Vancouver FC - 2024 Season Thread

[SpursFlu]

6 minutes ago, Watchmen said:

VFC more concerned with internationals than local talent. 😉

I see the wink but he's from Surrey and there were 2 other Whitecaps kids from Surrey on Canada's U17. Would be very interesting in they would pry away from the Caps

[MtlMario]

I wonder (if he becomes good enough) if he'll switch to Canada or he's set on Ireland?

[MM3/MM2/MM]

20 hours ago, MtlMario said:

I wonder (if he becomes good enough) if he'll switch to Canada or he's set on Ireland?

Nobody is set for Ireland.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

They are supposed to be referred to as the Republic of Ireland in a soccer context due to the terms of the deal between the IFA, FAI and FIFA back around the 1950s or so that ended the era of both national associations on the island of Ireland fielding teams under the name Ireland.

Not sure whether signing for Vancouver FC is the most sensible move at his age if it means he mainly winds up playing down in L1BC this summer rather than MLS Next Pro because points rather than development is the name of the game in CanPL and if having a pro contract means he can't play in the top lower Mainland BC amateur leagues over the winter, but I don't think it's a bad thing to have alternatives to keep people on their toes. 

Antoine Coupland and Easton Ongaro's career trajectories show how players can still wind up in the Whitecaps system after playing in CanPL and overseas in Europe. Wouldn't be surprised if that ultimately also unfolds with Grady McDonnell.

[jdheid]

4 hours ago, MM3/MM2/MM said:

Nobody is set for Ireland.

🤣

[SpursFlu]

I think Grady McDonald and I guess the people around him are like we think we're good enough the moment we turn 18 we'll get a good opportunity in Europe. Our best way to have that happen is when we turn 18 is to be signed to a CPL contract not an MLS contract

[red card]

Compared to playing on an academy team or a 3rd division league, getting a certain level of minutes in a D1 league means he should get on the radar of various teams. 

For example, City Football Group, gets an alert on their database, when any player aged 16-21 in the world plays their first 500 senior minutes. They are immediately added to a list for one of the scouts to watch and decide whether they should be tracked for any one of their network clubs.

 

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

People on here make way too much of this third division vs D1 stuff. The pecking order for most people between the Andorran league and League One in England isn't determined by which one is a D1 and which one is a D3 in sanctioning terms. Also worth noting that top European clubs appeared to be highly aware of Jakheele Marshall-Rutty's potential before he featured regularly in TFC's first team and before an alert would have been triggered in the City Football Group database.

On the one hand talking about the Whitecaps closing down their academy because a CanPL team has the audacity to poach one of their prospects reeks of complacent entitlement, while on the other assuming that the CanPL pathway is always going to be the answer looks highly dubious given how many CanPL players like Borges, Attardo, Coupland, Ongaro and Pepple have performed when provided with a European opportunity after doing well in CanPL terms.

Edited January 20 by Ozzie_the_parrot

[Aird25]

I'm jealous of Vancouver's commitment to local players. I keep hoping Pacific will sign more island raised players like Liam MacKenzie, Dario Zanatta, Callum Montgomery etc. and give some kids from our youth teams a shot

[SoccMan]

20 hours ago, SpursFlu said:

I think Grady McDonald and I guess the people around him are like we think we're good enough the moment we turn 18 we'll get a good opportunity in Europe. Our best way to have that happen is when we turn 18 is to be signed to a CPL contract not an MLS contract

Signing a pro contract be it in CPL or MLS is great but performing once you are there is another thing . Moreover, also depends on what kind of MLS contract you are signing no? If you are Akinola you aren’t going to go sign in the CPL for 30000 a year or so when almost  a million dollar a year CDN is waiting for you. Akinola unfortunately suffers an injury so far that has definitely played a part in him regaining his form . If he never gets it back and is let  go and eventually leaves the game the kid will have a nice little cushion of money stored away and can even take his time deciding what he will be doing for the rest of his life , and yes he is making the money he does because of the generation adidas contract he signed . If I had a son who was talented enough to be offered such a contract I know exactly how I would advise him . Take the money and run , do well in the MLS and if you are good enough Europe will come calling , the worst that can happen is you never pan out is you are let go and maybe quit the game eventually , but that money in that bank will definitely soften the sadness in the end of your career not working out .

Edited January 20 by SoccMan

[SpursFlu]

1 hour ago, SoccMan said:

Signing a pro contract be it in CPL or MLS is great but performing once you are there is another thing . Moreover, also depends on what kind of MLS contract you are signing no? If you are Akinola you aren’t going to go sign in the CPL for 30000 a year or so when almost  a million dollar a year CDN is waiting for you. Akinola unfortunately suffers an injury so far that has definitely played a part in him regaining his form . If he never gets it back and is let  go and eventually leaves the game the kid will have a nice little cushion of money stored away and can even take his time deciding what he will be doing for the rest of his life , and yes he is making the money he does because of the generation adidas contract he signed . If I had a son who was talented enough to be offered such a contract I know exactly how I would advise him . Take the money and run , do well in the MLS and if you are good enough Europe will come calling , the worst that can happen is you never pan out is you are let go and maybe quit the game eventually , but that money in that bank will definitely soften the sadness in the end of your career not working out .

MLS system and the world of football is not sympatico 

[Stoppage Time]

8 hours ago, Aird25 said:

I'm jealous of Vancouver's commitment to local players. I keep hoping Pacific will sign more island raised players like Liam MacKenzie, Dario Zanatta, Callum Montgomery etc. and give some kids from our youth teams a shot

Is there a pattern of clubs which seem to produce top players? I would imagine that there must be some good teens playing in the VISL.

[SthMelbRed]

On 1/20/2024 at 7:10 AM, SpursFlu said:

I think Grady McDonald and I guess the people around him are like we think we're good enough the moment we turn 18 we'll get a good opportunity in Europe. Our best way to have that happen is when we turn 18 is to be signed to a CPL contract not an MLS contract

If he's playing for RoI youth teams, he must have an EU passport. That means he could sign for any EU-based club today. No need to wait for his 18th birthday.

[nolando]

2 minutes ago, SthMelbRed said:

If he's playing for RoI youth teams, he must have an EU passport. That means he could sign for any EU-based club today. No need to wait for his 18th birthday.

That's the funny part for me, too.  Coming to VFC and playing with adults is probably the best-case scenario for TJ who doesn't  have a Euro passport, but he also is pretty rooted here. Grady presumably has that passport and has already seemingly decided his home country's national team and the highest profile club's academy in Western Canada aren't for him. So why stay in BC when he's clearly extremely ambitious and holding the golden key?

[SthMelbRed]

9 minutes ago, nolando said:

That's the funny part for me, too.  Coming to VFC and playing with adults is probably the best-case scenario for TJ who doesn't  have a Euro passport, but he also is pretty rooted here. Grady presumably has that passport and has already seemingly decided his home country's national team and the highest profile club's academy in Western Canada aren't for him. So why stay in BC when he's clearly extremely ambitious and holding the golden key?

Throwback to the old "Canada sucks, har har" attitude of the Hargreaves/JDG2 generations, perhaps?

[nolando]

1 hour ago, SthMelbRed said:

Throwback to the old "Canada sucks, har har" attitude of the Hargreaves/JDG2 generations, perhaps?

Tbh he's got me thinking of OH again after a long (and welcome) absence.

[Aird25]

5 hours ago, nolando said:

Tbh he's got me thinking of OH again after a long (and welcome) absence.

It's just some random dude on reddit that likes to piss on Canadian soccer. Let's not blame the player before he's done anything

[Aird25]

15 hours ago, Stoppage Time said:

Is there a pattern of clubs which seem to produce top players? I would imagine that there must be some good teens playing in the VISL.

There have certainly been clubs that have dominated VISL for a long time, but those three players are all from different cities on the island. The path to pro on the island has been difficult for a long time. Fixing that was one of my big hopes for Pacific when they were announced but there haven't been a lot of results yet, other than Sean Young 

[Unnamed Trialist]

7 hours ago, Aird25 said:

There have certainly been clubs that have dominated VISL for a long time, but those three players are all from different cities on the island. The path to pro on the island has been difficult for a long time. Fixing that was one of my big hopes for Pacific when they were announced but there haven't been a lot of results yet, other than Sean Young 

We see with VFC that they are drawing from the L1 players at Unity. They are very nearby, there are a lot of players out in the Fraser Valley, many are also tied to Trinity Western University. So that is a little cluster with some easier synergies. 

We'd have to look at why Pacific is not doing the same with the Highlanders L1 players, assuming the new team in Nanaimo, Harbour, is a bit far away (though Merriman has Nanaimo links and I am sure they scout them closely).

But I think one reason is that, in fact, Pacific has a higher standard. And VFC was just starting out. But CPL is getting better and can't wait, so the gap between CPL and the tiers below will widen, unless... Forge can draw from Sigma because Sigma has a high standard in a higher level L1, so what we need is for the L1 in BC to improve, to become a potential source of CPL players for the BC CPL teams, to stay close in quality to what a CPL team might look for.

Edited January 21 by Unnamed Trialist

[Watchmen]

7 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

We see with VFC that they are drawing from the L1 players at Unity.

I think you have this a bit backwards. VFC uses Unity as their development team, so they're placing some players there.

I believe Pacific did something similar, but with Nautsa'mawt FC in Vancouver.

For the record, TSS already has a high standard. Remember hearing last year that some of their video scouting/player analysis was more advanced than "some CPL sides", by which they meant Valour.

Edited January 22 by Watchmen

[K Edgar]

Paris Gee from York to Vancouver

[Unnamed Trialist]

On 1/22/2024 at 4:46 AM, Watchmen said:

I think you have this a bit backwards. VFC uses Unity as their development team, so they're placing some players there.

I believe Pacific did something similar, but with Nautsa'mawt FC in Vancouver.

For the record, TSS already has a high standard. Remember hearing last year that some of their video scouting/player analysis was more advanced than "some CPL sides", by which they meant Valour.

Really? James Cameron was at Unity, played the start of the 2023 season, and then VFC picked him up on a short contract allowing them to play 6 games without losing L1 status; then signed him on a longer contract with that new roster provision for younger guys. So he was never placed there, they drew him from there.

Speaking of the highest profile young player, TJ being the other. 

Lennon Thompson and Jamshidi were both signed from Unity at the same time as Cameron, in early May 2023. Jamshidi was cut, at the end of the short-term contract, in July, but was already back playing L1 with Unity (those deals allow players to be loaned back to their L1 clubs when on the short contract with a CPL club). Thompson had a few appearances; he just signed for the reserve team of Heart of Midlothian, just saw that. 

I think my statement was more or less accurate. 

Crawford was an exception, he was signed out of NCAA.

Edited January 25 by Unnamed Trialist

[Watchmen]

2 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Really? James Cameron was at Unity, played the start of the 2023 season, and then VFC picked him up on a short contract allowing them to play 6 games without losing L1 status; then signed him on a longer contract with that new roster provision for younger guys. So he was never placed there, they drew him from there.

Speaking of the highest profile young player, TJ being the other. 

Lennon Thompson and Jamshidi were both signed from Unity at the same time as Cameron, in early May 2023. Jamshidi was cut, at the end of the short-term contract, in July, but was already back playing L1 with Unity (those deals allow players to be loaned back to their L1 clubs when on the short contract with a CPL club). Thompson had a few appearances; he just signed for the reserve team of Heart of Midlothian, just saw that. 

I think my statement was more or less accurate. 

Crawford was an exception, he was signed out of NCAA.

Fair enough. They pulled more guys off for their original roster than I realized. I was only looking at it from the perspective that they have some sort of affiliate program now in place.

[K Edgar]

David Norman Jr.?  Youth career started in Coquitlam

[Pottsy3]

16 hours ago, K Edgar said:

David Norman Jr.?  Youth career started in Coquitlam

I was coming here to make this same guess.