Europe only a handful play for the academies and have a shot at the pros. Everyone else plays tiered rec. The distortions we have in the market are because of college recruitment and scholarship (which they don't do in Europe). Soccer can't be everything to everyone: a place to develop pros, a place for college recruitment, a place to win trophies and medals, a place to have fun with friends and get some exercise...if it tries to do all that, it will fail (which it has on each of the targets). And don't get me wrong...I didn't say they academies are the be all end all envy of the world....but they are the one part of the system that is (somewhat) functioning as intended.
Get ready folks
- Thread starter soccer4us
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MSK357
GOLD
I can confirm 2010 Blues had at at least one NL player guest playing at the RL playoffs on their RL team, as well as other clubs.
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.
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.
RL playoffs are early June. If an NL team is eliminated from postseason that early, it means they failed to make North America Cup.
There are teams like that, but they’re weaker than the best RL teams.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
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
PREMIER
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".
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.
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
SILVER ELITE
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.
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
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.
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.
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.
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
GOLD
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.