soccer america

[TennZip]

http://www.socceramerica.com/article/47880...son-top-25.html

[Z.I.P.]

Zips Look to Go to Koroma. From Soccer America piece.

[Zip_ME87]

Zips Look to Go to Koroma. From Soccer America piece.

[ELITE EIGHT: #2 Akron] Akron didn't suffer the wholesale losses it did in 2011 when it had seven players from its national championship team taken in the MLS SuperDraft and five in the first eight picks. But the loss of Jamaican Darren Mattocks, who went with the No. 2 pick to Vancouver, leaves the Zips without a proven go-to goal scorer for the first time since Steve Zakuani arrived in 2008.

Going into 2009, were our proven goal scorer(s) Sophomores Teal Bunbury and/or Darlington Nagbe? I don't recall how many goals they scored as Freshmen in 2008.

[fknbuflobo]

[ELITE EIGHT: #2 Akron] Akron didn't suffer the wholesale losses it did in 2011 when it had seven players from its national championship team taken in the MLS SuperDraft and five in the first eight picks. But the loss of Jamaican Darren Mattocks, who went with the No. 2 pick to Vancouver, leaves the Zips without a proven go-to goal scorer for the first time since Steve Zakuani arrived in 2008.

Going into 2009, were our proven goal scorer(s) Sophomores Teal Bunbury and/or Darlington Nagbe? I don't recall how many goals they scored as Freshmen in 2008.

Yes, I recall feeling so dejected after the NCAA took away our home tourney match, and then Zakuani turned pro.

From where was the scoring to come? How do we replace 20 goals?

It seems laughable now.

[Zip_ME87]

Yes, I recall feeling so dejected after the NCAA took away our home tourney match, and then Zakuani turned pro.

From where was the scoring to come? How do we replace 20 goals?

It seems laughable now.

Yeah, I felt dejected when Steve left for the MLS draft, but I was completely re-energized in January 2009 when the MLS Commissioner said With the 1st pick in the 2009 MLS Superdraft, the Seattle Sounders select, from the University of Akron, forward Steve Zakuani. What a great day in Zips sports...#1 overall draft pick!

[fknbuflobo]

Yeah, I felt dejected when Steve left for the MLS draft, but I was completely re-energized in January 2009 when the MLS Commissioner said With the 1st pick in the 2009 MLS Superdraft, the Seattle Sounders select, from the University of Akron, forward Steve Zakuani. What a great day in Zips sports...#1 overall draft pick!

We will see that again.

[yazan07]

We will see that again.

Maybe, but don't you think most of best players from here on out will be academy products already affiliated with a club who will not be in the draft? Or am I confused about the rules?

[fknbuflobo]

Maybe, but don't you think most of best players from here on out will be academy products already affiliated with a club who will not be in the draft? Or am I confused about the rules?

You may be right.

Introduce yourself tomorrow and explain it to me. I have never totally understood how the academy thing works.

[Zip_ME87]

Maybe, but don't you think most of best players from here on out will be academy products already affiliated with a club who will not be in the draft? Or am I confused about the rules?

I'm not sure I completely understand the rules, but I thought that Academy players still had the right to sign with Generation Adidas if they leave college early.

[fknbuflobo]

I'm not sure I completely understand the rules, but I thought that Academy players still had the right to sign with Generation Adidas if they leave college early.

I thought the same.

[Zip_ME87]

#1 overall draft pick!

We will see that again.

Yeah, we should have seen that again in 2012 had Montreal not passed on the, hopefully, soon-to-be MLS Rookie of the Year.

[Zip_ME87]

This is from Wikipedia, which I know can have errors. However, this supports Yaznasty's point.

Home Grown Player is a player development program in Major League Soccer aimed at allowing clubs to develop locally-based players without exposing them to the auspices of the MLS SuperDraft. Such players are signed by clubs to Generation adidas contracts which do not count against the MLS salary cap and usually earn a much higher salary than the league minimum.

To be eligible for the program, players must have resided in the signing club's home territory (usually defined as a 75-mile radius from the club's home stadium) and have participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. The club then must place a Discovery Claim on that player. 17 of the 19 current MLS clubs have their own in-house "academies," while the Philadelphia Union and Portland Timbers outsource their youth development systems to other locally-based independent soccer clubs.

If a claimed player decides to go to college, for him to retain his Home Grown status he must have participated in a minimum of 80 games and/or training sessions with his youth club before departing for college. To retain his status while in college, the player must participate in a minimum of 30 games/training sessions with their previous club during their college career.

Those players who were named to a US or Canadian Youth National Team before joining an MLS club-affiliated youth development program are not eligible for the Home Grown Player program.

There is no limit to the number of Home Grown Players a club may sign in a given year, but each club may have no more than two Home Growns on their first-team roster.