NY MLS next is becoming a joke

[Guest]

What is the point of only accepting two years into MLS Next? (U13 and U14)

Clearly a trial run for the club, but what happens to kids who move to DUSC for MLS Next in those age brackets but then have to switch clubs again at U15? Seems like a pain.

Isn't that what happened with FA Euro? They still only have it for U13 and U14?

[Guest]

Before MLS NEXT, the developmental academy (DA) system, overseen by US Soccer, charged each team a significant league fee for participation. However, professional MLS NEXT academies questioned this practice, leading to the creation of MLS NEXT. Under MLS NEXT, these non-MLS academies contribute league fees, which serve as stipends for operating professional MLS NEXT academies, ensuring their sustainability and growth. Why pay when you can get paid.

[Guest]

The problem is the board that votes on who gets mls next status is all current mls next teams. It's a corrupt rigged system. So do you really think gotchee, met oval, nycfc etc are going to vote for a club in central LI to get mls next status. No. All these clubs would lose many many of their players because of the travel alone. And that LI club would probably almost immediately become the strongest NY mls next club. So instead they all make deals with each other and squeeze 8 mls next academies all within 10 miles of each other.

This is another dumb poster who knows nothing. MLS Next the organization leadership accepts applications and interviews potential clubs, the current MLS Next clubs have no say in who is admitted to the MLS Next league. If you look at the MLS Next strategy it is focused on expanding in urban areas with a strong focus on making the game accessible, technical standards and facilities are a must. Who is that on LI? SUSA? They are married to ECNL.

What are you talking about?

[Guest]

This is another dumb poster who knows nothing. MLS Next the organization leadership accepts applications and interviews potential clubs, the current MLS Next clubs have no say in who is admitted to the MLS Next league. If you look at the MLS Next strategy it is focused on expanding in urban areas with a strong focus on making the game accessible, technical standards and facilities are a must. Who is that on LI? SUSA? They are married to ECNL.

What are you talking about?

Exactly. Looking to expand to urban areas. So why not LI. I know 2 very large LI cubs that applied that have A licensed coaches and facilities and very strong teams. Stronger then those MLSN teams. So why yet another club in the city. FC Westchester is terrible because any player that is good just goes to LISC instead. Gotchee met oval and nycfc are scared of losing their LI talent pool to an LI based MLSN club because parents don't wanna spend 8 hours a week driving to queens. MlSN is watered down. Years ago nycfc used to be a powerhouse because of kess clubs. Now they haven't sold a player since Scally took over and their home grown players are on the B team

[Guest]

Honestly if you are a long island parent traveling to any MLSN club besides NYCFC you are wasting your time. Nycfc is the top of the pyramid

[Guest]

What is the point of only accepting two years into MLS Next? (U13 and U14)

Clearly a trial run for the club, but what happens to kids who move to DUSC for MLS Next in those age brackets but then have to switch clubs again at U15? Seems like a pain.

Isn't that what happened with FA Euro? They still only have it for U13 and U14?

FA Euro u13 and u14 is pretty weak in these age groups also. Now add DUSC to this age group. I dont see the point

[Guest]

FA Euro u13 and u14 is pretty weak in these age groups also. Now add DUSC to this age group. I dont see the point

Well presumably the point is to get more exposure for top players, who might not otherwise be in MLS Next. I don't think most of those players are coming from the DUSC and FA Euro NAL teams. I think FA Euro filled its MLS Next teams with outside recruits, and presumably DUSC will do the same. Perhaps picking off a few MLS Next players from other area clubs, or top players from other area teams.

BUT, it just seems so unfriendly to the players for them to join these MLS Next teams and then age out and have to leave the clubs or stay with the clubs and step down in competition. Lots of chaos in what is already a pretty chaotic youth soccer world from the player/family perspective.

[Guest]

Honestly if you are a long island parent traveling to any MLSN club besides NYCFC you are wasting your time. Nycfc is the top of the pyramid

Such a myopic perspective. Not everybody is chasing professional dreams.

Depending where you live and what your options are, BWG and MO MLSN offer good competition for strong soccer players to have a productive teenage experience. Yes there are also strong clubs on LI, but all depends on what opportunities you actually have.

[Guest]

Remember that the real MLSN Academies use these clubs as practice cones and for recruitment. A U14 DUSC club team will end up playing the NYCFC 11-12 year olds.

[Guest]

Will DUSC's U13 and U14 teams continue the following year as U14 and U15 teams respectively - then they will add a new U13 team etc. etc. until they have teams across all age groups for MLSN??

[Guest]

Remember that the real MLSN Academies use these clubs as practice cones and for recruitment. A U14 DUSC club team will end up playing the NYCFC 11-12 year olds.

This is correct. MLSN is basically just a league for nycfc to get an easier look at players from these other clubs. So why not surround nycfc with 7 other mlsn clubs

[Guest]

Will DUSC's U13 and U14 teams continue the following year as U14 and U15 teams respectively - then they will add a new U13 team etc. etc. until they have teams across all age groups for MLSN??

I'm a DUSC parent. Teams always shuffle every year in these clubs. But if you look at the MLS Next roster, several clubs still only have a patchwork of years and do not yet have the full pathway. Maybe the long-term plan is for all clubs to have all years, maybe not. That is no doubt part of the political decisions that nobody here really knows about.

But who knows if DUSC (or any other club with partial MLSN) gets the full pathway while your kid is of the right age!

[Guest]

Well presumably the point is to get more exposure for top players, who might not otherwise be in MLS Next. I don't think most of those players are coming from the DUSC and FA Euro NAL teams. I think FA Euro filled its MLS Next teams with outside recruits, and presumably DUSC will do the same. Perhaps picking off a few MLS Next players from other area clubs, or top players from other area teams.

BUT, it just seems so unfriendly to the players for them to join these MLS Next teams and then age out and have to leave the clubs or stay with the clubs and step down in competition. Lots of chaos in what is already a pretty chaotic youth soccer world from the player/family perspective.

This issue with this is that the well of quality players to fill these teams is running dry, as seen already with the 3-4 lower end MLSN clubs in the area. Now they have to try and fill yet another team in the area

[Guest]

This issue with this is that the well of quality players to fill these teams is running dry, as seen already with the 3-4 lower end MLSN clubs in the area. Now they have to try and fill yet another team in the area

Depends how you think about MLSN. And perhaps that speaks to the bifurcated nature of the league.

Yes, if you just want to identify players for the pro academies and field teams that can compete with the pro academies, expansion is an inefficient way of doing that. But that's an extremely narrow definition of 'quality' players.

If you want to raise the level of soccer for the best non-pro-pathway kids, there is room to do that. My kid plays in NAL, and has scrimmaged with MLS Next non-pro academy teams, so gotten a taste. From what I see, most of the NAL clubs have at least a few kids (sometimes more) who could play on a higher level. If you sucked all of them out of the NAL (or other area leagues), you could get more of the top kids competing at higher levels, which many of them want. Of course that would deplete talent in NAL and other area leagues. Everything has tradeoffs.

[Guest]

For years World Class only had DA up to U14, and they were fielding very strong teams that were beating a lot of the top clubs and including RB/NYCFC. They were never given the older ages, so those teams went to NPL and the top kids ended up going to the MLS Academies or NYSC, FCW or CSA. There's no reason to believe that this will play out differently for the clubs that only have the youngest ages. After that they want to encourage aggregation to keep the level sufficiently high.