2023 NCAA + U Sports

[Stoppage Time]

3 hours ago, Kadenge said:

There's  still big gaps re scouting in Canada. Too many high end players seem to go unnoticed at various  levels, including our National youth teams,

And, it is not rocket science!

"Hello, amateur soccer club (or academy) TD? This is a guy from the CSA U-15 staff. We are putting together a list of players to watch. Can you recommend any players in your club, or against whom your club has played, for us to come and watch and keep an eye on?

"CSA? Never heard of you."

"We exist. It is true. Anyway, which players would be best to watch? We want to run an identification camp in your region in X weeks. Do you have any tape? Are there any upcoming matches we should watch?"

"Uh, yes. There a couple of guys to notice."

"OK. BTW, can you suggest a good local judge of talent? We are a bit short staffed and would love to get  some local guys involved to watch and notice"

"Yeah, sure. Let me make a call or two. Are you sure that you are from the CSA? I saw a couple of Croatian guys around here last month."

"Yes, we are. You have to believe us!"

"OK. We will send you some information."

"Thank you!"

See? You make a few calls and you network. Not so hard.

[SoccMan]

5 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

And, it is not rocket science!

"Hello, amateur soccer club (or academy) TD? This is a guy from the CSA U-15 staff. We are putting together a list of players to watch. Can you recommend any players in your club, or against whom your club has played, for us to come and watch and keep an eye on?

"CSA? Never heard of you."

"We exist. It is true. Anyway, which players would be best to watch? We want to run an identification camp in your region in X weeks. Do you have any tape? Are there any upcoming matches we should watch?"

"Uh, yes. There a couple of guys to notice."

"OK. BTW, can you suggest a good local judge of talent? We are a bit short staffed and would love to get  some local guys involved to watch and notice"

"Yeah, sure. Let me make a call or two. Are you sure that you are from the CSA? I saw a couple of Croatian guys around here last month."

"Yes, we are. You have to believe us!"

"OK. We will send you some information."

"Thank you!"

See? You make a few calls and you network. Not so hard.

But that’s too much work for the vast majority of these well paid TD technical directors of these youth clubs and also the coaches and people involved with the CSA. I’ll tell you what one of the major problem with youth soccer at all levels in Canada . The vast majority of coaches and administrators are just in it for the money and God forbid they go out of their way to do anything extra . We had an ex national team player who played his club ball in England and here in Canada also coached professionally who was hired by a local GTA youth soccer club and made a very good salary there for a few years that to this day still don’t know what  his position was at said club and what warranted the big salary . We don’t have enough people in the game at the youth level that care enough I’m sorry, I’ve been around the game at the youth level for a long time and we just don’t have enough people that really care in the end .

[nolando]

7 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

And, it is not rocket science!

"Hello, amateur soccer club (or academy) TD? This is a guy from the CSA U-15 staff. We are putting together a list of players to watch. Can you recommend any players in your club, or against whom your club has played, for us to come and watch and keep an eye on?

"CSA? Never heard of you."

"We exist. It is true. Anyway, which players would be best to watch? We want to run an identification camp in your region in X weeks. Do you have any tape? Are there any upcoming matches we should watch?"

"Uh, yes. There a couple of guys to notice."

"OK. BTW, can you suggest a good local judge of talent? We are a bit short staffed and would love to get  some local guys involved to watch and notice"

"Yeah, sure. Let me make a call or two. Are you sure that you are from the CSA? I saw a couple of Croatian guys around here last month."

"Yes, we are. You have to believe us!"

"OK. We will send you some information."

"Thank you!"

See? You make a few calls and you network. Not so hard.

I watched a BCSPL match for 2010 boys in the spring that was also attended by Whitecaps and Canada scouts, the latter presumably looking ahead to U15s. I was completely shocked to see them out. So it does happen, but only very occasionally, at least in Greater Vancouver.

[Stoppage Time]

3 hours ago, SoccMan said:

But that’s too much work for the vast majority of these well paid TD technical directors of these youth clubs and also the coaches and people involved with the CSA. I’ll tell you what one of the major problem with youth soccer at all levels in Canada . The vast majority of coaches and administrators are just in it for the money and God forbid they go out of their way to do anything extra . We had an ex national team player who played his club ball in England and here in Canada also coached professionally who was hired by a local GTA youth soccer club and made a very good salary there for a few years that to this day still don’t know what  his position was at said club and what warranted the big salary . We don’t have enough people in the game at the youth level that care enough I’m sorry, I’ve been around the game at the youth level for a long time and we just don’t have enough people that really care in the end .

Well, you do! Maybe there are a couple of others you know who feel the same way.

[Stoppage Time]

1 hour ago, nolando said:

I watched a BCSPL match for 2010 boys in the spring that was also attended by Whitecaps and Canada scouts, the latter presumably looking ahead to U15s. I was completely shocked to see them out. So it does happen, but only very occasionally, at least in Greater Vancouver.

Encouraging. I wonder how often this actually happens. It should be a constant thing.

[nolando]

1 hour ago, Stoppage Time said:

Encouraging. I wonder how often this actually happens. It should be a constant thing.

I'm sure they work closely with all three MLS Academies. It's beyond that bubble, and the kids who might not be on anyone's radar, that is of more interest and concern to me.

[Unnamed Trialist]

The question of CPL academies is a good one. 

In Ontario and Quebec the season is long enough to justify playing in League One. But not elsewhere, not nationally.

Basically, the only way to make it work, say u-19, or u-21, would be to have a CPL academies league, fly with the first teams, play some other time on the same day. Like Youth League in Europe. Or do a few tournaments a year. But for that you'd need a sponsor, an academy or development sponsor. You'd need 2 million from the league.

Edited December 28, 2023 by Unnamed Trialist

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

11 hours ago, SoccMan said:

...We had an ex national team player who played his club ball in England and here in Canada also coached professionally who was hired by a local GTA youth soccer club and made a very good salary there for a few years that to this day still don’t know what  his position was at said club and what warranted the big salary ...

For the sake of the argument let's call him Jimmy and refer to the club as Northern Lights FC. I guess the name recognition involved maybe helped boost registration numbers a bit even if he didn't do very much after that? A case of having the right connections and the necessary time on his hands to be able to easily do the highest level coaching courses that clubs need to have on board to meet requirements for certain leagues even if said coach isn't very hands on with day-to-day operations would be my guess.

[Stryker911]

On 12/18/2023 at 11:38 AM, El Diego said:

This Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau immediately jumps out... 14 goals in less than 900 minutes?? According to his profile on the St. John's website, he missed his junior year due to a torn ACL. He didn't get a start as a sophomore and scored his only goal in the first round of the NCAA tournament. As a freshman he only appeared in one game as a sub.

As a redshirt junior, he still barely started (played in 17 matches but only started in 2). However, he somehow managed 14 goals which was tied for best in the nation (in the regular season). I don't know if he didn't start because he was coming off the ACL injury, or if there was actually someone ahead of him. One of his two starts came in the Big East tournament game at the end of the year. He was an all-Big East first team selection (another all-Big East first team player, Jacob Murrell, is projected as a top pick in the upcoming MLS Draft).

Here's a video of his goals from this season. Wonderful left foot. Interestingly, he has the armband in these clips, which makes me think his minutes were managed due to injury. He must have taken a medical redshirt for his junior year as I saw him listed as a redshirt junior, so if he comes back for a redshirt senior season it will be interesting to see how many goals he can put up, assuming he is healthy to start every match.

 

Scored this morning in a friendly.

[masster]

On 12/19/2023 at 4:30 PM, El Diego said:

Whitecaps picked Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau in the 3rd round. Intrigued by this guy...

He signed for WFC2. Another Canadian to watch.

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/wfc2-sjoberg-goldthorp-fleuriauchateau

[Unnamed Trialist]

14 hours ago, masster said:

He signed for WFC2. Another Canadian to watch.

https://www.whitecapsfc.com/news/wfc2-sjoberg-goldthorp-fleuriauchateau

Hey Mass, I think you may go to WFC2 matches. Are there any fans at those games, how is the ambience? They are at a utility field at UBC, right?

Just curious as I haven't seen them since they played at Thunderbird in PDL. At least back then there was fan support and you felt that helped, not sure it is the case anymore.