Anonymous wrote:So why does Achilles have kids that are IDed at USYNT camps? Are the Achilles coaches close friends with the scouts? I mean who are the scouts?

Genuinely curious. Achilles seems to be a nobody club compared to other clubs who’ve been around much longer. Anyone know the back story of how they’ve been able to do this?

Anonymous wrote:So why does Achilles have kids that are IDed at USYNT camps? Are the Achilles coaches close friends with the scouts? I mean who are the scouts?

Genuinely curious. Achilles seems to be a nobody club compared to other clubs who’ve been around much longer. Anyone know the back story of how they’ve been able to do this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

The coaching focuses on individual development, yes. But they are also very rigid about the style of play they are teaching - which is possession based. That means you will get yelled at if you attempt to get out of a tight spot by hoofing the ball without thinking who’s there to receive it. Even the goalie gets yelled at for booting the ball instead of playing from the back. So they’re essentially trying to teach you to maintain possession/control under all sorts of pressure.

Which pretty means a lot of losses. But it also means the players develop very good technical skills that they can actually use in games. I mean the coaches will tell you that they don’t care about results, just player development.

Maybe that’s why DCU and USYNT IDs their players, because that level of technical skill and style of play is what they’re looking for.

If that means they don’t have well rounded coaching, I guess it is what it is.

For sure, you need to have your kids try out at all the other MLSNext clubs and make sure the coaching, culture, etc. would be a good fit for your DS. Achilles is not for everyone and it’s not trying to be. I’m sure there is a MLSNext club that is a good fit for anyone trying out. Especially in the DMV area.

Here's a secret. Feel free to verify.
All the top ranked academies in the world have extremely high points for individual development.
eg Ajax etc

Guess what, their teams while placing a heavy focus on individual development still win games and are competitive when they don't win.

If you are successfully developing individual players, collectively they are a strong group. So they aren't getting blown out on a weekly basis.

This thread focused on whether Achilles deserves to be in MLSNext and apparently it does not because it doesn’t actually have players who’ve made the USYNt past the regional ID sessions and because they don’t get results like clubs like Ajax.

Frankly, I don’t know how Achilles survives as it’s tiny compared to the other MLSNext clubs in the area and a pretty young club. Their second teams are not competitive. And its marketing is almost no existent. But it continues to exist much to the irritation of some of you all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

The coaching focuses on individual development, yes. But they are also very rigid about the style of play they are teaching - which is possession based. That means you will get yelled at if you attempt to get out of a tight spot by hoofing the ball without thinking who’s there to receive it. Even the goalie gets yelled at for booting the ball instead of playing from the back. So they’re essentially trying to teach you to maintain possession/control under all sorts of pressure.

Which pretty means a lot of losses. But it also means the players develop very good technical skills that they can actually use in games. I mean the coaches will tell you that they don’t care about results, just player development.

Maybe that’s why DCU and USYNT IDs their players, because that level of technical skill and style of play is what they’re looking for.

If that means they don’t have well rounded coaching, I guess it is what it is.

For sure, you need to have your kids try out at all the other MLSNext clubs and make sure the coaching, culture, etc. would be a good fit for your DS. Achilles is not for everyone and it’s not trying to be. I’m sure there is a MLSNext club that is a good fit for anyone trying out. Especially in the DMV area.

Here's a secret. Feel free to verify.
All the top ranked academies in the world have extremely high points for individual development.
eg Ajax etc

Guess what, their teams while placing a heavy focus on individual development still win games and are competitive when they don't win.

If you are successfully developing individual players, collectively they are a strong group. So they aren't getting blown out on a weekly basis.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

The coaching focuses on individual development, yes. But they are also very rigid about the style of play they are teaching - which is possession based. That means you will get yelled at if you attempt to get out of a tight spot by hoofing the ball without thinking who’s there to receive it. Even the goalie gets yelled at for booting the ball instead of playing from the back. So they’re essentially trying to teach you to maintain possession/control under all sorts of pressure.

Which pretty means a lot of losses. But it also means the players develop very good technical skills that they can actually use in games. I mean the coaches will tell you that they don’t care about results, just player development.

Maybe that’s why DCU and USYNT IDs their players, because that level of technical skill and style of play is what they’re looking for.

If that means they don’t have well rounded coaching, I guess it is what it is.

For sure, you need to have your kids try out at all the other MLSNext clubs and make sure the coaching, culture, etc. would be a good fit for your DS. Achilles is not for everyone and it’s not trying to be. I’m sure there is a MLSNext club that is a good fit for anyone trying out. Especially in the DMV area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

Note that Achilles doesn't have the 2009 age group in MLS Next and those kids are playing U16. That might also affect the win totals.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

The coaching focuses on individual development, yes. But they are also very rigid about the style of play they are teaching - which is possession based. That means you will get yelled at if you attempt to get out of a tight spot by hoofing the ball without thinking who’s there to receive it. Even the goalie gets yelled at for booting the ball instead of playing from the back. So they’re essentially trying to teach you to maintain possession/control under all sorts of pressure.

Which pretty means a lot of losses. But it also means the players develop very good technical skills that they can actually use in games. I mean the coaches will tell you that they don’t care about results, just player development.

Maybe that’s why DCU and USYNT IDs their players, because that level of technical skill and style of play is what they’re looking for.

If that means they don’t have well rounded coaching, I guess it is what it is.

For sure, you need to have your kids try out at all the other MLSNext clubs and make sure the coaching, culture, etc. would be a good fit for your DS. Achilles is not for everyone and it’s not trying to be. I’m sure there is a MLSNext club that is a good fit for anyone trying out. Especially in the DMV area.

Anonymous wrote:Take it for what it’s worth but I wish I had read all the threads in this forum prior to making the mistake of signing my son with Achilles. First of all, this is the most unorganized club we have been at, there’s no communication at all. Communication is so bad to the point that you’re going to games guessing which uniform you might wear for the game, but don’t dare to ask for that information because Sal will put you on the spot for asking that because according to him at this level “ players must be prepared and carry all their uniforms and change on field”, I understand his statement, but it’s silly that players are showing up with either purple, red or white uniform. The other factor with this club is the favoritism, it doesn’t matter how good your son is, if he’s new he will bench or not get invited to games. They will not bench a lot of these bad and slow players he has because according to Sal they’re the best players in the country because they play for Achilles, if doesn’t make since to lose almost every game if “they have the best players”... but they’ve been there for a while they get all playtime despite losing their games by 4-0 or up to 8-0. If you don’t believe what I’m saying just go to mls website and look at their scores, you can also see their scores for EDP teams and is same story, I’m not making anything up, I’m speaking facts. As far as fields go, get use to playing in different crop fields of Montgomery county, all small fields and small goals (no wonder we never scored any goals). The list could go on and on, but you will still have these parents that defend the club and think is the greatest thing after Amazon, and I can see why they think that, because their kids get playtime, but they might not even be able to make it into a different team. I was talking to one of the dad’s there he told me prior to Achilles he took his son to Bethesda and he was offered a spot on their 4th division team. He went to Achilles and he gets all the playtime but seeing him play you can tell he belongs in a fourth division team but is all about favoritism and that’s why they lose all their games for the most part. Lastly, if you want the biggest preak in town then go to Sal because that’s the most stubborn and arrogant coach I have met. He thinks he’s the greatest thing in soccer, truth is he only play one year for New York Red Bulls and that was his biggest accomplishment, so not much to brag about but if you talk to him you’ll think he just retired from Barcelona or Real Madrid. As I said in the beginning, take it for what’s worth.

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

The coaching focuses on individual development, yes. But they are also very rigid about the style of play they are teaching - which is possession based. That means you will get yelled at if you attempt to get out of a tight spot by hoofing the ball without thinking who’s there to receive it. Even the goalie gets yelled at for booting the ball instead of playing from the back. So they’re essentially trying to teach you to maintain possession/control under all sorts of pressure.

Which pretty means a lot of losses. But it also means the players develop very good technical skills that they can actually use in games. I mean the coaches will tell you that they don’t care about results, just player development.

Maybe that’s why DCU and USYNT IDs their players, because that level of technical skill and style of play is what they’re looking for.

If that means they don’t have well rounded coaching, I guess it is what it is.

For sure, you need to have your kids try out at all the other MLSNext clubs and make sure the coaching, culture, etc. would be a good fit for your DS. Achilles is not for everyone and it’s not trying to be. I’m sure there is a MLSNext club that is a good fit for anyone trying out. Especially in the DMV area.

But let's be honest. Club agnostic, "USYNT IDs" are based on Coaches recs almost exclusively

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.

The coaching focuses on individual development, yes. But they are also very rigid about the style of play they are teaching - which is possession based. That means you will get yelled at if you attempt to get out of a tight spot by hoofing the ball without thinking who’s there to receive it. Even the goalie gets yelled at for booting the ball instead of playing from the back. So they’re essentially trying to teach you to maintain possession/control under all sorts of pressure.

Which pretty means a lot of losses. But it also means the players develop very good technical skills that they can actually use in games. I mean the coaches will tell you that they don’t care about results, just player development.

Maybe that’s why DCU and USYNT IDs their players, because that level of technical skill and style of play is what they’re looking for.

If that means they don’t have well rounded coaching, I guess it is what it is.

For sure, you need to have your kids try out at all the other MLSNext clubs and make sure the coaching, culture, etc. would be a good fit for your DS. Achilles is not for everyone and it’s not trying to be. I’m sure there is a MLSNext club that is a good fit for anyone trying out. Especially in the DMV area.

Anonymous wrote:So I guess the people who say Achilles can't win games with good players are right.

That would mean the coaching is about specific individual skills and not well rounded.