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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][quote=Anonymous]To Arlington parents, the goal should be for each of your respective teams to have the scorelines exceed the level of the team you are playing.  This, combined with past performance, should get you to the top level of both ECNL and non-ECNL tournaments.  Once there, Arlington should strive to take home some important tournament wins.  This is your chance to establish your team as the dominant big fish in a little pond.  If you [b]cannot[/b] accomplish this, then you have no argument. [/quote]

I agree that these things are good goals.

However I'm not sure that the "argument" depends on achieving them and bringing trophies home.  I think the concern that parents have is not that there won't be some competitive games.  We know there will, and we know that some ECNL teams are very good.  The concern is just that there will be too many uncompetitive games.  And I think that argument will be based on - well - very simply - whether or not there are too many uncompetitive games.

[quote]If you [b]can[/b] accomplish this, being at the top of ECNL will get a lot more quick exposure for aspiring MLS players than being a mid-level team in Tier 2 MLSYA.  If collectively the Arlington teams do well their first year in ECNL, it will empower the parents to show the club that the competition in ECNL is weak and give you the argument to switch to MLSYA.      [/quote]

I don't think the board made the decision to switch to ECNL because they felt that the level of play would be equivalent to MLSYA, nor because they felt the MLSYA was too high a level of play.  So proving that it isn't won't change their minds.  They made the decision, as far as I can tell, because they felt that ECNL was a stable league which allowed them to provide a secure option to parents while MLSYA was still very much up in the air.  MLSYA still can't define which teams are in which divsisions, what the relationship between MLS and non-MLS clubs will be, or even what age groups MLS clubs will have and how the league will work for non-MLS clubs in age groups which some ior all MLS clubs don't plan to have.

It's entirely possible that MLSYA will fall apart, or even fail to launch, or that this region at least just doesn't have enough teams to be viable without horrifying travel requirements.  And to some degree those things might have happened because Arlington, VDA and Richmond chose to jump ship - thus creating a self-fulfilling prophecy  I can't imagine Bethesda is ecstatic at this point.  If they stay in the MLS league, instead of the current schedule with more than half their away games within an hour's drive, they will presumably be looking at 2-3 games within that distance against DC and Baltimore (with PA Classics a little further away), and the rest in northern PA or New York, and quite possibly several in New England or Ohio.  I suspect the fact that VDA and Richmond had already defected played strongly into Arlington's decision to do the same.  And if Bethesda were now to defect, then what does Baltimore do?  Etc.[/quote]

Pretty sure Bethesda has no concerns.  There are seven other PA and NJ clubs in the league and they are absolutely top tier teams that Bethesda probably would prefer to play (as opposed to playing VDA, Arlington).  If they went to ECNL along with Pipeline, they'd be playing teams even further up the northeast corridor.  I am not going to knock Arlington's decision to leave and go play elsewhere but they could have stayed out of ECNL and played better boys teams in this area than the ECNL MA clubs.  I don't think their objective appears to be playing the best boys teams.  It appears to be seeking a platform to market players.  The question is whether that is feasible or legitimate on the boys side given the historical dominance of DA/MLS academies.  We'll see.  I don't think Arlington would be the club that will change all this.  And I don't think most other clubs think ECNL will be the top platform for boys soccer.  That's why you see all those former DAs going to MLSYA.  Arlington was afraid of being left behind and wanted a platform.  It's understandable and not irreversible if it proves to be a mistake.  But backing out next year could cost their club admission on the girls side.[/quote]

Arlington thinks it is better to win in a weaker league vs play tough competition and lose. It keeps parents happy. Seriously it is so much easier and most parents are clueless. The girls side took GA. Arlington should be first or second in most age groups in that league. The boys side joined ECNL and should dominate that league. Both side should be in top of the standing and in the top brackets of showcases. Parents love that. [/quote]

Addressing both of these.

(1)  You may well be correct on Bethesda having no concerns.  I was just putting myself in the place of a Bethesda parent and looking at drive times.  Obviously Bethesda is closer to PA/NJ than Nova is, but even so a lot of these teams are still a long drive compared to Arlington or Woodbridge, and they're going to have to make those long drives more often than they used to.  That said, if ECNL would be even worse, then they're hardly going to leave for that reason.

I disagree on the PA/NJ teams being any better than Arlington/VDA though.  Arlington was amongst the very best non-MLS clubs on the East coast this year.  VDA was weaker, but pleant of the PA/NJ clubs were weakish too -  PA classics, Lehigh, FC Delco, Cedar Stars Monmouth all spring to mind.

(2)  I don't think this was the reason.  It certainly wasn't the reason they gave.  If it is the reason I think they seriously misjudged the (current) parents, since we aren't happy.  And in my experience most boys DA parents are not completely clueless.  On many DA teams about half the parents are latinos or Europeans who grew up playing themselves.
[/quote]

On the first point, the team performance was really good for one age in particular. A little less clearly elite for the east coast or even tops in VA in other ages. I am sure we will hear all about scrimmages later this summer against Bethesda, Pipeline, SYC and Alexandria where we can know a little more about how they stack up across age groups. Good luck either way![/quote]

2007  W10 D0 L5
2006  W9 D2 L2
2005  W4 D0 L5
2004  W6 D3 L0 (+ state cup finalists)

2004, 2006 and 2007 teams all had very strong records.  2005 less so, but still respectable.

[/quote]

I hear you.  I am sure H2H results against area teams will be no problem in that case assuming you can keep the kids together.  Good luck.  [/quote]

Yep - even the 2005 team beat McLean 2005 ECNL 7-0 in a friendly in either January or February.[/quote]

You are correct about the 2005's beating McLean ECNL 05 but what you may not realize is that team was on their second year with an inept coach.  They now have one of the best coaches in the DMV!  They will be quite competitive once he gets some time with them!

[/quote]

That's a reasonable point.  And it may well mean that McLean 05 will improve next season.  But

(a)  I'm not sure it really invalidates the argument.  The 05 McLean team finished 9th out of 11 in the ECNL (W3L9D6), with its worst results being a 5-0 loss to CESA and a 4-0 loss to South Carolina United.  They did not lose any other game by more than three goals.  So, even if McLean were to improve, Arlington still (on the evidence of this game anyway) will be quite a bit better than other teams in the league

(b)  the Arlington 05 team is probably the weakest of the Arlington teams.  And the games from the other age groups were similar in character.  I'm guessing that this particular inept coach does not coach all the McLean boys age groups...

***

Good points, but Arlington will probably lose some players to MLS  (I believe they already have) and the McLean ECNL 03s beat the Arlington 03s something like 6-1 in a scrimmage last Fall.  Anyway, they were all just scrimmages so who knows what will happen and I'm sure players from both teams were missing from the scrimmages.[/quote]

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