Get ready folks

[RandomSoccerFan]

Does it really matter?

Here's something to try. Ask someone who was on the sidelines watching a game what the final score was and who made each goal 30 minutes after it completes.

Most people won't remember. The only thing they do remember is if the score allowed their team to advance because this typically means more games to play.

Hopefully your club can make up for other clubs "cheating" by playing down for wins by setting up friendlies with other teams.

If the MLS N player playing down on the NPL team is the one that scores all the goals - you can be sure that quite a few people will notice and remember. If the NL player playing down on the RL team is the one that scores all the goals - you can be sure that quite a few people will notice and remember. If the player playing down isn't impactful in the game - nobody notices, and nobody cares, as the whole intent of all of these rules and guidelines is to promote fairer competition.

 

[Carlsbad7]

If the MLS N player playing down on the NPL team is the one that scores all the goals - you can be sure that quite a few people will notice and remember. If the NL player playing down on the RL team is the one that scores all the goals - you can be sure that quite a few people will notice and remember. If the player playing down isn't impactful in the game - nobody notices, and nobody cares, as the whole intent of all of these rules and guidelines is to promote fairer competition.

I get it.

But, I also see value in being exposed to higher levels of play.

If players are getting pummeled and the score is 14-0 with one higher level player doing all the goals then sure this is a bad situation. However if the score was 2-3 and the winning team had to bring higher level players down for the win I wouldn't care. This is what development is all about.

 

[RandomSoccerFan]

I understand your point of view. I just think most wouldn't agree with you, and the team cheating isn't the one that gets to determine that it's for the other team's own good, as it "will help their development".

 

[SuperSoccerStar]

Can we be real for a minute. Agree here to an extent but there's an exception :

Ask any NL player whos teams been eliminated from playoff contention if they want to play RL for the playoffs. 99% of them will say YES. The other 1% will find a new NL club who made the playoffs.

even players who have teams that had qualified for the NL playoffs played RL playoffs last year. I'm pretty sure it will happen again this year. Its honestly probably going to be worse this year because teams really took advantage last year and ECNL did not change any rules. I also never said it worked. People assume that having the NL players means getting the W but that was definitely proven to be untrue.

 

[SuperSoccerStar]

I think you're wrong that GA is GDA 2.0.

GA is a copy of girls ECNL. It's US Soccer's way to take over the girls youth soccer market without buying out Christian Lavars (one of ECNLs founders).

Once GA hits critical mass they're going to create Academy teams just like MLSN that play regular clubs.

Wont happen on the girls side. GA is never going to take over the Girls landscape unless they get the ECNL clubs from SoCal to switch to GA. How could GA put together a "pro pathway" if the best girls don't play on GA teams? Its just like ODP and PDP which have become an absolute joke. They don't have the best girls in it. They have the best girls from whatever organization is running or supports it.

 

[crush]

Wont happen on the girls side. GA is never going to take over the Girls landscape unless they get the ECNL clubs from SoCal to switch to GA. How could GA put together a "pro pathway" if the best girls don't play on GA teams? Its just like ODP and PDP which have become an absolute joke. They don't have the best girls in it. They have the best girls from whatever organization is running or supports it.

 

[pitchplease]

The only reason GA even exists is due to the Girls DA folding back during covid. That was never even a league prior to 2017. We had ecnl and usys. and the talent always heavily favored ecnl, until, the new shiny penny came along aka DA, and it was a train wreck. When all of those ECNL clubs jumped ship and went to the DA platform, that caused the biggest riff between US Soccer aka DA and ecnl. After all of that hype and they folded, ECNL wouldn't let all of the clubs back in. They let a select few back. That's why you still see some former heavy hitters on the outside looking in. ECNL had zero problems saying no re-entry to a lot of clubs. All those clubs had to go somewhere, and hence...GA. A majority of the players from DA went back in search of ecnl. and the rest is....another chapter that is the history of bad ideas.

 

[crush]

The only reason GA even exists is due to the Girls DA folding back during covid. That was never even a league prior to 2017. We had ecnl and usys. and the talent always heavily favored ecnl, until, the new shiny penny came along aka DA, and it was a train wreck. When all of those ECNL clubs jumped ship and went to the DA platform, that caused the biggest riff between US Soccer aka DA and ecnl. After all of that hype and they folded, ECNL wouldn't let all of the clubs back in. They let a select few back. That's why you still see some former heavy hitters on the outside looking in. ECNL had zero problems saying no re-entry to a lot of clubs. All those clubs had to go somewhere, and hence...GA. A majority of the players from DA went back in search of ecnl. and the rest is....another chapter that is the history of bad ideas.

Truth

 

[RandomSoccerFan]

Not really buying that. Garbage compared to what? The scale can't be a binary choice between "on an MLS Academy team" or "garbage".

I tend to agree - but it's all relative. Take 100,000 kids of a certain age playing soccer. By one lens, only 10 of them are any good - and the rest aren't. Someone else might think only 1,000 of them are any good - and the rest aren't. And yes - by yet another lens, someone might consider 50,000 of them to be "good".

Only the smallest fraction have the likelihood of being both inherently good enough and driven enough to continue to excel at each increasing level until adulthood.

 

[crush]

I tend to agree - but it's all relative. Take 100,000 kids of a certain age playing soccer. By one lens, only 10 of them are any good - and the rest aren't. Someone else might think only 1,000 of them are any good - and the rest aren't. And yes - by yet another lens, someone might consider 50,000 of them to be "good".

Only the smallest fraction have the likelihood of being both inherently good enough and driven enough to continue to excel at each increasing level until adulthood.

Here's the truth. We got really good, and I mean excellent and gifted players in every age group. Let's just say about 5. Then you have really good players that can hang with the best of the best and help build a great team. Then you have some good players that can fit rolls on a team. The rest of the 99% can just play soccer for fun and exercise. Many of these mega coaches are liars' when they tell daddy or mommy that their kid has potential with the right development from coach, but it will cost the parent thousands.

 

[NorCalDad]

Wont happen on the girls side. GA is never going to take over the Girls landscape unless they get the ECNL clubs from SoCal to switch to GA. How could GA put together a "pro pathway" if the best girls don't play on GA teams? Its just like ODP and PDP which have become an absolute joke. They don't have the best girls in it. They have the best girls from whatever organization is running or supports it.

It depends on if GA becomes "NWSL Next"..... ECNL on the boys side was much stronger and comparable to MLS Next two years ago. Now MLSN is the clear winner -- I don't think it's close. I think the MLS Next partnership with GA could be interesting. We shall see, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we saw a shift. Of course....USL/W might have something to say about all of this.

 

[SuperSoccerStar]

It depends on if GA becomes "NWSL Next"..... ECNL on the boys side was much stronger and comparable to MLS Next two years ago. Now MLSN is the clear winner -- I don't think it's close. I think the MLS Next partnership with GA could be interesting. We shall see, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me if we saw a shift. Of course....USL/W might have something to say about all of this.

They could call themselves NWSL if they want. If they don't have the good girls who cares what they are called. You see what's happening in the NWSL too correct? That's not even the premier choice for the premier women's soccer player anymore. If the top 3 clubs from ECNL southwest switch over to GA then and only then will GA or NSWL Next or whatever the hell they want to call themselves matter. How many 2026 and 2025 GA girls went D1 this year vs ECNL? Its still absolutely hilarious to me that anyone thinking GA and ECNL are even close to the same playing field. Just saw a clown post yesterday on IG his Girls Pyramid and he had ECNL and GA on the same level. Its absolutely hilarious to me.

 

[crush]

They could call themselves NWSL if they want. If they don't have the good girls who cares what they are called. You see what's happening in the NWSL too correct? That's not even the premier choice for the premier women's soccer player anymore. If the top 3 clubs from ECNL southwest switch over to GA then and only then will GA or NSWL Next or whatever the hell they want to call themselves matter. How many 2026 and 2025 GA girls went D1 this year vs ECNL? Its still absolutely hilarious to me that anyone thinking GA and ECNL are even close to the same playing field. Just saw a clown post yesterday on IG his Girls Pyramid and he had ECNL and GA on the same level. Its absolutely hilarious to me.

If Surf & Blues told GDA to go pound sand in 2017 and then told ECNL no mas, then we could have started a Socal only league and then partner up with Nocal for a true California championship.

 

[Carlsbad7]

They could call themselves NWSL if they want. If they don't have the good girls who cares what they are called. You see what's happening in the NWSL too correct? That's not even the premier choice for the premier women's soccer player anymore. If the top 3 clubs from ECNL southwest switch over to GA then and only then will GA or NSWL Next or whatever the hell they want to call themselves matter. How many 2026 and 2025 GA girls went D1 this year vs ECNL? Its still absolutely hilarious to me that anyone thinking GA and ECNL are even close to the same playing field. Just saw a clown post yesterday on IG his Girls Pyramid and he had ECNL and GA on the same level. Its absolutely hilarious to me.

The trend is positive for GA and even for girls ECNL. The trend is positive for MLSN and negative for boys ECNL. Extrapolate out and you can see where things will end up. Eventually top girls ECNL clubs will switch over to MLSN and GA if everything stays on the current trajectory. (Primarily to get MLSN for their boys if nothing else) Once this happens at 4-5 big girls ECNL clubs the floodgates will open to other clubs switching over.

 

[MSK357]

Does it really matter?

Here's something to try. Ask someone who was on the sidelines watching a game what the final score was and who made each goal 30 minutes after it completes.

Most people won't remember. The only thing they do remember is if the score allowed their team to advance because this typically means more games to play.

Hopefully your club can make up for other clubs "cheating" by playing down for wins by setting up friendlies with other teams.

I was just responding to Rainbow to name one club. I can only speak for 2010 age group, but there were multiple NL girls playing in the RL playoffs from multiple clubs last year. so not exactly rare.

But I agree with you. The goal should be to get better, and you get better by playing against better players.

And yes, the ringers scored some crucial goals.

 

[aong cangkol]

Not really buying that. Garbage compared to what? The scale can't be a binary choice between "on an MLS Academy team" or "garbage".

In this context, "garbage" means "recreational". No hope of playing professionally.

 

[socalkdg]

I was talking to a good friend from an RL team that had won the championship for their age group, and they had no NL players come down to play. So if there was rampant abuse of NL players in the RL playoffs, it seems unlikely an RL team with no ringers would have won the whole thing. But it would be easy enough to prove/disprove with all the video at games these days. Not that I have any rooting interest here - just putting in one more data point.

I have to agree.

I knew of a number of ECNL/RL clubs that put the max amount allowed on the RL team, a smaller amount on the NL team, and had some of the RL players playing up each week. I can see a number of parents thinking they are seeing NL players on the RL team during playoffs when in actuality they were always rostered on the RL team.

 

[RandomSoccerFan]

Which is what people are saying. It's a loophole to designate someone who's going to play on NL all year anyway as an RL player so they can look like they aren't technically breaking the rules. But by some pretty straightforward logic, they are clearly playing NL players on RL while trying not to get caught.

 

[Karlton Athletic]

In this context, "garbage" means "recreational". No hope of playing professionally.

I grew up in Europe (and briefly in South America). To me, outside the true MLS Next academies, it's all rec, but because this is America, someone has to be making money, LOL.

 

[crush]

I grew up in Europe (and briefly in South America). To me, outside the true MLS Next academies, it's all rec, but because this is America, someone has to be making money, LOL.

Pay to play rec travel ball in the USA because coach and Doc say miracles can happen if you pay the man to be elite. Coach will declare you are elite after pay is received. Where you're from, the best get recruited in Rec at 6 or 7 by a pro club with youth academies and it's always free when they accept the call. Plus, free education. Daddy can't go to the club in Europe and pay for his boy to be on the academy.