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Vancouver Whitecaps Youth Academy

mtkb

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Having a strong opinion does not make me "emotional". I am not your wife. Thank God...

I believe he has no business on an MLS field. If Maris gets an asterisk, then the circumstances of RT becoming a "regular " are absolutely worthy of one too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed to try to forget that I witnessed the slaughter at the Bell Center I N person tonight...
 

LION

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RT is a pretty decent player. I am not a huge fan but I understand what he brought to the team. It took him a bit to find his spot, but once they switched back to the 2 holders I felt him and laba did a job together and helped take the team on a good run. Most clean sheets in the league. Wasn't just Ousted and Waston that did that. Takes team shape and team defence to shut down teams.

Lots of players have shite games and give away the ball. Look at Morales in our biggest game of the year. Nothing but give aways and he gets yanked after the half.

I felt Russel was great at shutting down space very quickly and working his bag off to get back in shape when the team lost possession. The 4-2-3-1 looked better on him as he had a stud of a partner in the holding roll. He wasn't in there to create or score goals. He knew his role and did his best to play it. Got a couple man of the match nods as well if I remember correctly.

I didn't like him in the 4-4-2 diamond mid on the left where you need him to get forward a bit more and create. Team was struggling for goals there and with Koffie out they tried to go with two up top which didn't help RT. Nor did we have the appropriate striker pairing or wingbacks for that shape.

I don't think he was our best. Nor our worst. He worked his bag off, bought in to the system and was a positive voice for the squad. Had to be a reason why he wore the armband for many games. Nothing wrong with some blue collar who simply tries to do his job.

He took his chance and worked his tail off on the pitch. Yes, not high end skill, but he would probably tell you that himself. As I don't remember him trying to be what he wasn't.

Of course we could have upgraded in that spot. But lets be honest, we could have upgraded on strikers, left back, and until Waston came and took over there was that issue too. I would have chosen to upgrade our central striker way before choosing to upgrade the spot Russel was holding down.

So there is no way he was close to being our worst or getting called out being a negative impact on the team.

He was a holding midfield. And we had the most clean sheets in the league. And was a starter on a playoff team, and a big part of the run we went on, playing in every game and wearing the armband in a few of them.

Far from being a mince player. I'm sure you all can name 3 players that got significant minutes that you rather move on from before naming Russell.
Maddocks, Hurtado and Harvey would be mine.

ForzaWhitecaps
 

Dude

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Of the players that got significant minutes?

Mattocks for sure, Hurtado, and Salgado (though not sure his were significant enough). If Salgado's minutes aren't significant enough to be part of this consideration, I'd let go of Fernandez. Yes, Fernandez. I actually see him as limited in his abilities, though can't argue sound skill, fantastic shot, and a good nose for the net...when the opportunity presents itself. He's not going to overwhelm fullbacks to truly create his own chances, like Camillo did, and he doesn't get into a deep crossing position enough to create from the wing the way I'd like to see. That said, it's the playacting that does it for me. I hate seeing it, and the refs now have a book on him. He showed his cards early on that, then the fake dive on the invisible head slap early in the season did him in. Now he can't buy a call, even when they are legit.

Would love to see Mesquita (SP?) get a shot at the flank. More speed, still very good technically, and responsible. I loved what I saw from him in the short spells, I think he can have a much bigger role in the squad.
 

Dude

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Having a strong opinion does not make me "emotional". I am not your wife. Thank God...

I believe he has no business on an MLS field. If Maris gets an asterisk, then the circumstances of RT becoming a "regular " are absolutely worthy of one too.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to bed to try to forget that I witnessed the slaughter at the Bell Center I N person tonight...

Your argument still lacks teeth.

If you were my wife, you'd be at home right now with a baby latched to your teet, and refusing me my advances- though beeing toothless has merrit.

I'm in Montreal next week, not sure the Bell centre is on the agenda, though.
 

djones

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Sorry to stop the RT love him/hate him banter but the U18's went into probably their toughest weekend of the year down in San Jose California for two games where they were putting their undefeated record to the test without 4 players who are away with the Canadian U20 team and facing a *playoff 4th position San Jose Earthquakes team on the Sunday that have a 9-1-1 record after hammering a very good Crossfire team 4-buzz on Saturday.

The WFC Saturday game turned out to be a straightforward 2-nil win against USSDA newboys Juventus Sporting Club that took the WFC Res boys to a record of 10-0-0.

The Sunday game vs San Jose was gonna be the tough one as the two top teams in their division AND conference face each other with lots on the line.

The final was 4-nil for the WFC boys who now stay a top of the USSDA standings for now.

It should also be mentioned that the Earthquakes were without one of their top players who will be facing the 4 WFC kids when the U.S. U20's play Canada's U20's tomorrow(?) in Spain at a friendly tournament. Canada on this tour tied England's U20's 2-2 and beat Russia's U21's 2-1.

Rumour has it that with the MLS and USL Pro team pre-season training camp coming up, some of the top Res boys won't be back after Christmas and maybe not back for their college showcase in two weeks. That's good news all the way around and hopefully they're able to stick.

If this weekend was an indication of how the Residency would do without some of their "brightest stars", than it does look pretty good.
 

robino

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Who cares about residency?!?! Its youth soccer. Long way away from pro leagues. If any of these kids have true potential then the coach should advice them to go to Europe. Better coaching, better players.
We will see how many of these kids will make a name for themselves or end up playing vmsl.
 

dutch08

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Haven't we been competitive at the U-20 level internationally for a few years now? Whats stopping this from translating into success for the open men's program? I would assume if our U-20s can compete with the likes of European squads (as they're doing now) then they should be able to compete with the regular squads of CONCACAF nations? Can we stop playing the over the hill guys altogether and just take a young team to get them going for the next WC qualification?
 

Dude

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Isn't his point that these prospects are doing quite well at the highest domestic level available to them?

It's the pathway that is broken, and we've all known that for a long time. WFC must get this USL Franchise off the ground, like now, so they can begin to stock it w/ their own homegrown tallent.
 

robino

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USL is a shitty league. The players are not going to improve much playing with/against those type of players. Look across MLS; only handful of players have made a jump from USL to MLS and perform well and are consistent on their team. Dwyer of Sporting Kansas comes to mind, although he is born and raised in England. Waste of time. A kid who is 19, 20 with great potential should head to Europe and try to make it there.
 

STD

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Not really an expert on this whole development thingy but if the USL provides an opportunity for players who are not yet ready to play at the highest level in North America, which is the MLS, and gives them a chance to play pro soccer instead of playing in the VMSL I hardly see that as a bad thing. But yes they should all just go to Europe because that has done wonders for them and our National program over the last 15 plus years.
 

Dude

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Robino...you say it as if there are teams lining up in Europe to take WFC players on loan....

How many players do you realistically expect to pull through your homgrown academy to stick in the MLS, anyhow?

If it is 1-2 / year, you'd have to consider that a huge success, wouldn't you?

Are you saying the ULS is not useful for developing fullbacks, MFs, and keepers? I completely disagree, and besides, as more MLS teams align themselves w/ ULS as a place to play their MLS tweeners, a natural development is that the league, too, will improve.
 

dutch08

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Real Salt Lake, Seattle, Portland, LA and Montreal have all created stand alone USL franchises to foster development. The league jumps from 14 teams to 20 next year (7 joining, 1 moving to the MLS) with some franchises getting some great fan support. Having the backing of strong MLS franchises will give the league stability and we should see the quality improve, I wouldn't be surprised if it overtakes NASL as a 2nd division.

If Vancouver and Toronto follow in Montreal's footsteps, we'll be up to 7 Canadian professional teams, without Bases CSL idea which I doubt would ever find the support to survive as a sustainable league.
 

Dude

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I agree, but your math is fcuked up.

14 + 8 = 22, not twenty. Maybe you meant 7 joining, one leaving (CHIVAS USA)?

What are the other squads joining? Yes, I'm out of touch and too busy to google it myself.
 

dutch08

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I agree, but your math is fcuked up.

14 + 8 = 22, not twenty. Maybe you meant 7 joining, one leaving (CHIVAS USA)?

What are the other squads joining? Yes, I'm out of touch and too busy to google it myself.

Well my original post says 14 + 7 = 21 (in USL), and Orlando is leaving to join the MLS 21 - 1 = 20... I'm sure your hair is still pretty though.

U-20 team beats USA today... Could they have beaten Panama?
 

robino

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No, u20 could not beat Panama. They would get beat quite easily.
USL has been here for many years. How many players have jumped to MLS and performed well?
Last night Teibert played well. He improved greatly from the start of MLS season. I doubt his improvment would be as good good if he stayed and played USL for example.
By the time a player is 19, 20 he needs to play first team ball. They need a chance to play, rather then signing older players (scottish duo for example) That is how you get better. The reason I say Europe is more teams, more chances plus better soccer.
But sure we can re-visit in 5 years and see how many players come through USL.
 

robino

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Second and third division already exists. NASL is second, while USL is third.
Mitchell was brought in from Edmonton, and then got released. It is a big jump from third to first league in any country.
This is not baseball where a pitcher is send down to work on his mechanics, velocity or strike zone. In soccer if you are not being challenged and playing at a certain speed/movement against others, then you will never be able to catch up to the speed of the game.
Majority of players in Europe started playing first team regular when they were 19, 20. For fukc you are not going to be developing players until they are 30, well maybe if we can just spin that somehow.
 

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