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Neat read concerning the MLS academies.

Andy Najar and MLS academies

From the article above....

"The program now fields teams in four age brackets and operates on a $500,000 annual budget, a sizable sum in a league where payrolls are capped at $2.55 million. After three years of play, the U-16s have won two national championships and finished second once. The U-18s were national finalists last year."

I assume this is the Academy National Championships and not the USYSA National Championships? I don't remember Discoveries knocking off DC United in the final last July.

So what are the clubs, who serve the other 95% of players, doing to address the many deficiencies identified by the Academy program? Are they practicing more and playing fewer games or tournaments? Or do they disagree with the USSF's assessment, and believe there's nothing wrong with the system as it is? If your kid wants to play at a higher level, how would you feel about his chances if he stepped off of the club soccer carousel?

Didn't bother reading the article but did read the wording under the picture ...

Until the youth (read: 14-18) in America are competing with and against older (read: 18+) players on a more regular basis -- all this USYSA, USSF DA, Super Duper stuff means nothing!

Proof? The rest of the world!