Other than Sounders/Timbers Academy, there's no other clubs in the MLS Next. It's a bit strange. In some other regions of the country, the first team competes in the MLS Next, second team competes in ECNL, and third team in the EA or ECRL or other leagues. Essentially, our regional top clubs are relegated to the second division by default.
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Not enough teams to field a competitive mls league without significant travel.Originally posted by Guest View Post
The question is why do you want more mls next teams in the northwest? -
There aren't even enough teams to field competitive ECNL leagues. The drop off after XF, SU, EFC, WPFC has been steep.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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MLS next isn't the top league at U-19, likely U-15 and 17. Most MLS teams are dropping U-19 for their silly reserve league.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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But for the kids who inspires to be scouted by the college coach, playing at the second division (ECNL) will reduce exposure opportunity significantly. A lot of showcase and playoff are playing at the same dates for MLS Next and ECNL on purpose. If I am the coach, I will definitely go to MLS Next to scout, or at least the majority of time. There are plenty of kids to select, really no need to go to ECNL playoff or EA playoff.
If there are couple MLS Next team fielded up in our region, they will have first-move advantage. A lot of U15 and U17 kids will go there to get more opportunity.Comment
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You are dead wrong. Most of the best U-19 players in MLS next are signed to the reserve league. Why would you scout a bunch of soph/Jr's who are about to be cut. I can tell you there was virtually every major college at the ECNL playoffs and for U-19 they are 100% not a 2nd place league. My son's team beat every MLS next team they played in the last two years. If college is what you are aspiring to play the ECNL is a better pathway, nobody would argue that.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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I could be wrong, but reserve league is relatively small compared with MLS next. So only very top players (most likely already in MLS academy team anyway) will go that path. Take premier league analogy, Scouts will pay much more attention to average (or even below average) player in the premier league, rather than trying to pick someone in the second division league.
In the past, there was DA, there's not much difference. Now clearly many other big clubs used the tiered approach (MLS Next, then ECNL and then EA). Our Northwest clubs in ECNL only will be in disadvantage.
Your son's team beat every MLS Next team won't change coach's perspective. Playoffs and Showcase usually and intentionally take place at the same time and coach can only go to one place. Even if they know your son's team is great, they probably would like to spend time on the MLS field with many more strong first teams, rather than just pay attention to only 1 or 2 good teams.Comment
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Hi my kid plays for crossfire and the college coaches have been calling us every week. My kid is only 7 but crossfire has created an environment for my kid to thrive. I love crossfire and everything it stands for, it’s such an inclusive place for my kid. My coach told us that our team is considered an MLS Next team, and next season many of the MLS teams from Texas and California will come to our zipfizz tournamentComment
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I think the reason we don't have an MLSNext division in the NW is really due to the fact we have a decent ECNL boys division. With the DAs collapse, it seemed like an 80/20 split between MLSNext and ECNL. So there is a disparity in quality depending on region. I think the ECNL NW division is one of the stronger across the nation and because it's also compact (geographically), the cost is contained.
While I do think MLSNext is currently the top division across the nation, it's likely going to change when the MLS Academies are all fully up and running to the standards they are pursuing - at this time a number of the academies are not very good. Once they are up to snuff, I'm certain they'll pull their teams out of MLSNext (like they did with the reserve teams). Then the future of MLSNext is tough to see.
As for the 'recruiting' at U18/19, yes the MLS Academies are releasing player or signing them to the reserve/first team. But that's normal. It doesn't mean that MLSNext isn't the top platform for collegiate recruiting. If you look at the top D1 programs, they have quite a few Academy players that didn't get signed. Some of which may go back into homegrown contracts prior to graduation. However, ECNL is a good platform as well.Comment
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If kids are still young like age of 7, it really doesn't matter much. A lot of things are likely to happen in the next few years. Just like DA was formed and then collapsed at the blink of eyes.
If the targeting college is in Northwest, like UW or Seattle U, it really doesn't matter either as the coach there know our own region well enough and our ECNL is the top flight.
If the targeting school is outside our region, things could get tricky. College coaches/scouts know MLSNext is the first division and might not have the time/resource for ECNL, which put our region in a disadvantage. Saw more and more clubs move to MLSNext, so the disparity will increase (until MLS Academy breaks out one day in the future)Comment
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You aren't getting it, MLS teams are not trying to create college players.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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Very correct. Creating a collegiate player is a loss of investment. The club needs three players from the Academy pretty much each year: 1. to the first team, 1. to the reserve team. 1 to sell.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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it's true for the MLS clubs (Creating a collegiate player is a loss of investment), but it's not true for most other clubs participating in the MLS Next. The are essentially the same as our NW region clubs. They prefer MLS Next over ECNL for 1). Get opportunity to play at the highest level possible league when against those Academy teams 2). able to get max exposure for the kids to the college scouts 3). As a result, get more marketing power to recruit younger kids.
They have no interest to develop kids into professional. If ECNL is a better platform, they will switch in no time. Unfortunately, it's the opposite trend and accelerating. ECNL league is left with those teams either there's NO MLSNext in the region or second team of those major clubs.Comment
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You hit the nail on the head with the amateur clubs not having much motivation to develop professional players. Until we get the solidarity payments rolling, we'll continue to have this issue.Originally posted by Guest View PostComment
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