MLS youth development: International competent improves competition
The new MLS youth development program intends to include an international competent. This will provide a greater competition level than the U.S. Development Academy did.
Major League Soccer youth development academies will expand to absorb players from the U.S. Soccer Development Academy which folded in mid-April. And the increased international development of United States youth will represent a major selling point for MLS youth development academies filling the void when the U.S. Soccer program shut down.
The Liga MX juniors have set the highest standards for youth development. They won two FIFA U-17 World Cups, finished runners-up in two, and won gold at the 2012 Summer Olympics. MLS has paid attention to the details of Liga MX youth development, hoping to glean what worked in Mexico and attributing it to the U.S.
More from MLS Multiplex
- Javier Milei Elected in Argentina: Potential Impacts on MLS and Signings of Argentine Players
- Orlando City and New York City FC in the Battle for Matías Arezo; Grêmio Enters Negotiations! Who Will Come Out on Top?
- USA, Honduras, Panama, and Canada Close in on a Spot in the 2024 Copa America
- De Gea Turns Down Al-Nassr’s Lucrative Offer: Speculation Points to Possible Reunion with Messi at Inter Miami
- Messi’s Magnetic Impact in the United States
LA Galaxy general manager Dennis te Kloese worked with the Mexican federation, Tigres and Chivas Guadalajara. He has spoken out on the program’s successes and, most importantly, how they score success.
“It made it very important for each and every club to step up to the occasion and don’t come up with publicly-noted results that were negative,” te Kloese told mlssoccer.com. “If, for example, Tigres plays Monterrey, it’s pretty big news for a U-20 and a U-17 at that point already. And it creates, I think, good experiences for players.”
He said that the Liga MX first teams stepped up on coaching, scouting, and facilities for their U-20 and U-17 teams. They even added regional divisions of the U-15 and U-13 levels. The academies play a schedule that mirrors those first teams and frequently travel alongside their senior counterparts.
The United States is so sprawling and so intimidating for youth league travel that considering trips to destinations in Mexico isn’t any more unreasonable. And making such a travel investment to take youth players to a new level of competition might be worth the price.
Stepping up youth competition also answers one of the strongest complaints against the U.S Soccer Development Academy. Even some supporters of that defunct program complained that the level of competition contributed to a sometimes sterile environment.
FC Dallas president Dan Hunt suggested the international emphasis might evolve into a youth edition of CONCACAF Champions League. That confederation’s only such event now in existence is for U-13 boys.
Hunt’s organization has regularly sent the FC Dallas U-17 squad to the Liga MX Internacional. They usually join academies from LA Galaxy, Toronto FC and Atlanta United FC. They face teams such as Club America, Chivas, Pachuca, and Atlas.
Dallas has the most appearances by an MLS club in this tournament. But with the added international emphasis that MLS plans to make, other squads will do their best to catch up.
MLS: Top 5 African players in league history. dark. Next
Improving the international component of MLS youth development isn’t just intending to fill a hole left in the loss of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy. MLS intends to take youth soccer to a new, higher plateau of competition, and crossing the border will be integral to that plan.