ECNL-DA club jumping season is upon us

[Unregistered]

Not justifying anything. FL games were showcases (and North Carolina [before it was cancelled] and San Diego). GA was an outlier (you'd have to understand how the Cup competition works to understand).


Not for nothing, but when we were in NPL, I went to Ohio, Colorado, Virginia, Florida, and Kansas (with our futsal team).

"Cup" is basically regular season. Stop justifying it.

[Unregistered]

NE GDA has it far better than any other conference other than So Cal. Look at the GDA map for the frontier or SE conference. Total joke of a travel schedule. That’s at the top of the list of reasons why it is about to implode.

As previously mentioned there are 3 high quality DA and 3 high quality ECNL clubs right here in New England. If cooler heads prevailed and the owners of these clubs convened into one league the region could produce some of the most efficient and skilled players/teams in the country. Have all of these owners ever tried to meet and discuss this possibility?

[Unregistered]

No one wants to be in the same room as one of them, so very much doubt it.

[Unregistered]

As previously mentioned there are 3 high quality DA and 3 high quality ECNL clubs right here in New England. If cooler heads prevailed and the owners of these clubs convened into one league the region could produce some of the most efficient and skilled players/teams in the country. Have all of these owners ever tried to meet and discuss this possibility?

Before GDA started USSF and ECNL tried to work out a deal but they couldn't reach one. Clubs cant go rogue because of league politics but they are allowed to play scrimmages if they want. Problem is many times they won't want to because if they lose it plays into the narrative that one league or local club is better/worse than another

[Unregistered]

"Cup" is basically regular season. Stop justifying it.

No, it's not. It's evident you don't understand how Cup competition works, specifically here.

But, since you are so interested, I'll explain in some detail:

* The Cup competition was put in to provide additional "meaningful" games, with a group bracket and then knock-out stages later on.

* To make it most beneficial (and to eliminate travel), the groups were supposed to be localized.

* Where it fell apart this year was in an effort to make it easier for the Clubs' travel, every age group would compete against another's Club. The issue that occurred in the NE area is Seacoast didn't have a U18/19 team. So, that eliminated them from the entire competition. This happened to a few clubs, so NEFC was grouped with Tophat and had to travel. That sucked. Oakwood played them at home.

* That issue is hopefully addressed and won't occur next year. Frankly, USSoccer f'ed that one up.

[Unregistered]

Before GDA started USSF and ECNL tried to work out a deal but they couldn't reach one. Clubs cant go rogue because of league politics but they are allowed to play scrimmages if they want. Problem is many times they won't want to because if they lose it plays into the narrative that one league or local club is better/worse than another

Correct. In a room full of egos neither was willing to allow the other to be top. If ECNL truly cared about their clientele, they'd do as the OP suggested and GDA in the N'East would be done tomorrow.

[Unregistered]

Won’t happen next year because Top Hat is ECNL bound.

[Unregistered]

New Leadership at USSF. Maybe there is hope for a reset.
What would you propose?

[Unregistered]

Kill the GDA. Have the ECNL take the top 10-12 GDA clubs. Everyone else goes to NPL.

USSF can have expended regional pools where they pull the top players together (from what ever league they play in) several times per year for camps. Pretty easy really.

[Unregistered]

New Leadership at USSF. Maybe there is hope for a reset.
What would you propose?

I wish I knew. For them to truly impact ECNL, their overall philosophy needs to change. By that, I mean they are taking control of the player's entire development. First, let me say I am not advocating for it one way or the other, so nobody come at me on this...

But, they want to take a player in the fall. Test them to they have a baseline of where they are at. They then institute a program where they are testing them mid-year and end of the year to see if their program improved the player. Physical, mental, tactical, technical.

By eliminating outside influences (i.e. HS, other competitions), trying to advocate for a similar style of play, and adhering as much as possible to the 4-1 practice-game ratio, they have a level playing field across all the clubs. They can utilize that to enhance a program which would grow all players across the board.

So, with all that being said....if they want to allow HS (for example) it will "soil" their results - I don't mean that to be a negative, just that it puts in a data set that is not consistent).

They would need to backtrack from their overall philosophy before anything else can be discussed. Interesting to see if they consider this "experiment" and it's mixed results worth scrapping or changing.

(GDA Parent)

[Unregistered]

Kill the GDA. Have the ECNL take the top 10-12 GDA clubs. Everyone else goes to NPL.

USSF can have expended regional pools where they pull the top players together (from what ever league they play in) several times per year for camps. Pretty easy really.

Way too restrictive. Too many quality players would be eliminated from the playing pool with that proposal.

[Unregistered]

How so? Draw top players for camp from wherever you find them, ECNL or NPL. Please explain.

[Unregistered]

How so? Draw top players for camp from wherever you find them, ECNL or NPL. Please explain.

There are way more than 10-12 clubs who could/should be in ECNL. Now, if you wanted to drop the bottom 1/3 of ECNL and add in the top 1/3 of GDA, that's a discussion.

[Unregistered]

You understand how business works I assume? The ecnl clubs are license holders and none will be dropped.

To put it bluntly, GDA played the power game and lost. The clubs who chose GDA over ECNL (NEFC) chose wrong. IMO ECNL are going to cherry pick who they want and the rest will be forced back into NPL as their top platform.

[Unregistered]

You understand how business works I assume? The ecnl clubs are license holders and none will be dropped.

To put it bluntly, GDA played the power game and lost. The clubs who chose GDA over ECNL (NEFC) chose wrong. IMO ECNL are going to cherry pick who they want and the rest will be forced back into NPL as their top platform.

I understand how business works. Doesn't mean I have to agree with ECNL's philosophy, either. It only hinders development if you aren't going to drop the crap teams out just because they have a license. If you are going to concentrate on results. It enforces the travel that is unnecessary.

But, if business is booming - that's all that matters. Right?