# Thoughts on EA League 2?



## mlx (Jul 16, 2022)

Good alternative to NPL or ECRL? Or just blah?


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## Code (Jul 16, 2022)

Blah.  With promotion and relegation being implemented into NPL within the SOCAL league, any leagues except the top tier (MLS Next, and ECNL) are going to have a really hard time justifying the level of play they offer in Southern California within the next couple of years.  Other regions of the US may have a different scenario.


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## paytoplayisgood (Jul 16, 2022)

mlx said:


> Good alternative to NPL or ECRL? Or just blah?


EAL =ECRL   > NPL. If EAL is a money grab, then eal2 is even worse


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## Grace T. (Jul 16, 2022)

Code said:


> Blah.  With promotion and relegation being implemented into NPL within the SOCAL league, any leagues except the top tier (MLS Next, and ECNL) are going to have a really hard time justifying the level of play they offer in Southern California within the next couple of years.  Other regions of the US may have a different scenario.


Quite a few of the npl teams have moved into elite 64 and ea2 on the boys end.   It’s an open question of whether elite 64 or ea2 are the new flight one, but with most of the better teams having moved, they are certainly more solid than npl…a couple of the younger divisions didn’t even get enough teams to make a go of npl.

as to ea1, the mls next teams need a place to put their second teams since ecnl generally won’t let you do that.  And mls next has also begun to break into two tiers, with the academy teams largely playing themselves at the older levels.


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## 3253 (Jul 17, 2022)

Grace T. said:


> And mls next has also begun to break into two tiers, with the academy teams largely playing themselves at the older levels.


Agree. Also, this was implemented from the beginning at u15 and up with the EPP/PPP and now renamed to fully separate divisions (LAG & LAFC in the West and TFA, Santa Barbara, etc in the Southwest) and still only playing non-division opponents once a season, if at all.


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## dreamz (Jul 18, 2022)

mlx said:


> Good alternative to NPL or ECRL? Or just blah?


Straight up money grab. There is zero need for an EA2. Just another alphabet soup league to water down the competition even more. At what point is enough really enough?


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## Grace T. (Jul 18, 2022)

dreamz said:


> Straight up money grab. There is zero need for an EA2. Just another alphabet soup league to water down the competition even more. At what point is enough really enough?


I agree there is zero need for it.  Ideally, the soccer powers that be would get together and have a straight pathway for players from MLS Academy-Flight 1-7-Rec, but with even AYSO jealously guarding their turf, that's not going to happen unless it's imposed by an outside body like Fifa.

It's also more of the same.  The MLS Academies on the boys end are far and a way the top flight (if your boy is playing anything under MLS Academy level, they are playing in an also-ran/not the most elite level, a handful of other teams excepted).  From there the clarity ends with the boys divided between ecnl and MLS Next.  The next tier is similarly divided between EA1 and ECRL.  The next tier is a big mess with the 3rd teams in EA2, Elite 64, NPL, and Coast Premiere.  It's hard to tell what even is the third team since at a recent tournament I noticed a club placed their Elite 64 team in the 2nd bracket (which proceeded to get pounded) and their EA2 in the third bracket (where they won).  

The girls are no better with the top flight divided between ECNL and GA and unlike the boys they don't have a fully developed elite bracket like the MLS Academy division.   Ironically, with the decline of Coast, the lower brackets will seem to have more clarity in their tiers.

It's a problem because talent is not evenly scattered in the middle tiers...you have some better players playing EA2/Elite 64 that should be playing EA1 or MLS Next and vice versa.  You also have some teams that are misplaced and run away with it (teams like the Anaheim B08 Premiere team that could compete MLS Next or the SoCal Elite 08 team that dominated NPL last year) and teams that shouldn't even be in MLS Next (I won't call anyone out, but am thinking of teams for example from smaller locations with less of a player pool).  Then you have teams like the AYSO United squads that have been locked out of EA/MLS Next yet some of them (due to their huge player pool) can give the higher teams a run for their money.  Players and teams as a result aren't situated appropriately (which is the entire point of having a tier system) and I don't see a resolution to that without a top down approach.


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## Code (Jul 18, 2022)

Grace T. said:


> I agree there is zero need for it.  Ideally, the soccer powers that be would get together and have a straight pathway for players from MLS Academy-Flight 1-7-Rec, but with even AYSO jealously guarding their turf, that's not going to happen unless it's imposed by an outside body like Fifa.
> 
> It's also more of the same.  The MLS Academies on the boys end are far and a way the top flight (if your boy is playing anything under MLS Academy level, they are playing in an also-ran/not the most elite level, a handful of other teams excepted).  From there the clarity ends with the boys divided between ecnl and MLS Next.  The next tier is similarly divided between EA1 and ECRL.  The next tier is a big mess with the 3rd teams in EA2, Elite 64, NPL, and Coast Premiere.  It's hard to tell what even is the third team since at a recent tournament I noticed a club placed their Elite 64 team in the 2nd bracket (which proceeded to get pounded) and their EA2 in the third bracket (where they won).
> 
> ...



I think we will have a much clearer picture about how all these leagues match up in about a week from now.  There is a lot of cross-league match-ups happening next weekend at Surf Cup and Silverlakes Showcase.  It will be interesting to see if the E64 teams who were NPL teams last season are somehow more talented now that they have new letters next to thier names.  My opinion on the girls side, is we will see GA teams struggling to keep up with ECRL/NPL/E64 teams where they cross play.  ECNL easily beating GA.  Most of the DPL teams seem to be in brackets with SOCAL Flight 1 teams, and I expect it will be a push between those.  I don't have much a a pulse on the boys side, so I have no idea how thier brackets will play out.


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## paytoplayisgood (Jul 18, 2022)

Code said:


> I think we will have a much clearer picture about how all these leagues match up in about a week from now.  There is a lot of cross-league match-ups happening next weekend at Surf Cup and Silverlakes Showcase.  It will be interesting to see if the E64 teams who were NPL teams last season are somehow more talented now that they have new letters next to thier names.  My opinion on the girls side, is we will see GA teams struggling to keep up with ECRL/NPL/E64 teams where they cross play.  ECNL easily beating GA.  Most of the DPL teams seem to be in brackets with SOCAL Flight 1 teams, and I expect it will be a push between those.  I don't have much a a pulse on the boys side, so I have no idea how thier brackets will play out.


In past surf cups, boys ecnl has fared better than boys mls next.


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## Grace T. (Jul 18, 2022)

paytoplayisgood said:


> In past surf cups, boys ecnl has fared better than boys mls next.


My impression is the boys MLS Next teams have a very wide range of distribution, from teams that can keep up with the MLS Academy teams to teams (usually from smaller locations) that would struggle against the top EA 1 teams.  ECNL, at least in Socal, seems to be more closely lumped together.  Having watch a ton of boys ECNL games from other states and NorCal, however, I'm surprised that the level of play really doesn't exceed the Socal EA1 level teams.


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## dreamz (Jul 20, 2022)

Grace T. said:


> I agree there is zero need for it.  Ideally, the soccer powers that be would get together and have a straight pathway for players from MLS Academy-Flight 1-7-Rec, but with even AYSO jealously guarding their turf, that's not going to happen unless it's imposed by an outside body like Fifa.
> 
> It's also more of the same.  The MLS Academies on the boys end are far and a way the top flight (if your boy is playing anything under MLS Academy level, they are playing in an also-ran/not the most elite level, a handful of other teams excepted).  From there the clarity ends with the boys divided between ecnl and MLS Next.  The next tier is similarly divided between EA1 and ECRL.  The next tier is a big mess with the 3rd teams in EA2, Elite 64, NPL, and Coast Premiere.  It's hard to tell what even is the third team since at a recent tournament I noticed a club placed their Elite 64 team in the 2nd bracket (which proceeded to get pounded) and their EA2 in the third bracket (where they won).
> 
> ...


I would about 75% agree with your comments on MLS Next. There are clubs that have no business in MLS Next but are in there because, heck, everyone needs someone to beat up on. 

That being said, the issue is that EVERY league has these kinds of teams so no one league can claim to have the best teams top to bottom. When leagues are club based then about 80% of the clubs can't sustain quality in all age groups. I say 80% because there are the clubs that can making up the 20% that have the quality in all ages. But no matter what league we talk about, not one of them can claim to be "the best" when you have stink pots in all of them. A quick look at every league standings can reveal which clubs those are. Whether they are in these leagues strategically or politically, they tarnish the ability for the league to claim being the top league. 

At the end of the day, lump them all together and there are good and bad in all of them and on any given day, teams from all of them can beat, or lose, to each other. The only differentiator is the patch they wear on their uniforms. Boys and girls. E64 will be a flop. The quality is terrible and the cost is ridiculous. People got fooled for a patch. Again.


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## Grace T. (Jul 20, 2022)

dreamz said:


> E64 will be a flop. The quality is terrible and the cost is ridiculous. People got fooled for a patch. Again.


Not necessarily.  You have to have a third tier (after the EA/ECRL split on the boys level).

The primary driver of E64 is that AYSO United and a handful of other clubs got locked out of the EA and MLS Next.  These clubs are based in the cities (e.g., Los Angeles, San Diego) so if you let them go EA/MLS Next they likely could (based on the name because everyone is trying to get their kid to the maximum level possible) attract talent.  We all know its more about attracting talent than actually building a squad with time....if you build it, they will come.  Where sometimes you get the difficulty is in smaller areas with less of a player pool.  In any case, an AYSO United Team with a player pool from all of Los Angeles (including teams that have won the Coast state cup) is unlikely to be the worst in MLS Next, especially when compared to the smaller geographical areas.  But it's unlikely they'll be let into MLS Next ever until they are prepared to get rid their minimum play time requirements (it would embarrass the other MLS Next organizations and in any case seems to be more honored in the breach than the actual practice).

Somebody has to secure the third tier.  Because the clubs are spread out and don't have teams in all the orgs, it's likely going to be two of them: EA2, Elite 65, NPL or Premiere.  As to the "quality"...it's the third tier....it's about where NPL was before this third tier broke into parts.  One of the contributing drivers too must be the pro/rel Socal introduced into NPL....that's hard for a middle tier team because the clubs are looking to promote the harder players or loose them to recruiting by higher level teams....so there's constant churn in the middle tier with players moving through on their way up and down.


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## Eagle33 (Jul 21, 2022)

EA2 is for the 2nd tier clubs who couldn't get into EA or ECRL or any other letter leagues, so they can charge parents more.
E64 is huge on the East coast but very small here. It's basicaly CRL renamed. Will see how it goes.


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## Code (Jul 21, 2022)

Eagle33 said:


> EA2 is for the 2nd tier clubs who couldn't get into EA or ECRL or any other letter leagues, so they can charge parents more.
> E64 is huge on the East coast but very small here. It's basicaly CRL renamed. Will see how it goes.


How is a League (E64) that hasn't even started yet huge?  Also, they don't even have 64 clubs in the League; girls have 56 and last time I looked boys had 59.  Maybe they should rename to the E50'sh Leauge.  Seems like a big red flag to me if you are "limiting" the elite clubs participating to 64, but can't even get 64 clubs in the entire country to commit.


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## chipmonk (Jul 21, 2022)

Eagle33 said:


> EA2 is for the 2nd tier clubs who couldn't get into EA or ECRL or any other letter leagues, so they can charge parents more.
> E64 is huge on the East coast but very small here. It's basicaly CRL renamed. Will see how it goes.


Pretty much. E64 is USYS trying to come up with a compelling circuit. CalSouth dropped the ball (to put it mildly) representing USYS here, so I believe E64 can let clubs bypass weak state associations if needed. I think CRL is still a separate thing. These closed leagues are all pretty shit just to make it a little easier on coaches/families that are in more than 1 age group.


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## Futbol2dmaxxx (Jul 21, 2022)

not sure what or why teams are charging more to play EA or EA2 not so from where my son plays at. 
Back to EA2 if you look at the u11/u12 half of those team don’t belong in EA1. They are being slaughtered or cancel or postpone (which EA need change this for next season,have make up game within a week or give the win to the other team) team know they can’t compete. 

 Best they start at EA2 work there way up.  I believe 4/5 last place team will move up from EA2 and EA bise versa.
 Have a relegation n promotion  , will have clubs wanting to improve on their development. As whole.


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## Grace T. (Jul 21, 2022)

Futbol2dmaxxx said:


> not sure what or why teams are charging more to play EA or EA2 not so from where my son plays at.
> Back to EA2 if you look at the u11/u12 half of those team don’t belong in EA1. They are being slaughtered or cancel or postpone (which EA need change this for next season,have make up game within a week or give the win to the other team) team know they can’t compete.
> 
> Best they start at EA2 work there way up.  I believe 4/5 last place team will move up from EA2 and EA bise versa.
> Have a relegation n promotion  , will have clubs wanting to improve on their development. As whole.


“Improve on their development” at that age really means improve on their recruitment and drop the shorter/slower players

ea1 is used by the bigger clubs for their second teams after mls next.  The issue it creates is if you have pro rel you can’t afford to promote your players to mls next and they are permanently locked unless they go to another club.  The idea from what I understand is for most of the larger clubs to have teams in both the ea1 and ea2 brackets for their second and third teams (instead of putting the third team into npl or elite 64) but we’ll see how it plays out.


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## mlx (Jul 23, 2022)

OK, a side question. Why does LA Surf have one team in MLS Next, 2 in EAL and will have one more in EAL 2? (at least at the 2007 age group).


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## Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (Aug 18, 2022)

Code said:


> Blah.  With promotion and relegation being implemented into NPL within the SOCAL league, any leagues except the top tier (MLS Next, and ECNL) are going to have a really hard time justifying the level of play they offer in Southern California within the next couple of years.  Other regions of the US may have a different scenario.


I see the  reverse. 

EA and EA2 are essentially MLS Next tiers. With some notable exceptions in the SW conference that don't have MLS Next teams and are arguably in line for that (i.e., Liverpool across all age groups, LUFC, and now SoCal Elite), the other participants have their top teams in MLS Next. EA and EA2 are just extensions of that, and offer more depth than even the ECRL tier. 

There are some fine clubs and top teams in the NPL. Many could compete and regularly beat EA and EA2 teams in their age group and maybe even above that. However, most players with ambition to play at a higher level have hit a ceiling at their NPL club (there are some exceptions, of course, as some NPL teams in some age groups have EA/EA2 teams, too). 

So I don't see how NPL can compete long term as the better players will typically want to level up with an eye towards playing MLS Next. Yes, every player has a different set of expectations and constraints. I get that. Some players who could play EA with the prospect of potentially moving to an MLS Next team or ECNL team through the lower tiers of that league but will remain with their NPL team for whatever reason. But I'd venture a reasonable guess that most ambitious kids, when given the chance to potentially level all the way up here in SoCal will pick EA2/EA/ECRL (all other things being equal). That will wash out the talent in the NPL. I expect you won't see that as much in the older age groups (say above u14), but I'm guessing the u12/2010 cohorts and below in EA/EA2/ECRL will start regularly beating NPL teams in tournaments because of a flight to a more ambitious ladder.


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## Soccermom18 (Aug 19, 2022)

Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr said:


> I see the  reverse.
> 
> EA and EA2 are essentially MLS Next tiers. With some notable exceptions in the SW conference that don't have MLS Next teams and are arguably in line for that (i.e., Liverpool across all age groups, LUFC, and now SoCal Elite), the other participants have their top teams in MLS Next. EA and EA2 are just extensions of that, and offer more depth than even the ECRL tier.
> 
> ...


Liverpool’s MLS Next team is called SoCal Reds as of May.


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## Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr (Aug 21, 2022)

Soccermom18 said:


> Liverpool’s MLS Next team is called SoCal Reds as of May.


Are all its EA teams now competing in MLS Next? Or is it just u14 and below? Are the rest branded as "Liverpool"?


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## Soccermom18 (Aug 21, 2022)

Dale Earnhardt Jr Jr said:


> Are all its EA teams now competing in MLS Next? Or is it just u14 and below? Are the rest branded as "Liverpool"?


The EA teams are still Liverpool.  All the same organization just new name for the MLS Next team.  I don’t remember the reason why.  Something about not be able to have a Premier League brand or something.


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## focomoso (Aug 25, 2022)

Soccermom18 said:


> The EA teams are still Liverpool.  All the same organization just new name for the MLS Next team.  I don’t remember the reason why.  Something about not be able to have a Premier League brand or something.


I believe it's that you can't have any non-US team names in MLS Next.


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