East County Soccer Dad
SILVER ELITE
Wow
And I thought the LA city united team was an outlier
Youth Soccer Rankings ?
- Thread starter dawson
- Start date
And I thought the LA city united team was an outlier
East County Soccer Dad
SILVER ELITE
Attachments
maestroFRSM
SILVER
Sorry, these rankings are a joke
and I’m assuming you know this because you’ve played all the ECNL 2011 teams? Lol
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
You're in luck, you're in the exact location to learn something this morning. Just scroll up.
I'm not sure any one team has played all ECNL 2011 teams. But we've played plenty of them within the last year that are among the top in CA (listed below), and none of them come off as stronger than Folsom Lake at the moment.
rainbow_unicorn
PREMIER
Some people just don't understand statistics and will have a hard time grasping the mechanics of the ranking app
CleatSniffer
BRONZE
Opens ChatGPT: "Make me an argument against RandomSoccerFan and the reliability of the USA Sports Statistics Soccer Rankings because I do not like where my child's team is ranked on it. Please do not use logic but rather just make sure the argument says that ECNL teams are always better than ECRL teams and always should be higher even if they are not as good."
RandomSoccerFan
PREMIER
maestroFRSM
SILVER
lol. You missed the mark again. We’re on the MLSN HG side, top 5 in CA. We look at the MLSN flex and league rankings not this. Data has to pass the common sense test and any ranking that puts Galaxy just above an AD and EA2 team is either 1.) not accurate or 2.) accurate but not relevant.
CleatSniffer
BRONZE
That makes sense. Why in the world would you have a better rank in a ranking system that cuts out most of the competition? Crazy! In certain rooms with only a few people in it I am the generally in the top 5 best looking!!!
what was the response? lol
CleatSniffer
BRONZE
Basically what was written by people haha.
“First, the entire premise of the USA Sports Statistics Soccer Rankings is questionable because rankings that place Elite Clubs National League (ECNL) teams below Elite Clubs Regional League (ECRL) teams are obviously missing the point of the soccer ecosystem. ECNL is widely regarded as the top platform for youth soccer in the U.S., so by definition ECNL teams should be ranked higher. If a ranking system produces a result where an ECRL team appears above an ECNL team, that alone suggests the ranking system is flawed rather than the teams themselvesz
When someone like RandomSoccerFan argues that the rankings are “objective,” that ignores the reality that league placement already reflects the competitive hierarchy. Clubs earn ECNL status precisely because they are stronger organizations with better players, deeper coaching resources, and higher standards. Because of that, ECNL teams should naturally be assumed to outperform ECRL teams—even in cases where a particular scoreline or short stretch of games suggests otherwise.
Another issue is that statistical rankings try to flatten context. They treat all results the same, even though everyone involved in youth soccer knows ECNL matches operate at a higher level of intensity, travel, and recruiting visibility. An ECNL team losing a game does not suddenly make it worse than an ECRL team winning one; the environments are fundamentally different. Rankings that fail to acknowledge that difference inevitably undervalue ECNL programs.
Finally, there’s the practical perspective: college scouts, top tournaments, and national recognition consistently center around ECNL. That alone signals where the real competitive tier sits. Any ranking that contradicts that established hierarchy is simply out of sync with how the sport actually operates.
So when a ranking shows an ECNL team below an ECRL team, the most reasonable conclusion is not that the ECNL team is worse—it’s that the ranking system doesn’t understand the structure of elite youth soccer.”