I think you meant, “Some EA2 teams are better than the PRE MLS next teams.” Now this is a true statement.
MLS Next Alliances
- Thread starter Grace T.
- Start date
Nope. Look at the rankings app. Both 2010 (Oxnard/Oaks and AC Brea) and 2009 (Albion and Rebels) age groups each have EA2 teams ranked higher than a chunk of the MLS Next teams. I didn’t look at older age groups.
I agree it’s ridiculous that this is the state of the leagues, but that’s the case.
pitchplease
SILVER ELITE
Is EA 2 a second tier of EA? does that really exist?
East County Soccer Dad
SILVER
Yes. Some really good ones and some worse than F1 and F2 teams
asianautica
BRONZE
That is the whole point of why you want to play in MLS Next though, for a chance to be poach. It's not about winning a game and building a strong team. The job of these other MLS Next clubs is to do the leg work for MLS academy to find up and coming players.
Karlton Athletic
SILVER
My kid was on a Tier 1 a couple of seasons back and we beat Nomads MLS Next in a tournament. Highlight of our time with that team.
The actual academies and a handful of club MLS Next teams are obviously a cut above, but after that the pyramid definitely flattens out.
Oxnard is only EA2 because they are trying to get into EA. That’s their top team in 2010. Oxnard is also land locked which helps them retain talent.
Albion 2009 is 53rd which is nothing to write home about. They are only better than 2 or 3 NorCal MLS next teams.
These are outliers.
aong cangkol
SILVER
Based on friendly, unofficial games, our EA team can beat MLS Next team at the bottom of the league. A few weeks ago, we lost a tight game 2-1 against a mid-table MLS Next team.
There is a possibility that they are not full-team, etc. but I think all of the leagues are the same, top rank F1 team can beat bottom rank ECNL/EA team. Top rank ECNL can beat bottom rank MLS Next team.
Not sure why it is a surprise, if you follow FA cup in England, third tier teams can sometimes beat EPL clubs.
That’s my point. Some EA2 teams (and I did go check that is true in every age group) are better than chunk of MLS Next teams. Though geographically VC Fusion should be an alternative for Oxnard no?
For accuracy (and a grain of salt), the 2009 Albion team is ranked higher than 5 socal mls next teams and 7 NorCal mls next teams. That Albion team is possibly a special case if they also play their MLS Next players and EA players down with their EA2 team sometimes.
Yes, many of those EA2 teams should probable at least be in EA, but they aren’t. Kudos to MLS for recognizing these weaknesses with the league and trying to incorporate this ‘2nd tier’ into more events so they can expand their scouting network to more teams. Hopefully this is a good thing.
Yep, though I think in this case there are some lower tier teams that are consistently better than a chunk of top tier teams and I’m hopeful that these changes create more of an FA Cup style competition where the tiers mix.
Code
GOLD
The gatekeepers will try anything to avoid a promotion/relegation tiered league. We will never have consistant competition in leagues without promotion/relegation.
Club or team level pro/rel?
Code
GOLD
They both have pros and cons. At this point, just pick one and go, adjust as neccasary. Either way would be better for the vast majority of youth soccer players.
The problem with pro/rel from an mls next point of view is it places too much pressure on the coaches and players to win instead of develop. That runs counter to the philosophy taking place in the academies, which call the shots for all things mls next. Pro rel does balance out the competition but that’s not what the mechanism is for: mls next exists for the single purpose of developing individual pro players….everyone else is just there for training fodder and to expand the selection pool…mls next 2 will be the same: to give the reserve and futures players more flexibility in playing which preserves the overall structure of the thing.
Code
GOLD
Yea, I guess having a team full of winners that earn thier way to the top via actual competition would result in a bunch of players the Pros wouldn't be interested in.
. Players forged through competition would never be as good as Players who play planned matches against fodder teams.You can get a similar effect to pro/rel by running a Ladder League.Yea, I guess having a team full of winners that earn thier way to the top via actual competition would result in a bunch of players the Pros wouldn't be interested in.
In a ladder league all clubs are ranked and the idea is that lower ranked clubs want to play higher ranked clubs. It's not worth getting into the details but the net is winners tend to play winners and losers tend to play losers.
In pro/rel the losers get booted from the league. In a ladder league the losers mostly play the other losers. This works better from a club perspective because nobody gets booted from the league.
Clubs don't like Ladder leagues because it becomes clear very quickly who the winners are. It also becomes clear very quickly who is wasting their time. The clubs that mostly lose will never play the teams that mostly win.
Well again you have to look at it purely from the academies point of view because their opinion is the only one that counts. If the team is good enough, they’ll have several of their players poached by academy teams (see strikers). Academy teams care about playing other academy teams and European/mexican academy teams…everyone else is training fodder. Academy teams also have rosters with a high number of reserve players and even age groups that don’t have league play. The second stringers also need a place to play.Yea, I guess having a team full of winners that earn thier way to the top via actual competition would result in a bunch of players the Pros wouldn't be interested in.
The “earn their way to the top” only works on a closed loop system: where players are obligated to play for the club that owns their rights and clubs are required to play the ones that brung them instead of upgrading. Because otherwise the meritocracy is just rewarding clubs that have coaches that are better at recruitment.
Speaking of coaches that are good at recruitment, anyone know how SoCal Elite has been doing? They must be excited as this gives them another chance to argue for mls next first tier now that they are in the tent.
Does anyone have any stats on the distribution of players that come from which mls next clubs? Genuinely curious if the bottom mls next teams are still consistently producing a couple players per age group. I know of non mls next clubs that I would guess produce more, but I really don’t know. It seems like the top mls next clubs are able to produce the most academy players and still remain competitive when those top players leave.
Yea, I guess having a team full of winners that earn thier way to the top via actual competition would result in a bunch of players the Pros wouldn't be interested in.
From an MLS Academy perspective, players earn their way to the top- not teams.
From this view, Academy teams are the gathering places for top players. If a non-MLS club develops an academy player or two, that's awesome. Those specific players are welcome at the academy, and best of luck to the remaining teams in their upcoming seasons. And please give them a call if you develop any more superstars.
Don't have stats other than anecdotally we know quite a few people from certain clubs that got tapped from academies and only really have visibility into the West Coast (LA, Salt Lake, Texas, Portland, Seattle...which BTW last I checked the pacific NW does not have MLS Next....they are ECNL). It seems though in LA quite a few come from Strikers. Strikers is then able to rebuild teams because it has the connections, a deep bench (even their E64 teams are good and can and have beaten EA teams), and others are hoping to get a look too from those coaches with connections. Laufa also used to be similar...not sure anymore if Albion is the same. Again anecdotally, it seems like players on periphery teams (like Murrieta, Santa Barbara, Ventura or Nomads) who are capable of driving are looking to get a tradeup to the marquee teams and academies.