bisbee

Field of 32 starts today in Frisco, Texas to determine final 8 teams that play for National Championship next month in Milwaukee. All three Zips who are arriving for fall play will be in action. DeAndre Yedlin with Seattle Sounders, Will Trapp with Columbus Crew and Brian Gallego with NY Red Bulls. Caleb will be there watching his future guys perform.

What sport does he play? He's listed as a guard haha Also, that says "Freshman", but he has played in college for 3 years?! Plays center mid

I am so glad to be a part of Akron soccer

Interesting but no way do the vast majority of kids get these sorts of opportunities

Anyone have any updates on the situation with these potential players?

Unfortunately the results of the U18 games are all too typical: a tie and a loss

Another name to add to this list is Jake Fenlason, a keeper from FC San Diego. He has committed according to ESPNRise. His coach is Aodhan Quinn's father. Coincidence? What are we going to do with another GK? Meves is probably never going be taken out unless we are way ahead or he gets hurt. Poni is our backup. Andrian McAdams will probably never play as it is, why a fourth keeper? I agree and don't understand why the kid would want to come to Akron and probably not play much or at all. Always amazes me when guys commit to programs that already have two or more experienced keepers. Especially one who is not a national level recruit. Could it be that Caleb isn't 100% sold on Meves, and is bringing in competition to either spark, or supplant him? I suppose this is possible but the kid from california isnt even playing for an academy level team. If porter was interested in a new keeper he would have been recruiting guys from the get go.

Another name to add to this list is Jake Fenlason, a keeper from FC San Diego. He has committed according to ESPNRise. His coach is Aodhan Quinn's father. Coincidence? What are we going to do with another GK? Meves is probably never going be taken out unless we are way ahead or he gets hurt. Poni is our backup. Andrian McAdams will probably never play as it is, why a fourth keeper? I agree and don't understand why the kid would want to come to Akron and probably not play much or at all. Always amazes me when guys commit to programs that already have two or more experienced keepers. Especially one who is not a national level recruit.

It has to be a huge step up for these guys coming from college to the pros. Give them time to adjust and then it will be more reasonable to evaluate their success/failure.

Well it is good to hear Speas will keep playing. As for future pro signings. Trapp and Souders will at least play one year at Akron. I know for a fact that Barson will be at Akron this year. He was offered a Pro Contract with the Crew right after the National Championship game and he turned it down. I believe he wants to get his degree from Akron, or the majority of his classes (isnt the kid a 4.0 pre med student?). None of these guys are going to turn pro until at least 1 year at Akron. If you look at the payscale of HGP's vs. GenAdidas kids, it makes zero financial sense for someone to take the HGP contract if they think they can get a GenAd deal. Trapp and possibly others are definitely GenAd candidates. Jack McInerney I think they can get signed to a GA contract without even doing a year of college. Looking back on previous GA contract recipients, not all of them even made it to college. Yeah but that is saved for incredibly special cases...Jack McInerny, Luis Gil, Omar Salgado and Zach Herold were the only ones signed in the last two years and prior to that everyone has been in Residency. If they aren't signed to a GA by now they won't be signed until after a year of college. Oh WOW! I have been wondering for a while now, whatever happened to Zac Herold? He reportedly had signed an LOI with UCF. Didn't know he was drafted by TFC. What a shame -- he was a great prospect, with international class moves and pace. Yeah, stuff like that is just so sad. Kid worked his whole life and finally made it only to find out he can't play because of something that might happen. USSF required all players attending U18 training camp to have a normal ECG on record before attending camp. There is an emphasis on diagnosing possible cardiac anomalies to prevent sudden cardiac death although the occurence is not particularly common. There is a whole debate on the interpretation of ECG changes in persons who have an "athletic heart" as the results can prove to be misleading.

I thought when UA signed Ben that he was Top Drawer Soccer's #1 in his class. (Edit: I just read ZIP's post which makes more sense given that Ben missed his final year playing at CVCA due to injury.) I hope he left because he found a way into the pro ranks with the Crew (as a homegrown), but I don't know if that's possible at this time. I believe Top Drawer's decision to move Speas to the top was based on his offensive exploits and potential, shown with the Crew Academy. He was playing a defensive mid or center mid with the national team while at Bradenton. His athleticism is strong enough that he still has the potential to be a real threat as an attacking mid/winger. It will be very interesting to find out where he lands. I hope he does not try to go overseas professionally, as that is a route shown so many times to be a dead end for young Americans. Hope he can find a way into MLS. Can't imagine why he would transfer, unless CP's scouting is different from what we've seen. I think he woulda/shoula been a starter this season. Why is trying to play overseas often times a dead end? What happens?

I know that Quinn plays MF what about Bonilla? No matter what it will be sorted out by the beginning of August

I thought when UA signed Ben that he was Top Drawer Soccer's #1 in his class. (Edit: I just read ZIP's post which makes more sense given that Ben missed his final year playing at CVCA due to injury.) I hope he left because he found a way into the pro ranks with the Crew (as a homegrown), but I don't know if that's possible at this time. In answer to my own question, it is possible at this time...Horton is Crew's first homegrown player That significantly weakens Louisville, especially with their drug issues. Good for the Zips. If this is true, Speas is a major loss. All the other defections can be sustained. I wonder at the circumstances surrounding this. How did Speas look this Spring? Porter did not seem to be at all pleased with the performance of the team this Spring. Might that have something to do with his departure? Didn't Baloguin spend a alot of time at MF this Spring...maybe that had something to do with it?

I know Bisbee will be there and I am thinking about going as well. The fact that it's televised may make me stay here though, I'd rather buy plane tickets for a game I know I won't be able to see. I will definitely be at the Cal State Northridge Tournament and the UC Santa Barbara game.

hahahaha....adding to the comment by thetank does any one know why there has been such a large roster turnover? I can imagine it would be difficult to get PT up top with the number of forwards on the roster.

Captain .... Go stand in the corner. You deserve a time-out for that one. can you hear the giant groan radiating from Zip Nation? BIG GROAN from me...perhaps it was more difficult for the kid not speaking english then he imagined. How would he have taken any classes? Afterall bottom line is that they are all students.

Sounds as if Sporting Chance USA is in fact based in the United Kingdom. I wonder if this youngster was a participant in the February camp at Stiles Center. Yes,it definitely is located in England and it attempts to get British kids into American colleges/universities to play sports.

Sporting Chance USA is proud to announce that one of its Men's Soccer clients; David Mayer has committed to the leading NCAA Div 1 Men's Soccer program at Akron University, Ohio. Akron can claim the leading NCAA Div 1 Men's Soccer programme for 2010, so to get an athlete into a programme of this stature is something of an achievement. Over the past few weeks, David has been considering excellent offers of scholarship from a number of top NCAA Div 1 universities, but after much deliberation decided the Akron programme was the one that would offer him the greatest challenge, both soccer wise and academically. David who comes from Cheshire was a 2-year youth scholar at Wigan Athletic FC before being released in 2009/2010. He is an outstanding left side defender and the excellent action videos he provided from Wigan Athletic, combined with our own editing facility, enabled our Marketing Consultant; John Sparks to carry out a top class marketing job for David. David will join his new team mates in August 2011 and we would like to wish him every success. We will certainly keep a keen eye on his progress at Akron.

Not a surprising result. These are young guys playing against professionals and many of the U18 guys have never played together before.

Agree with the tank. Gallego,Trapp,and Yedlin are the real deal and will add the pieces missing from this spring. Anyone know what happened to Tulloch?

Where doI go to buy season tickets online? Do players get free tickets for family members?

I'd pitch in 50 bucks I would also fork over some dough...perhaps we could raise additional monies from naming rights for the seats BTW: My grandson (DeAndre Yedlin) was recruited by botn New Mexico and Cal Poly so those games will give him extra incentive

For those who can speak/read Spanish: Amistoso Combinado Juvenil Rayo vs Akron Aparentemente, perdone me, it appears this was Rayo Vallecano's youth academy (Juvenil) rather than their senior reserve squad per the story. Is that the case? The table on la izquierda de la pagina, left side shows RV in first -- but not sure if that's who we played. Alguien tienen otras ideas? Mi Espanol leyendo no es demasiado bueno. From what Coach Porter said it was mostly U18 kids. U18's in Development Academy can be born as early as 92, not sure of the cut off over there. Would have been cool to see the result with the full freshman class playing.

TDS has an interesting, if somewhat critical, take on the US U17MNT's recent performance: http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/players-to-...l-full-of-holes

Hey,what's not to like?