After 4 years in the league, how have our academy teams done in the top US developmental league?
The Whitecaps Residency U18's have made the playoffs in each of their 4 years and in 2012, they made it to the USSDA championship finals and lost to a very good FC Dallas club. The 16's have also made the playoffs and got to the final 8 last year.
The Montreal Impact academy, the only other Canadian club in the league, are in their 3rd year. Last year both the U16's and 18's made the playoff with the Impact U18's making it all the way to the semifinals before losing to the eventual winners.
Currently, the U18 Montreal Impact Academy team is currently in 2nd place in the entire USSDA league with their *playoff 2 position!
http://ussda.demosph...97603/TEAM.html
The only team above them is....
the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency
http://ussda.demosph...97603/TEAM.html
The only two Canadian club teams in the USSDA are #1 and #2 in this American top youth league. Early days but still quite a sight!
How many players they produce for the first team will be the true measure and with PDL, USL-Pro and then MLS, there might be a clearer path.
Great post Danny. I am one of the toughest critics on our system at present, and am easily agitated these days, but the CAPS deserve a ton of credit here, but so do the local clubs that support ALL their initiatives. Every time they take a player from a club team, it causes a ripple effect that someone will have to handle. But the fact we see some substance at the end of it all makes it worthwhile. It keeps us vested. Maybe one day the CAPS will give a stipend for every player they select from the club system and we can put that money back into the clubs who can use that money to subsidize those players who aspire to play in high performance programming like BCSPL and can't afford it. Makes sense doesn't it? They do it every where else in the world.
I think most would/should be happy to hear that there is a large BC component to these teams. 10 altogether on the U18 team. 5 from Surrey United. 3 from Coquitlam Metro Ford. 2 from Vancouver Island. http://www.whitecapsfc.com/youth/eliteteams/residency/u18boys
The U-16's are composed of 16 BC boys, 3 from Surrey United, 1 from Surrey-Guildford United, 4 from Coquitlam Metro Ford, 4 from Burnaby Selects, 1 from North Vancouver FC, 1 from Fusion, 1 from Mountain, 1 from Vancouver FC.
http://www.whitecapsfc.com/youth/eliteteams/residency/u16boys
I know we get critiqued a lot on our world rankings, but we are as good if not better than our American counterparts, so let's make sure we understand what's at play here.........