The Academy Showcase. When academy teams play in this tournament it is a great opportunity to see some of the best talent from around the country. You can see everybody in one place but is everybody really there? Who are the best? For whatever reason, most MLS academy teams are not the best. With the exception of Red Bull, Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas most of the MLS academy teams are not as good as you would think. They have a team in an age group that does well but most of the teams are not quite there. I’m not really sure why, maybe because the talent is diluted or maybe it’s because the non-MLS teams know they have to work harder to find talent so they actually go and look for kids who can play. PDA out of New Jersey is one of the best teams in the country and a non-MLS team.
We should have more pride in our MLS teams and anyone who puts on an MLS jersey should be way above average.
ODP, the once great program for developing talent now almost extinct should be working hard to find the group of kids who are not picked up by academy teams. When the Regional teams are selected they should play in the Academy showcases whether they are part of the academy system or not. Boca United FC out of Florida has been invited in, a non-academy member so why not the the regional teams. The fact is, there are many kids who have the ability to play who are simply not picked up by the academy . Therefore, it would be nice if the 4 regional teams were in the mix in these tournaments.
the D'Agostino Philosophy 