Goal Scoring Streaks in the Development Academy

Inspired by a tweet by Albert Chia from Dallas Cup, here is a post on some of the players who are lighting up the Development Academy with their scoring recently.

Kekuta Manneh – Texas Rush U16

The Gambian youngster has eight goals in his last four games (excluding the FC Dallas game on Sunday). The hot-streak brings his total on the season to 27 goals in 17 starts. A very impressive number considering Soony Saad was the only player in the Development Academy to score that many goals last year. Texas Rush is tied for first in the Texas Division with three games remaining on the schedule.

Christian Thierjung – Irvine Strikers U16

The streaky winger has been the only player close to Manneh in the goal-scoring race recently with 9 goals in his last five games. Thierjung only had six goals in his previous 17 games prior to this crazy streak. The Strikers U16 team is 3 points back of the automatic playoff spot with six games remaining. They will depend on their talented winger to keep his hot streak alive and carry the Strikers into the playoffs.

Villyan Bijev – Cal Odyssey U18

The U.S. U18 forward is a natural born goal scorer. Last year, he had 18 goals in Development Academy play. This year, he is up to 18 already with a handful of game remaining on the schedule. [Bijev will miss a few of those games while on national team duty in Portugal.] He has 5 goals in his last 5 games. The hot streak has propelled Cal Odyssey to the top of the Northwest Division with three division games remaining.

Dylan Kelly – Real Salt Lake–Arizona U16

Kelly has scored in nine games in a row and brought his season total up to 19 goals in 18 games. The streak began in late February and has lasted into mid-May for the 16-year-old forward. Kelly has seven games left on the schedule to add to the tally and push the RSL residency program into the playoffs.

Nick Palodichuk plays for Portland Timbers?!

Nick Palodichuk, a member of the Seattle Sounders youth academy, contributed one assist (and one yellow card) in the Portland Timbers U23 6-0 win over Washington Crossfire in PDL action on Sunday.

Palodichuk has not played with the Sounders U18 team since December due to his early enrollment at Duke University for the spring semester that started in January.

His participation in the spring season for the Blue Devils men's soccer team made the Sounders Academy player ineligible for Development Academy play for the rest of the season. Development Academy rules prevent college players from playing in the league, a rule that was recently in the news when Pateadores were caught using two players who had already played at a junior college in California.

Palodichuk’s attachment to the Sounders organization is still under question as the player left the club before the one-year period was up required for home grown status. Sounders Academy Technical Director Darren Sawatzky was optimistic that Palodichuk would qualify for the status because the same coaching staff was with him when he was part of the Washington Premier Academy. As of March, MLS has yet to inform Seattle if Palodichuk would be eligible for a Home Grown contract.

The former U.S. U17 midfielder had his hand forced for where to play during the summer though, as the Sounders do not have a PDL franchise but their rivals to the south do. The Portland Timbers U23 team has been successful in recent years with the 2010 PDL National Championship to show for it. The squad is led by University of Washington forward Brent Richards who was one of the top scorers in the nation last year and opened his 2011 account with a hat trick against Crossfire. Playing for a PDL franchise attached to an MLS club has no effect on the player’s future draft eligibility.

Richards and Palodichuk return to their stomping grounds in Seattle this weekend to square off against local PDL franchise Kitsap Pumas.

Enigma No More – Development Academy Bids Adieu to High School Soccer

On Wednesday, U.S. Soccer announced that two more Development Academy Divisions, Texas and Northwest, would move to a 10-month schedule and eliminate high school soccer for those players. This comes on the heels of decision from the SoCal Division to cut off CIF [high school] and go to a one-game per weekend schedule over 10-months.

There was really no mystery behind these moves, U.S. Soccer and the clubs realized that while high school soccer was a great social activity for the players, there was no value for the development of players. It is a harsh reality for many to think that high school soccer is so meaningless, but club soccer for years has been at the forefront of collegiate scouting and high school soccer has been nothing more than bragging rights.

With three divisions moving to the 10-month schedule, likely others will follow as the quest to reach a level playing field with fellow Development Academies will push other regions to follow suit. The Liberty Division is a likely destination to also get rid of high school soccer. NYRB, in the past, has attempted to expedite studies so the academy players could graduate ahead of schedule and join the full team training. Ridding the players of the obligation to play with the school team will also improve their training.

The question now becomes how to view high school soccer beyond a novelty. Local papers are still going to treat the high school game like the big game in town because they are unaware that the best players are no longer on the high school team. Hence, the perception still may be greater than the product while the dust settles on this cultural change.

That said there are still plenty of players in this country and high school soccer is going to offer an opportunity for those players to gain exposure. The high school game remains more prominent in terms of media coverage, awards, and other distinctions despite the appeal of club soccer for future professional ambitions. Perhaps with a less crowded pool, some more talent will emerge through this avenue . . . that made just be wishful thinking though.

Development Academy, while developing an appeal in the online news spectrum, has yet to reach print media in any consistent form and the major online outlets are hesitant to dive into coverage at all.

It will take more than just taking players away from high school soccer to change that line of thinking, but the greater concern was amount of games and training – both of those will likely improve. The rest will hopefully follow suit in time.

Dallas Cup XXXII

On Sunday, Dallas Cup kicked off in Frisco, Texas. I am in town covering the event for Goal.com, so make sure to check there for all my game reports, features, and interviews. I am going to use the blog for more general thoughts about the competition and some teams.

FC Dallas Academy (both U-16 and U-18) were very impressive on the day. Beyond the result over Barcelona, it was the quality of their play. They are good in tight spaces, and they have good athleticism all over the field to beat teams on the break.

• For the U-16 team, there was never a doubt about the result. Perhaps Barrio Mexico was jet-lagged or nervous? But from the opening kick-off, the local side took the game to the team from Costa Rica. FC Dallas' midfielders love to possess the ball and they show for it constantly. Something that some players do well, but rarely see so many players do it well at this age. Offensively, I think they have better fluidity than the U-18 team, but they often send too many players forward and are left spread out far too often. Barrio Mexico had a few chances on the break against them, but Dallas' superior athleticism shut down many chances. I had high expectations for forward Bobby Edet, but I was a bit disappointed. He is fast - there is no denying that - but he doesn't seem to be on the same page technically as most of his teammates.
• The U-18 side was stronger and faster than Barca's Juvenil B side. Jonathan Top played really well up front. I have had bad luck with Top in the past as he seems to always pick up an injury when I go to scout him, but today I was pleasantly surprised. Good touch and a good instinct in the attacking third. I have some interviews with some of the members of the U-18 team, so I should have them on Goal.com sometime in the coming days. Basically, they want to win Super Group is the over theme. That might be easier said than done as Arsenal looked really good in the nightcap.

Vancouver Whitecaps U-18 academy had probably the most surprising result of the day. Daniel Robertson of BigDSoccer and TopDrawerSoccer said that there has only been one Brazilian team that has entered the tournament and not won it. So a victory over Corinthians for the Canada academy was a massive result. The first goal of the game (the only one I caught) was a bit awkward as a corner was driven into the box, but then the wind caught hold of it and pushed it into the net. The corner kick taker, Ben Fisk, went on to pick up two other goals on his way to a hat trick. I thought defensive midfielder Kevin Cobby played well. Tigres v Vancouver should be a good one tomorrow.

I think I will do a more general run down of the results tomorrow instead of gamers for every game. Also, I should have a feature on one U.S. team up on Goal.com later this week or next week.

U.S. Youth Soccer News From January

Americans Josh Gatt and Sean Cunningham both join Molde FK of Norway. Both were products of Derby Country Wolves and played on the SuperElite Summer tour. SuperElite technical director Jon Spencer said that next summer’s tour will be mostly ‘93s and it doesn’t look like any college players will make the trip.

U.S. Youth National Team News:

U.S. U17s go 1-0-1 in CONCACAF Championship warm-up

Kelyn Rowe impresses at U20 camp 

Hurzeler makes debut with U20s

US to host 2012 Olympic Qualifiers

Yanks Abroad:

Former Dallas Texan Conor Doyle says he is undecided about international future

Former Irvine Striker Bobby Wood makes his 1860 Munich debut

Former Derby County Wolf Soony Saad leaves Michigan, goes on trial in Europe

St John’s Erik Opsahl signs with Reading on the last day of the transfer period

MLS news:

American U20 striker Omar Salgado is the first pick in 2011 MLS SuperDraft 

Training center invites eight Revolution players

Greg Vanney leaves RSL-AZ to join Robin Fraser at Chivas USA; Mike Munoz replaces him. 

Home grown contracts everywhere:

Jack McBean signs home grown contract with LA Galaxy

Jonathan Top signs home grown contract with FC Dallas

Matt Kassel and Sacir Hot sign home grown contracts with Red Bull New York

Josue Soto and Alex Dixon sign home grown contracts with Houston Dynamo

College:

Akron’s Darlington Nagbe wins the MAC Hermann Trophy

MLSsoccer’s Travis Clark looks at the role of college soccer