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Aaron Nielsen ,

October 5, 2016 Email

Aaron Nielsen



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Before all the excitement of MLS playoffs becomes the main talking point for the Canadian soccer scene, I think it is important to reflect on the recently completed USL season, a league that has ten times the amount of Canadian players. The USL is currently in their playoffs after finishing their 2016 regular season a week ago. The Vancouver Whitecaps II are still alive in the post-season after upsetting the 3rd seed in the West, the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, in a playoffs that so far has been full of upsets. Whitecaps II will now take on OKC Energy with the winner of that game playing the winner of Orange County Blues and former Ottawa Fury manager Marc Dos Santos’ side Swope Park Rangers. Meanwhile, in the East are two strong favorites in the New York Red Bulls II and Louisville City. These two were the top two clubs during the regular season, although they have tricky games with experienced USL franchises in the Charleston Battery and Rochester City as their next round opponents. The USL Final will be decided on October 23rd. Prior to the season, I wrote a preview for the USL season including my high expectations for Vancouver Whitecaps II and the general expansion of the league. I will go into more detail writing about the Whitecaps USL side once the playoff run is over, and during my overall review of a generally disappointing season for the Vancouver Whitecaps despite success in the CONCACAF Champions League. This article is more about a disappointing season by both Toronto FC II and FC Montreal, who finished 26th and 28th respectively in a 29 team league and what this means for Canadian Soccer, especially with all the talk of the new Canadian Premier League. It should be said in anticipation to the rest of the playoffs Canadian players are making a major impact. The Whitecaps are lead by players such as Daniel Haber, Marco Bustos, Ben McKendry, Kadin Chung, Kainz Frose, Brett Levis and the soccer sensation Alphonso Davies. While other contenders have key Canadian contributors: Swope Park Rangers have four Canadians in Mark Anthony Gonzalez, Tyler Pasher, Amer Didic, and Johny Grant. Lousville have two in Mark-Anthony Kaye and Greg Ranjitsingh. Orange County have AJ Gray and Rochester have two in Ryan James and Dominic Samuel. If you include Whitecaps II Giuliano Frano, it also means four players left in the playoffs come from the Sigma FC Academy (Gonzalez, Ranjitsingh, Samuel being the others), which shows they don't only develop college players. During the regular season, Canadians also played a role on American sides. Orlando City B had Sigma FC Alumni and MLS draft pick Richie Laryea playing in 23 games, while Micheal Cox lead the team with 11 goals. Brandon John played games for the Seattle Sounders II, Mackenzie Pridham played for the Sacramento Republic, Pittsburgh had Jordan Murell and DuWayne Ewart, and Bethlehem Steel had John Heard. Finally, John Smits and Callum Iriving were starting keepers, Smits with Wilmington Hammerheads and Irving with Rio Grande Valley. This long list should be an even bigger embarrassment to FC Montreal and Toronto FC II, especially since TFC II’s key players for most games this season were American and not Canadian, with Mitchell Taitor, Brian James, Wes Charpie and Salvador Bernal leaders in minutes played. TFC II did have Skylar Thomas playing in 25 of the team’s 30, but for the most part, both TFC II and FC Montreal used a collection of young Canadian players, with TFC II playing 41 players and FC Montreal using 31 players. Even Toronto FC II top prospect Ayo Akinola plays for the US National Team despite his family living in Brampton and younger brother a TFC Academy youth player listed as Canadian. Of course the argument is that these are second/reserve teams, so how many games you win doesn't matter, it is the quality of players you develop. Both TFC II and FC Montreal have some interesting Canadian talent. TFC II have the players who the team is marketing publically as ready for the next level in Chris Mannella, Raheem Edwards, Quillan Roberts, Malik Johnson and Luca Uccello, while players such as Shaan Hudal and Liam Fraser are the next generation hoping to make an impact in the next few years. FC Montreal have Ballou Tabla who I rate as my top Canadian soccer prospect and they also have players such as Anthony Jackson-Hamel, Janouk Charbonneau, Louis Beland-Goyette, Alessandro Riggi and Maxime Crepeau. The question becomes, and this includes the Whitecaps, outside of Davies and Tabla how many of these players are going to get minutes in MLS, especially with their club's poor track record so far? Even myself, who is quite enthusiastic about upcoming Canadian talent, worry about the potential of these players struggling week in and week out against comparable teams south of border. It is also difficult to argue that these players on Canadian MLS USL sides are any better than the Canadians on the American USL teams. This is because despite it being in many ways a more difficult path to get to this level, the Canadians playing on American teams had to fight for their positions at the club and for the most part are on more successful teams. Currently, if I was in control of a young player’s destiny the last thing I would suggest is that player play for TFC Academy or Montreal Impact Academy. Based on the current circumstances, I would try to qualify him for a top quality NCAA Division 1 School and at least be given a fair shake to be recruited by a pro club, even with the anti-Canadian rules MLS have in place. Although this is where I have the most excitement regarding the proposed Canadian Premier League, because it would put Canadian players in competitive environments to succeed and it will take the control away from some decision makers who have yet to prove to be successful. With the Canadian Premier League still an idea opposed to a reality, it has hard to pinpoint what the league will look like. Will the core players be current professional Canadian Soccer players, such as a Adam Straith or a Simeon Jackson, giving them a chance to play full-time in Canada? Or would it look like FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury with a chance to bring in players in from around the World, or like the Canadian USL sides or leagues such as League One Ontario, it becomes a league for young players to play meaningful minutes and develop into a more seasoned pro? Personally, I hope there is an emphasis on youth and development and also hope that players currently connected to an MLS Academy have the freedom to move to a Canadian Premier League side if they wish. However, if I was putting together a side of mostly Canadian players, I think I would put a greater emphasis on Canadian players currently playing NCAA soccer or soccer elsewhere than the Canadian MLS Academy players. The reason is outside of some noticeable athletic and technical skills, it is hard to judge the quality of players who played on a club with a -50 plus/minus goal difference over the past two years. So far, the USL experiment outside of the Vancouver Whitecaps has been a failure for the Canadian teams. In the case of the Montreal Impact I'm somewhat surprised because they have had success at the Academy level playing in the USSDA. Although, assuming those players could make the automatic jump to a higher level was a mistake by management. For Toronto FC, I'm not surprised. I feel talent-wise Southern Ontario could have as good of soccer talent as any region in Canada and the United States, and this has been proven recently through players such as Cyle Larin. However, with how Toronto FC handles things, outside of a willingness to spend money this is just another aspect of a flawed organization. For this reason, I hope other minds get a chance to help influence the game with a project like the Canadian Premier League, because I hate to see another lost generation of soccer players.



Aaron Neilsen is a co-founder of Prospect XI (Prospect Eleven), a scouting network and online magazine dedicated to tracking/highlighting young players that refer to as "prospects" as well as their development pathways both within North America and worldwide. Follow PXI via www.prospectxi.com or on twitter @ProspectXI.