more accepted DCUs academy as we know it will literally collapse.

[/quote]

These DCUMers really believe they need to be with a MLS Next badge club at age 8.  I don't think you are going to win the war with them declining the DCU badge.  Just like Pavlov's dogs, DCU rings and DCUMers will salivate and kiss the ring.  People are simply too uneducated in this space or they don't really want to send their kids to the 3rd division of Germany, learn a new language, make more than in the MLS and have an invaluable life experience with the opportunity to earn their way to one of the top 5 leagues.  That is too much risk and too foreign to them.  I was recently told by an American with a German passport whose kid trialed in Germany that our kids are just too soft.  We want Johnny to get into Princeton have a great college career, take over the family business or go to law school.  They not interested in becoming footballers and the grind that entails.

Stay tuned though.  There are some projects coming down the pipeline that are going to shake up our entire DMV club establishment and the stakeholders are connected to Philly Union.  Get your popcorn ready because it is going to be fun.[/quote]

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