Great YouTube video about state of girls ECNL and how to fix it

[Guest]

Agree it is weak in Oregon. Oregon ECNL is prioritizing winning over development in the younger age groups. By the time the kids are u16 they won’t have the technical and tactical skills to be successful. The “Bella bruiser” and boot ball style no longer work.

NWE won a lot at the younger years and now their team got throttled at surf. 0-3 and 1-14 goal difference

this isn’t new news. It’s the same reason why fc Portland folded their top teams, thorns can’t seem to keep older teams together and they are horrible at the oldest ages and NWE is hit and miss if their team can actually graduate.

[Guest]

Which Oregon clubs play ecnl?

[Guest]

Which Oregon clubs play ecnl?

On the boys side, isn’t it just United PDX?

[Guest]

On the boys side, isn’t it just United PDX?

Yes, UPDX is the only ECNL team in OR for boys. For girls its Thorns Academy and NWE. UPDX girls are playing in ECRL with the hopes of making ECNL next year.

[Guest]

Playing quick or running with the ball isn’t the issue at hand. Nor is physicality that some teams play with the true issue should be what is allowed and what is not allowed and what is the proper to teach players and parents the rules. Learning to value the ball and being good with it is amazing! so is being fit and being able to do your job off the ball. 3 phases of the game is geared towards running without the ball so some teams focus on those 3 phases thus they don’t look good on the ball, but they’re still to compete and win games because they’re rockstars in other phases of the game. Now going back to contact most players here aren’t able to cleanly win the ball back. You’d barely see any player use their hands to initiate contact everyone here dives in feet first (especially in Girls Soccer). Second players can barely differentiate between a clean contact, contact that is a foul, and contact that’s just a cheap shot. Even in the Mexican leagues players know not to go for the knees or any body part that will cause potential long term harm. Players are always communicating to the ref about severity of contact if they ever deem a challenge too harsh or severe they’ll rush the bruiser while this can lead to misconduct but players quickly learn what is allowed and what is not. Rn if a player is a bruiser there’s no system that will teach them the consequences of their actions. Red and yellow cards are part of the game and players don’t necessarily think back on them too much nowadays. To fix this either allow players to express their anger which will be too chaotic, or go the futsal/Basketball route where each has certain number of fouls per half then unopposed free kick for each foul after the 6th foul.

[Guest]

How hard is it to get into ECNL? Didn’t realize UPDX is the only Oregon club on boys’ side in ECNL.

[Guest]

How hard is it to get into ECNL? Didn’t realize UPDX is the only Oregon club on boys’ side in ECNL.

It's always been easy to sign up for a US Club league, writing the check for useless travel is not easy for anyone with an IQ over 6.

Cold Hard Disposable Cash is the only requirement and very few brain cells.

[Guest]

It's always been easy to sign up for a US Club league, writing the check for useless travel is not easy for anyone with an IQ over 6.

Cold Hard Disposable Cash is the only requirement and very few brain cells.

So true. ECRL is an even bigger scam. Let’s play teams that are no better than silver division OYSA teams, but let’s also pay multiple thousands of dollars a month to travel for the privilege to do it. Just to try and get into the coveted ECNL. Which is also a major scam for the bottom 60% of the clubs involved. Those clubs are known as sparring partners/training cones for the top 40%.

[Guest]

Playing quick or running with the ball isn’t the issue at hand. Nor is physicality that some teams play with the true issue should be what is allowed and what is not allowed and what is the proper to teach players and parents the rules. Learning to value the ball and being good with it is amazing! so is being fit and being able to do your job off the ball. 3 phases of the game is geared towards running without the ball so some teams focus on those 3 phases thus they don’t look good on the ball, but they’re still to compete and win games because they’re rockstars in other phases of the game. Now going back to contact most players here aren’t able to cleanly win the ball back. You’d barely see any player use their hands to initiate contact everyone here dives in feet first (especially in Girls Soccer). Second players can barely differentiate between a clean contact, contact that is a foul, and contact that’s just a cheap shot. Even in the Mexican leagues players know not to go for the knees or any body part that will cause potential long term harm. Players are always communicating to the ref about severity of contact if they ever deem a challenge too harsh or severe they’ll rush the bruiser while this can lead to misconduct but players quickly learn what is allowed and what is not. Rn if a player is a bruiser there’s no system that will teach them the consequences of their actions. Red and yellow cards are part of the game and players don’t necessarily think back on them too much nowadays. To fix this either allow players to express their anger which will be too chaotic, or go the futsal/Basketball route where each has certain number of fouls per half then unopposed free kick for each foul after the 6th foul.

This is all very true. Would just add that in the US and particularly at some clubs in Oregon, instead of focusing on true technique and mastery of the ball, players are taught to lower shoulders and knock players off the ball. It’s like a mix of soccer and rugby. It’s very tough to watch because it kills the grace and beauty of the game. When it’s played at the highest level soccer is an amazing mix of skill, grace, precision and unreal ball movement. When it’s dumbed down to just knocking people down it is a pretty annoying and stupid game. Frustrating to see the ball just bounce around due to lack of true ball skills and footwork. I wish more coaches would wake up to this fact.

you can win games by preventing your opponent from scoring, but man does it look ugly and it is far from anything resembling the beautiful game played around the world.

Imagine if the NFL allowed every player to hold and be offsides, hit receivers anytime they wanted to, etc. It would be infuriating….yeah that’s basically what is happening with US youth soccer.

[Guest]

Girls Academy league is way better. More possession based playing and less direct play and bruteness.

[Guest]

Girls Academy league is way better. More possession based playing and less direct play and bruteness.

Uh, you're kidding right? The vast majority on the US National Teams are ECNL players. Sure there are a couple GA teams that could compete in ECNL, but very very few would even be lower tier in ECNL.

[Guest]

Uh, you're kidding right? The vast majority on the US National Teams are ECNL players. Sure there are a couple GA teams that could compete in ECNL, but very very few would even be lower tier in ECNL.

This is really inaccurate. ECNL is terrible for most of the teams involved including around here. Just look at fc Portland. Ruined their club. I don’t think you know anything beyond what someone lied to you about. You ll learn soon enough.

[Guest]

the 2 clubs here have a very low D1 ratio. And UPDX/PCU/Westside and others have more D1’s than Thorns and NWE. Especially on the boys side

The 05 UPDX girls team JUST got a player to a D1 school and thats the first time they ever have, EVER! And guess what she's a walk on at gonzaga. She won't even play. NWElite on their current 05 team have 4 D1 commits themselves. Thorns have at least 3 or 4. Where did you get your info if you don't mind me asking?

[Guest]

The 05 UPDX girls team JUST got a player to a D1 school and thats the first time they ever have, EVER! And guess what she's a walk on at gonzaga. She won't even play. NWElite on their current 05 team have 4 D1 commits themselves. Thorns have at least 3 or 4. Where did you get your info if you don't mind me asking?

I apologize, NWElite has 5 D1 commits. My bad.

[Guest]

Girls Academy league is way better. More possession based playing and less direct play and bruteness.

I concur