Size5Balls wrote:

Numero1latino wrote:I am still confused with all these leagues. I get the MLSNext and ECNL National leagues. Is USYS National on par with ECNL Regional?

CCL, which is USYS affiliated, would be closer to ECNL Regional as far as the scope of the league. Not talking about who's better, but just travel wise. The ECNL regional is probably better strength overall, but there are some bad teams in it too. Really depends on which club you're with.

Great this helps. Thanks

Numero1latino wrote:I am still confused with all these leagues. I get the MLSNext and ECNL National leagues. Is USYS National on par with ECNL Regional?

CCL, which is USYS affiliated, would be closer to ECNL Regional as far as the scope of the league. Not talking about who's better, but just travel wise. The ECNL regional is probably better strength overall, but there are some bad teams in it too. Really depends on which club you're with.

I am still confused with all these leagues. I get the MLSNext and ECNL National leagues. Is USYS National on par with ECNL Regional?

Size5Balls wrote:Fixed that for you. Ever see the starting 11 on an MLS team? Not many Americans.

This is silly. If anything, the trend is toward more American players in MLS as the sport gets more popular and the academy system more mature.

I just looked at one game -- DC United's most recent game against NE Revolution -- to sanity check this. For DCU, 6 of 11 starters, and 3 of 5 subs, are American (including several homegrown from the DCU academy). For New England, it was 8 of 11 starters and all 4 subs. So that's 21 Americans out of the 31 players in the game. That's a lot!

Now, maybe this is an anomaly, but my impression is that the academy system is producing more and more (American) MLS players, and the new MLS Next Pro league will only increase this. So don't tell your kids it is impossible! Becoming a pro in the US is more viable now than ever before if you're good enough.

Size5Balls wrote:

anonimouswon wrote:if your son is an American, it's highly unlikely they'll ever make it to MLS or greater. Sorry, but that's just the reality of it.

Fixed that for you. Ever see the starting 11 on an MLS team? Not many Americans.

This is starting to change though in the last handful of years as we see a lot of the USMNT are playing abroad. It'll take time, but I do see more American players filling spots in the future in MLS especially with the changes made in US youth soccer in the late 90's.

DCUdad wrote:

Cruzado wrote:
Sure, playing for one of the MLS academy teams (e.g. DC United) is the best place to be in order to make it to the MLS / Next Pro.

I would guess, however, that playing for one of the non-MLS academy teams in the MLS Next youth league (e.g. Bethesda or Alexandria) is the next best place to be---it's where a non-MLS academy player will get the most visibility to the MLS academy.

You'd think, but not really. With the current schedule, DC United's U15 and U17 academy teams play Bethesda and Alexandria exactly once each in a 10-month season. Yes, that is more than zero times, but not what you were probably thinking. No one from Alexandria's team is going to get an MLS Next Pro offer based on that one game a year.

I see. I don't have experience in MLS Next and I just assumed that all teams in MLS Next compete against other MLS Next teams on a regular basis; it sounds like what you're describing is almost a two-tiered MSL Next league, where the MLS Academy teams mostly play each other, and the non-MLS Academy teams mostly play each other, with less-frequent matchups between MLS Academy teams and non-MLS Academy teams. Still, it's at least some exposure to MLS for those players at Bethesda and Alexandria etc.

ProRel wrote:I know the question was about leagues, not clubs, but DCU has a program in place with several local clubs feeds players into their academy system.

https://www.dcunited.com/club/pathway2pro#:~:text=This%20exciting%20partnership%20with%20D.C.,in%20their%20own%20community%20club.

Interesting - thanks.

I know the question was about leagues, not clubs, but DCU has a program in place with several local clubs feeds players into their academy system.

https://www.dcunited.com/club/pathway2pro#:~:text=This%20exciting%20partnership%20with%20D.C.,in%20their%20own%20community%20club.

Cruzado wrote:
Sure, playing for one of the MLS academy teams (e.g. DC United) is the best place to be in order to make it to the MLS / Next Pro.

I would guess, however, that playing for one of the non-MLS academy teams in the MLS Next youth league (e.g. Bethesda or Alexandria) is the next best place to be---it's where a non-MLS academy player will get the most visibility to the MLS academy.

You'd think, but not really. With the current schedule, DC United's U15 and U17 academy teams play Bethesda and Alexandria exactly once each in a 10-month season. Yes, that is more than zero times, but not what you were probably thinking. No one from Alexandria's team is going to get an MLS Next Pro offer based on that one game a year.

DCUdad wrote:

anonimouswon wrote:MLSNext is mainly for players looking to go pro especially with MLS creating the MLSNext Pro league which provides a full path to MLS. This doesn't mean colleges don't recruit from MLS Next teams, they do, but traditionally Academy (now MLS Next) is where you want to be to play at the highest level.

This is not really true. Non-MLS academies that play in the MLS Next youth league (think Bethesda or Armour) don't put you any closer to playing in the new MLS Next Pro league, which is essentially a league made up of the reserve teams of full MLS teams. The similar names of the leagues, and their marketing, make it seem this way; but it is not so. If you want to make the reserve team of an MLS side, you need to be on the MLS team's academy (think DC United or Phil Union), not a different academy in the same league. There may be a tiny handful of exceptions, but they are just that.

Sure, playing for one of the MLS academy teams (e.g. DC United) is the best place to be in order to make it to the MLS / Next Pro.

I would guess, however, that playing for one of the non-MLS academy teams in the MLS Next youth league (e.g. Bethesda or Alexandria) is the next best place to be---it's where a non-MLS academy player will get the most visibility to the MLS academy.

anonimouswon wrote:MLSNext is mainly for players looking to go pro especially with MLS creating the MLSNext Pro league which provides a full path to MLS. This doesn't mean colleges don't recruit from MLS Next teams, they do, but traditionally Academy (now MLS Next) is where you want to be to play at the highest level.

This is not really true. Non-MLS academies that play in the MLS Next youth league (think Bethesda or Armour) don't put you any closer to playing in the new MLS Next Pro league, which is essentially a league made up of the reserve teams of full MLS teams. The similar names of the leagues, and their marketing, make it seem this way; but it is not so. If you want to make the reserve team of an MLS side, you need to be on the MLS team's academy (think DC United or Phil Union), not a different academy in the same league. There may be a tiny handful of exceptions, but they are just that.

If you want to play at a D1 school, play for a club that sends a lot of boys to D1 schools, and be one of the better players on that team. Some of these are in MLS Next (again, Bethesda or Armour) and some are in ECNL (Arlington, Celtic). Other clubs in each league don't have the same track record of sending kids to D1 programs. Look at their web sites or social media. It's more about the clubs than the league.

anonimouswon wrote:if your son is an American, it's highly unlikely they'll ever make it to MLS or greater. Sorry, but that's just the reality of it.

Fixed that for you. Ever see the starting 11 on an MLS team? Not many Americans.

Novaball wrote:How drastic is the difference in recruiting between MLSNext and ECNL? DS currently plays for an MLSNext club, but is not inclined to give up the chance to play for his high school.

MLSNext is mainly for players looking to go pro especially with MLS creating the MLSNext Pro league which provides a full path to MLS. This doesn't mean colleges don't recruit from MLS Next teams, they do, but traditionally Academy (now MLS Next) is where you want to be to play at the highest level.

ECNL Boys is mainly for players looking to play in college. I'd say the level of play overall in the league is a step down from MLS Next. If your son is playing at a very high level in ECNL, you should highly consider moving him to an MLS Next team. ECNL really isn't geared to provide a path to the pro-level. Again, it can happen ending up as a pro, but there is no clear path in the ECNL organization to going pro.

I wouldn't even consider EDP if your kid can play at the MLS Next or ECNL level.

Most of all you need to know what is your son's goals with soccer? Which will help determine which direction to go. Honestly, by U15 whether you're in MLS Next or ECNL, if your son isn't being recruited by an MLS Pro Club to play on their MLS Next U15 team it's highly unlikely they'll ever make it to MLS or greater. Sorry, but that's just the reality of it.

How drastic is the difference in recruiting between MLSNext and ECNL? DS currently plays for an MLSNext club, but is not inclined to give up the chance to play for his high school.

SoccerSkeptic wrote:So Divisions 3 and 4 are EDP, but 1 and 2 are not? But Div 1 and 2 are on the EDP website, just in some random spot on the website. Foolproof!

Now I just think you’re being difficult for the sake of being difficult. Or you just don’t truly understand the difference.

So Divisions 3 and 4 are EDP, but 1 and 2 are not? But Div 1 and 2 are on the EDP website, just in some random spot on the website. Foolproof!