Jayden Nelson

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

6 hours ago, SoccMan said:

....I remember that big debate a few years back how Quinlan Roberts should have been the TFC keeper ahead of Bono , the same Quinlan Roberts that went to the CPL with Forge and couldn’t hold down the starting job there either and lost it to Henry. I guess Bobby probably saw the same things that Vanney saw when he picked Bono over Quinlan Roberts . In the end was just not good enough even for the CPL. It actually happens some players just don’t have the talent to make it to the next level no matter how many minutes you play them unfortunately.

We were being told for years on here by the usual suspects that lapped that sort of stuff up that CanPL was needed (having more pro soccer is obviously a good thing regardless so the CSA's moratorium that had been slowing growth in the sport definitely couldn't be imposed forever) because MLS teams weren't giving Canadians a fair shake. Who out of the entire league has subsequently lived up to that sort of rhetoric?

There is plenty of Nationwide Conference or lower half of Serie C level talent out there that can provide a lower division quality in a larger European country level of pro soccer, but the number of younger prospects that can genuinely cut it as a regular starter in MLS are few and far between and they weren't being missed to any significant extent. It's more emotionally palatable to drone on incessantly about iniquitous roster rules than to admit to yourself that you simply weren't good enough though.

 

[gigi riva]

I hope Jayden Nelson gets his chance at Anderlecht . who Like Club Brugge are giants in Belgian Football  

[baulderdash77]

A lot of you guys are missing the mark here.  It’s good news that Nelson is having a trial and could make the move.

His talent has been obvious since he was 17.  He’s been good at the USL level and is ready for a next level up.

TFC as everyone knows really messed up the pathway for a number of players.  On teams that are not competing and are trying to develop players, it’s usual for most of or all of their substitutes to be for bringing their next round of talent into the 1st team.  TFC did that a bit last year but also used a lot of substitute appearances inexplicably on 30 year old journeymen who neither made a difference on the pitch nor developed any youth.
 

 It clearly irked a lot of supporters and of course talent.  Now there will of course be a talent exodus again, and rightfully so since the talent wants a place to play and not just train.

I hope that Nelson makes this move and prospers in Belgium.  It’s a good buy low opportunity for  Anderlecht to get a solid talented player and develop him the way TFC didn’t.

[narduch]

Rollins saying he is only training and will be back with TFC next season.

So i expect to hear news of a transfer shortly.

[Tyler55]

2 hours ago, gigi riva said:

I hope Jayden Nelson gets his chance at Anderlecht . who Like Club Brugge are giants in Belgian Football  

A loan with an option to buy is probably the most likely. Nelson will have a tough time cracking the XI next year and with Bradley as the new GM as well I could see him being sensible. Also as some have mentioned in previous posts if Nelson does well this will boost the rep of the TFC academy abroad, this won't be the last Jayden Nelson caliber player TFC has so it does make sense if they put in an option of a few hundred thousand dollars.

[SoccMan]

15 hours ago, reggietfc said:

and 10 years ago these guys would be making 0 and training at the local gym 2 nights a week

Come on no one wants to hear that sort of reality on here , what is wrong with you .😉

[El Hombre]

5 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

We were being told for years on here by the usual suspects that lapped that sort of stuff up that CanPL was needed (having more pro soccer is obviously a good thing regardless so the CSA's moratorium that had been slowing growth in the sport definitely couldn't be imposed forever) because MLS teams weren't giving Canadians a fair shake. Who out of the entire league has subsequently lived up to that sort of rhetoric?

There is plenty of Nationwide Conference or lower half of Serie C level talent out there that can provide a lower division quality in a larger European country level of pro soccer, but the number of younger prospects that can genuinely cut it as a regular starter in MLS are few and far between and they weren't being missed to any significant extent. It's more emotionally palatable to drone on incessantly about iniquitous roster rules than to admit to yourself that you simply weren't good enough though.

 

 

11 hours ago, SoccMan said:

In the end if these players are good enough and have the right attitude they will have prosperous pro careers . How old was Atiba Hutchinson when he left Canada for Europe almost 20, how about Paul Salteri around 20 , but we are expecting TFC to regularly play 17 and 18 year olds and think an academy player who hasn’t got major minutes and is only 16 to 20 years old has wasted his time with TFC and would have been a superstar already if he was a regular starter. The only Academy player that has earned regular minutes out of all these young TFC players is Priso and anyone with any kind kind of an eye for talent could see that this kid was more or less ready for major minutes the first time he stepped onto the field with the TFC ‘s first team in 2020 . It’s not as simple as just playing a kid over and over again and he will magically improve unless you are a special talent like I think Priso is who was already doing things on the field that guys 10 years older were doing . I remember that big debate a few years back how Quinlan Roberts should have been the TFC keeper ahead of Bono , the same Quinlan Roberts that went to the CPL with Forge and couldn’t hold down the starting job there either and lost it to Henry. I guess Bobby probably saw the same things that Vanney saw when he picked Bono over Quinlan Roberts . In the end was just not good enough even for the CPL. It actually happens some players just don’t have the talent to make it to the next level no matter how many minutes you play them unfortunately.

Both of these posts miss the point spectacularly.  This idea that "if you are good enough, you'll play" is nonsense.  A soccer player needs just as much opportunity/luck as they do skill.  Especially when they come from a country like Canada where geography, lack of infrastructure, and outsider misconceptions (especially in Europe) are all playing against you.

However, in order to frame this a different way, as fans of TFC, how can you be satisfied with the club's (in)ability to identify and develop talent?

Look at the current national team.  Of the latest 23 man-squad, 11 come from the GTA.  Actually, more than that, but I am removing Borjan, Hutch, Eustaquio, Ugbo, and Vitoria from this conversation because they either predated TFC or weren't in the GTA for a significant amount of time for this conversation.  So, with that 11 of 18 players on the national team come from TFC's area. 

How many of those players were developed by TFC?  2 - Mark-Anthony Kaye and Doneil Henry.  How many of those 11 players are on the national team because of their play with TFC?  2 - Osorio and Laryea.  While a case can be made for TFC "developing" Osorio, it definitely can't be said for Laryea who came up through Sigma, NCAA and Orlando.  So, four of the 11 players from in and around the GTA have some tie with TFC.  The other 7 (Alastair Johnston, Kamal Miller, Derek Cornelius, Lucas Cavallini, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin, and Liam Millar) didn't have any relationship with TFC at all as far as I can see (happy to be corrected though).

The point of all this is that TFC is the highest level of soccer in a current hotbed of soccer talent and they are being outperformed in talent identification and development by academies like Sigma and NCAA.  As a fan of the team, how can you be satisfied with this?  There is no reason why TFC doesn't have a pipeline of Canadian talent considering the pool that they have a veritable monopoly on.  Especially considering we are coming up on TFC's 15th season as a professional club and the undisputed highest level of soccer in the province.

Now, you'll say that the fact that all these players making it proves your point, but it doesn't.  A lot of them needed luck to get where they are in addition to skill.  Johnston, Miller, Larin and Buchanan could just as easily got lost in the black hole that is the NCAA and needed an MLS team to actually play them after they got drafted (something that you are arguing against above).  Not everyone has Cornelius', Millar's or Cavallini's connections to go abroad.  Hell, even the players that we are attributing to TFC needed a shit-ton of luck: Laryea fell into TFC's lap when they needed injury cover, Kaye needed a guy like Bradley to see something that no one else saw and Henry and Osorio both needed a chance when they were young.  The issue with this is how many others are we missing?  You say none, I say that's impossible to know but based on TFC's track record, I can guarantee that it is greater than zero.

Forget about calculating how many minutes are played by under 20s or the excuses as to why you can't play kids in MLS. This is the issue: how can a majority of the country's best talent from the GTA have no affiliation in any capacity with the biggest club in the area?  Why do these top level players need to go thru an alternate route?  This is a failure of monumental proportions when you take into account that TFC has been the biggest soccer club and the stablest (and sometimes only) professional environment for the last decade and a half in the entire province.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Not sure what any of that has to do with what I wrote. How do Alistair Johnston, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin and Richie Laryea fit into the equation when what was being pointed out was that Canadian players who are actually good enough will usually be able to find a place in MLS OK and that there hasn't been much evidence so far of CanPL identifying any hidden or discarded talent that was being unfairly denied a shot at that level?

If Jayden Nelson gets a chance to sign for Anderlecht good luck to him. He's under contract with TFC for another year apparently (transfermarkt) so he can only be there with TFC's permission. This may be about trying to get a transfer fee and can always be spun as a trip to gain experience if it doesn't work out. Assuming my French hasn't atrophied too much since high school Anderlecht definitely seem to think it's about arranging a U21 game against RWDM (another Brussels fully pro level club) to help decide if they want to sign a couple of players from North America that they rate:

 

Edited December 11, 2021 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[reggietfc]

26 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

 

Both of these posts miss the point spectacularly.  This idea that "if you are good enough, you'll play" is nonsense.  A soccer player needs just as much opportunity/luck as they do skill.  Especially when they come from a country like Canada where geography, lack of infrastructure, and outsider misconceptions (especially in Europe) are all playing against you.

However, in order to frame this a different way, as fans of TFC, how can you be satisfied with the club's (in)ability to identify and develop talent?

Look at the current national team.  Of the latest 23 man-squad, 11 come from the GTA.  Actually, more than that, but I am removing Borjan, Hutch, Eustaquio, Ugbo, and Vitoria from this conversation because they either predated TFC or weren't in the GTA for a significant amount of time for this conversation.  So, with that 11 of 18 players on the national team come from TFC's area. 

How many of those players were developed by TFC?  2 - Mark-Anthony Kaye and Doneil Henry.  How many of those 11 players are on the national team because of their play with TFC?  2 - Osorio and Laryea.  While a case can be made for TFC "developing" Osorio, it definitely can't be said for Laryea who came up through Sigma, NCAA and Orlando.  So, four of the 11 players from in and around the GTA have some tie with TFC.  The other 7 (Alastair Johnston, Kamal Miller, Derek Cornelius, Lucas Cavallini, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin, and Liam Millar) didn't have any relationship with TFC at all as far as I can see (happy to be corrected though).

The point of all this is that TFC is the highest level of soccer in a current hotbed of soccer talent and they are being outperformed in talent identification and development by academies like Sigma and NCAA.  As a fan of the team, how can you be satisfied with this?  There is no reason why TFC doesn't have a pipeline of Canadian talent considering the pool that they have a veritable monopoly on.  Especially considering we are coming up on TFC's 15th season as a professional club and the undisputed highest level of soccer in the province.

Now, you'll say that the fact that all these players making it proves your point, but it doesn't.  A lot of them needed luck to get where they are in addition to skill.  Johnston, Miller, Larin and Buchanan could just as easily got lost in the black hole that is the NCAA and needed an MLS team to actually play them after they got drafted (something that you are arguing against above).  Not everyone has Cornelius', Millar's or Cavallini's connections to go abroad.  Hell, even the players that we are attributing to TFC needed a shit-ton of luck: Laryea fell into TFC's lap when they needed injury cover, Kaye needed a guy like Bradley to see something that no one else saw and Henry and Osorio both needed a chance when they were young.  The issue with this is how many others are we missing?  You say none, I say that's impossible to know but based on TFC's track record, I can guarantee that it is greater than zero.

Forget about calculating how many minutes are played by under 20s or the excuses as to why you can't play kids in MLS. This is the issue: how can a majority of the country's best talent from the GTA have no affiliation in any capacity with the biggest club in the area?  Why do these top level players need to go thru an alternate route?  This is a failure of monumental proportions when you take into account that TFC has been the biggest soccer club and the stablest (and sometimes only) professional environment for the last decade and a half in the entire province.

nevermind tfc..they are not perfect.they are too busy trying to win stuff.but without mls we are no way near to a world cup like we are now.

[SoccMan]

9 minutes ago, El Hombre said:

 

Both of these posts miss the point spectacularly.  This idea that "if you are good enough, you'll play" is nonsense.  A soccer player needs just as much opportunity/luck as they do skill.  Especially when they come from a country like Canada where geography, lack of infrastructure, and outsider misconceptions (especially in Europe) are all playing against you.

However, in order to frame this a different way, as fans of TFC, how can you be satisfied with the club's (in)ability to identify and develop talent?

Look at the current national team.  Of the latest 23 man-squad, 11 come from the GTA.  Actually, more than that, but I am removing Borjan, Hutch, Eustaquio, Ugbo, and Vitoria from this conversation because they either predated TFC or weren't in the GTA for a significant amount of time for this conversation.  So, with that 11 of 18 players on the national team come from TFC's area. 

How many of those players were developed by TFC?  2 - Mark-Anthony Kaye and Doneil Henry.  How many of those 11 players are on the national team because of their play with TFC?  2 - Osorio and Laryea.  While a case can be made for TFC "developing" Osorio, it definitely can't be said for Laryea who came up through Sigma, NCAA and Orlando.  So, four of the 11 players from in and around the GTA have some tie with TFC.  The other 7 (Alastair Johnston, Kamal Miller, Derek Cornelius, Lucas Cavallini, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin, and Liam Millar) didn't have any relationship with TFC at all as far as I can see (happy to be corrected though).

The point of all this is that TFC is the highest level of soccer in a current hotbed of soccer talent and they are being outperformed in talent identification and development by academies like Sigma and NCAA.  As a fan of the team, how can you be satisfied with this?  There is no reason why TFC doesn't have a pipeline of Canadian talent considering the pool that they have a veritable monopoly on.  Especially considering we are coming up on TFC's 15th season as a professional club and the undisputed highest level of soccer in the province.

Now, you'll say that the fact that all these players making it proves your point, but it doesn't.  A lot of them needed luck to get where they are in addition to skill.  Johnston, Miller, Larin and Buchanan could just as easily got lost in the black hole that is the NCAA and needed an MLS team to actually play them after they got drafted (something that you are arguing against above).  Not everyone has Cornelius', Millar's or Cavallini's connections to go abroad.  Hell, even the players that we are attributing to TFC needed a shit-ton of luck: Laryea fell into TFC's lap when they needed injury cover, Kaye needed a guy like Bradley to see something that no one else saw and Henry and Osorio both needed a chance when they were young.  The issue with this is how many others are we missing?  You say none, I say that's impossible to know but based on TFC's track record, I can guarantee that it is greater than zero.

Forget about calculating how many minutes are played by under 20s or the excuses as to why you can't play kids in MLS. This is the issue: how can a majority of the country's best talent from the GTA have no affiliation in any capacity with the biggest club in the area?  Why do these top level players need to go thru an alternate route?  This is a failure of monumental proportions when you take into account that TFC has been the biggest soccer club and the stablest (and sometimes only) professional environment for the last decade and a half in the entire province.

How many players the world over that are playing pro in European top leagues have actually been developed by the team they are playing on ? Moreover, how many players that play in these pro Academies go on to play in top leagues ? Not many actually make it to the first teams or even top leagues , but we are expecting an Academy that it’s still relatively young compared to so many world wide to produce a ton of top players ? Moreover , some of those players you sighted were  probably not standing out when they were younger. Was Buchanan, Miller, Johnson and a few more you sighted even on the national youth teams radar I don’t think any of those guys I just mentioned played on any youth national teams . I know the CSA just picks MLS academy players for their youth national teams is the next thing people will say , but maybe these players just didn’t stand out at the time players do develop later sometimes . The good thing is that if you have a kid and he was cut or deemed not good enough at a younger age to make a TFC academy team it doesn’t mean that he has no chance of making it as a pro as we have seen. Like I said TFC academy is still relatively young and let’s not forget the youth soccer politics they had to work in when they started , youth soccer politics as someone who has been involved at the level for many years was probably the biggest reason for so many years that compared to all the kids playing youth soccer we were producing so few players . Youth clubs that boasted registration levels of close to 10000 players producing so few players and I’m looking at your Oakville Soccer club which for years had close to 10000 registered players . How many players have come from Oakville for example? Anyways can TFC do better with their Academy of course and hopefully as the years go on they will get better .

[Unnamed Trialist]

3 hours ago, narduch said:

Rollins saying he is only training and will be back with TFC next season.

So i expect to hear news of a transfer shortly.

If Rollins says he is only training I fully expect him to leave football to study dentistry within the week.

[Unnamed Trialist]

1 hour ago, El Hombre said:

 

Both of these posts miss the point spectacularly.  This idea that "if you are good enough, you'll play" is nonsense.  A soccer player needs just as much opportunity/luck as they do skill.  Especially when they come from a country like Canada where geography, lack of infrastructure, and outsider misconceptions (especially in Europe) are all playing against you.

However, in order to frame this a different way, as fans of TFC, how can you be satisfied with the club's (in)ability to identify and develop talent?

Look at the current national team.  Of the latest 23 man-squad, 11 come from the GTA.  Actually, more than that, but I am removing Borjan, Hutch, Eustaquio, Ugbo, and Vitoria from this conversation because they either predated TFC or weren't in the GTA for a significant amount of time for this conversation.  So, with that 11 of 18 players on the national team come from TFC's area. 

How many of those players were developed by TFC?  2 - Mark-Anthony Kaye and Doneil Henry.  How many of those 11 players are on the national team because of their play with TFC?  2 - Osorio and Laryea.  While a case can be made for TFC "developing" Osorio, it definitely can't be said for Laryea who came up through Sigma, NCAA and Orlando.  So, four of the 11 players from in and around the GTA have some tie with TFC.  The other 7 (Alastair Johnston, Kamal Miller, Derek Cornelius, Lucas Cavallini, Tajon Buchanan, Cyle Larin, and Liam Millar) didn't have any relationship with TFC at all as far as I can see (happy to be corrected though).

The point of all this is that TFC is the highest level of soccer in a current hotbed of soccer talent and they are being outperformed in talent identification and development by academies like Sigma and NCAA.  As a fan of the team, how can you be satisfied with this?  There is no reason why TFC doesn't have a pipeline of Canadian talent considering the pool that they have a veritable monopoly on.  Especially considering we are coming up on TFC's 15th season as a professional club and the undisputed highest level of soccer in the province.

Now, you'll say that the fact that all these players making it proves your point, but it doesn't.  A lot of them needed luck to get where they are in addition to skill.  Johnston, Miller, Larin and Buchanan could just as easily got lost in the black hole that is the NCAA and needed an MLS team to actually play them after they got drafted (something that you are arguing against above).  Not everyone has Cornelius', Millar's or Cavallini's connections to go abroad.  Hell, even the players that we are attributing to TFC needed a shit-ton of luck: Laryea fell into TFC's lap when they needed injury cover, Kaye needed a guy like Bradley to see something that no one else saw and Henry and Osorio both needed a chance when they were young.  The issue with this is how many others are we missing?  You say none, I say that's impossible to know but based on TFC's track record, I can guarantee that it is greater than zero.

Forget about calculating how many minutes are played by under 20s or the excuses as to why you can't play kids in MLS. This is the issue: how can a majority of the country's best talent from the GTA have no affiliation in any capacity with the biggest club in the area?  Why do these top level players need to go thru an alternate route?  This is a failure of monumental proportions when you take into account that TFC has been the biggest soccer club and the stablest (and sometimes only) professional environment for the last decade and a half in the entire province.

Interesting analysis, which says a lot about a time when no one thought enough Canadians were good enough to make a dent in MLS. The combination of GTA talent flourishing and TFC having a bad year and still playing mediocre vets is what has aggravated the question.

Now that things have changed, I would turn the argument on its head, partially. Yes, TFC has to do a much better job bringing up talented youth through its system (whether GTA or not), since they supposedly have TFC2 for a reason. But what is not reasonable is to expect a single team to be able to handle the load, especially when its captation area is so large in terms of pure millions. What is not reasonable for anyone to expect a single pro team with a reach of say 8-10 million to be the principal talent identifier in that region. 

Now we have a few low-level pro teams in Ontario, that could balance things. As could the rising quality of L1 Ontario. But it is still, probably, not enough. For what you are describing, you would need multiple top academies with a few streams into pro soccer available, just to assimilate the talent and to use varied models in talent identification. 

This is to let TFC off the hook a bit, I admit. It is unreasonable to ask they do a stellar job and play Ontario boys in every line-up, because we are not talking about what is seen in some European clubs where they cultivate local kids with gusto and have a tradition of doing so. I've seen Barça win Champions with a majority of academy boys on the pitch, but that takes decades, and you need a context to allow it to happen. Beginning with authentically wanting it to happen.

Then, since scouting seems able to identify talent even before kids become men, and the lines to European academies are open and buzzing, perhaps it is not that important. Let's just ask the MLS clubs to do better. And hope the rise of the CPL, and maybe the odd loss in the Voyageurs Cup, pushes them into shifting their mindsets.

Edited December 11, 2021 by Unnamed Trialist

[RS]

[Unnamed Trialist]

2 hours ago, RS said:

We have no idea who this snooker player is, sorry to say.

[El Hombre]

6 hours ago, SoccMan said:

How many players the world over that are playing pro in European top leagues have actually been developed by the team they are playing on ? Moreover, how many players that play in these pro Academies go on to play in top leagues ? Not many actually make it to the first teams or even top leagues , but we are expecting an Academy that it’s still relatively young compared to so many world wide to produce a ton of top players ? Moreover , some of those players you sighted were  probably not standing out when they were younger. Was Buchanan, Miller, Johnson and a few more you sighted even on the national youth teams radar I don’t think any of those guys I just mentioned played on any youth national teams . I know the CSA just picks MLS academy players for their youth national teams is the next thing people will say , but maybe these players just didn’t stand out at the time players do develop later sometimes . The good thing is that if you have a kid and he was cut or deemed not good enough at a younger age to make a TFC academy team it doesn’t mean that he has no chance of making it as a pro as we have seen. Like I said TFC academy is still relatively young and let’s not forget the youth soccer politics they had to work in when they started , youth soccer politics as someone who has been involved at the level for many years was probably the biggest reason for so many years that compared to all the kids playing youth soccer we were producing so few players . Youth clubs that boasted registration levels of close to 10000 players producing so few players and I’m looking at your Oakville Soccer club which for years had close to 10000 registered players . How many players have come from Oakville for example? Anyways can TFC do better with their Academy of course and hopefully as the years go on they will get better .

1) Comparisons to Europe are not ideal due to several very obvious factors.  Instead, find me a European club that has as much unfettered access to so many high-level soccer players with so little competition for their services.  Toronto is in a unique situation.

2) Johnston was invited to under-18 camps, all but Buchanan played U20s with Millar and Cornelius playing at younger levels as well.

[El Hombre]

5 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Interesting analysis, which says a lot about a time when no one thought enough Canadians were good enough to make a dent in MLS. The combination of GTA talent flourishing and TFC having a bad year and still playing mediocre vets is what has aggravated the question.

Now that things have changed, I would turn the argument on its head, partially. Yes, TFC has to do a much better job bringing up talented youth through its system (whether GTA or not), since they supposedly have TFC2 for a reason. But what is not reasonable is to expect a single team to be able to handle the load, especially when its captation area is so large in terms of pure millions. What is not reasonable for anyone to expect a single pro team with a reach of say 8-10 million to be the principal talent identifier in that region. 

Now we have a few low-level pro teams in Ontario, that could balance things. As could the rising quality of L1 Ontario. But it is still, probably, not enough. For what you are describing, you would need multiple top academies with a few streams into pro soccer available, just to assimilate the talent and to use varied models in talent identification. 

This is to let TFC off the hook a bit, I admit. It is unreasonable to ask they do a stellar job and play Ontario boys in every line-up, because we are not talking about what is seen in some European clubs where they cultivate local kids with gusto and have a tradition of doing so. I've seen Barça win Champions with a majority of academy boys on the pitch, but that takes decades, and you need a context to allow it to happen. Beginning with authentically wanting it to happen.

Then, since scouting seems able to identify talent even before kids become men, and the lines to European academies are open and buzzing, perhaps it is not that important. Let's just ask the MLS clubs to do better. And hope the rise of the CPL, and maybe the odd loss in the Voyageurs Cup, pushes them into shifting their mindsets.

Yeah, I'm on board with this. 

My biggest thing is that TFC has the most resources and I feel that it has been a missed opportunity for them.  In my opinion, they should have scouts camped out in Brampton and Scarborough day and night.  They would pay for themselves.

I'm not expecting TFC to develop all the talent.  But you would've thought that with the right infrastructure and the right resources, they would've had first dibs  After 15 years, I would've hoped that their academy would've been more of a stepping stone, not just to the TFC first team but to other opportunities.  I can only conclude that they have been either terrible at scouting/identification or terrible at development.  Neither are great for the area.

I think with CPL and L1O and Canada's rising reputation in the sport things will get better, but I still see that as another 5 years off. 

[gigi riva]

Looks like Belgium has become a good home for Canadian players to develop. To be honest who can hate on a country like Belgium. Any Country who 's main economic goal is to make Both Beer and Chocolate taste better sounds like a cool place to me.

[An Observer]

11 hours ago, gigi riva said:

Looks like Belgium has become a good home for Canadian players to develop. To be honest who can hate on a country like Belgium. Any Country who 's main economic goal is to make Both Beer and Chocolate taste better sounds like a cool place to me.

And French fries!

[Shway]

21 hours ago, El Hombre said:

…The point of all this is that TFC is the highest level of soccer in a current hotbed of soccer talent and they are being outperformed in talent identification and development by academies like Sigma and NCAA.  As a fan of the team, how can you be satisfied with this?  There is no reason why TFC doesn't have a pipeline of Canadian talent considering the pool that they have a veritable monopoly on.  Especially considering we are coming up on TFC's 15th season as a professional club and the undisputed highest level of soccer in the province.

Now, you'll say that the fact that all these players making it proves your point, but it doesn't.  A lot of them needed luck to get where they are in addition to skill.  Johnston, Miller, Larin and Buchanan could just as easily got lost in the black hole that is the NCAA and needed an MLS team to actually play them after they got drafted (something that you are arguing against above).  Not everyone has Cornelius', Millar's or Cavallini's connections to go abroad.  Hell, even the players that we are attributing to TFC needed a shit-ton of luck: Laryea fell into TFC's lap when they needed injury cover, Kaye needed a guy like Bradley to see something that no one else saw and Henry and Osorio both needed a chance when they were young.  The issue with this is how many others are we missing?  You say none, I say that's impossible to know but based on TFC's track record, I can guarantee that it is greater than zero.…

And to your point about TFC identification, I think it’s worse when you look at the national team and see the amount of guys who had no youth national team caps. 

Reason why I think we’re in fortunate times (maybe an anomaly)and don’t think we really change what we structurally do. Example we still haven’t had any youth camps.

[Tyler55]

44 minutes ago, Shway said:

And to your point about TFC identification, I think it’s worse when you look at the national team and see the amount of guys who had no youth national team caps. 

Reason why I think we’re in fortunate times (maybe an anomaly)and don’t think we really change what we structurally do. Example we still haven’t had any youth camps.

Canada soccer just announced that the women's u20 and u17 team are having a camp in Mexico soon, to prepare for youth tournaments. Maybe we see the men with something similar in the new year. I do agree nothing has structurally changed but we've long known money is the problem, new sponsors coming in is promising.

[gator]

4 hours ago, Tyler55 said:

Canada soccer just announced that the women's u20 and u17 team are having a camp in Mexico soon, to prepare for youth tournaments. Maybe we see the men with something similar in the new year. I do agree nothing has structurally changed but we've long known money is the problem, new sponsors coming in is promising.

I spoke with someone last week who is ITK about the CSA, their claim is not that there isn't money, it is how it is distributed!

[Footyeh]

1 hour ago, gator said:

I spoke with someone last week who is ITK about the CSA, their claim is not that there isn't money, it is how it is distributed!

Can second this!  

I've heard about a potential U20 mens camp in the new year though so lets hope that happens.

[Shway]

2 hours ago, gator said:

I spoke with someone last week who is ITK about the CSA, their claim is not that there isn't money, it is how it is distributed!

Well they have released their annual reports where they show the questionable distribution. 

We’re a few camps behind our rivals, let’s hope in 2022 we see somethings new. 

[Macksam]

My opinion on the whole TFC and the abysmal record of developing players while they are in the backyard of a talent rich are? Well, that's just their prerogative, almost makes me wish that Red Bull choose us as their MLS destination rather than New York. Now, the initial knee jerk reaction by people will be "No!!! We can't have such soulless corporate brand as our team's moniker!!!" but these same idiots are perfectly fine with supporting a club that has a soulless corporation in Bell/Rogers owning the team. The question then becomes do you want a subversive devil or the devil that reveals itself?

Edited December 12, 2021 by Macksam

[Matro25]

1 hour ago, Macksam said:

My opinion on the whole TFC and the abysmal record of developing players while they are in the backyard of a talent rich are? Well, that's just their prerogative, almost makes me wish that Red Bull choose us as their MLS destination rather than New York. Now, the initial knee jerk reaction by people will be "No!!! We can't have such soulless corporate brand as our team's moniker!!!" but these same idiots are perfectly fine with supporting a club that has a soulless corporation in Bell/Rogers owning the team. The question then becomes do you want a subversive devil or the devil that reveals itself?

Is that how people refer to the NY red bulls? I thought it was just a moniker for Leipzig.