Outsider question- UPDX and Timbers Boys ECNL

[Guest]

Orville Redenbacher in the house lol

[Guest]

Can confirm. Timbers VP canned after a few months on the job. Guess what club his kids play for?

Name names

[Guest]

This is all fake news. Can we go back to hating on UPDX because they play in ECNL and other clubs don’t? That was way more fun

[Guest]

Orville Redenbacher in the house lol

This board has gone to far, leave Orville out of it. He is just trying to make some pop corn.

[Guest]

Elitist and condescending, UPDX at it’s finest.

Relax tom

[Guest]

Reasonable and level-headed = Minions. Got it.

You posted that before the workday even started, why don’t you go spend some time with your family before the kids go to school, or take your dog for a walk. Get off of this youth soccer message board you weirdo.

You're right. I should say "minion", because it's probably the same guy pretending to be multiple people, one of the oldest tricks in the book.

But regarding ECNL--we had this discussion a few years ago on the girls side. While it is a league that focuses on "elite" teams, and isn't interested in "select" and/or "rec" soccer (and nor should it be--most youth players have no business in a travel league, and even many of the players who are probably aren't getting their moneys worth), that doesn't mean everyone in the league is elite. It has a different purpose than OYSA, which is a full-service youth association, covering rec to premier to things like TOPSoccer; and it's even been dabbling in futsal. (And while the outdoor soccer scene in Oregon is meh; the local futsal scene is one of the best in the country).

In the Northwest Division of BECNL, pretty much the only club (excluding the pro academies in MLS Next, and even there results tend to vary) that can be considered "elite" on a national level is Crossfire Premier. None in Oregon reach that standard. Simply being in the league playing against them doesn't make a team elite, though teams who join often do so for a desired recruiting advantage. CU (as it was called back then) had one age group (the 2003s) which were very good, and nationally ranked in the one season where a lot of the top CA clubs were doing the GDA. The 03 class of Oregon girls overall was a particularly strong one, with the GPS team also being quite good. But now NW Elite are meh. Thorns are finally coming around, and FC is probably an easier youth partner to deal with than any club with Cony involved. Not having Merritt Failson or Gavin in the picture also helps tremendously.

So is it worth it to travel multiple weekends a year to Seattle, including during the HS season, to have a few games with Crossfire Premier? Is it worth it to fly to ECNL showcases a couple times a year? How does this compare with the travel schedule of the other top Oregon boys' clubs, which generally involves things like USYS NL-PRO, Elite 64, Northwest Conference, and whatever other tournaments clubs decide to do (including regional tourneys like Crossfire Challenge, or even trips to Surf or Dallas)?

I dunno... I'm just not seeing it. I expect UPDX 05s, at least, to do better in OYSA than they've been doing in ECNL--they're one of the top four in the state easily, along with EMFC, OPFC, and WSM. (Apologies to Bend, FC, and ADF). But to paraphrase Yoda, travel not make one great.