Young talent in MLS improving
CHICAGO — Each year, a day before the MLS All-Star Game, the league hosts a less publicized match featuring budding youth.
Some of MLS’ top homegrown players — those signed after spending at least one full year in a team’s youth academy and who have met other requirements — earned a 2-2 draw with Chivas de Guadalajara’s Under-20 team in the fourth edition of the MLS Homegrown Game late Tuesday night at Toyota Park.
One of the game’s main goals is to showcase the growth of MLS’ developmental academies and homegrown coach Brian McBride said that growth was evident in this year’s roster.
“Technically, working through the passing, I was impressed,” McBride said after the first day of training in Chicago.
“Even from back when I retired, ya know, young guys were a lot more mistake-prone, passes weren’t as crisp and as accurate, first touch wasn’t nearly as strong. All these guys are sharp.”
McBride, a Chicago native and former professional soccer player, attributed that difference in skill to the league’s investment in building an academy system to develop talent and to many of the young players training with United States’ youth national teams.
MLS academies now have produced more than 150 homegrown players who have signed professional contracts with MLS clubs, according to a league statement.
The amount of minutes logged by homegrown players in MLS games also has quadrupled since 2011, totaling 54,000 minutes in 2016.
“All that helps, puts them in a mindset that prepares you for an international stage,” McBride said. “They’ve been put under a microscope.”
Orlando City had no one on the homegrown roster this season.
Last year, former Lion Tyler Turner played on the team’s defense. The club declined to exercise his option after last season.
Overall, the Lions have three homegrown players under contract this season, including Oviedo product Tommy Redding; goalkeeper Mason Stajduhar, who is on loan to Orlando City B; and Donny Toia, who came up through the Real Salt Lake academy.
“It’s a great experience,” said 21-year-old Colorado Rapids defender Kortne Ford, who scored the MLS Homegrown Game equalizer on the final touch of the match.
“We just have to get out there and perform. It doesn’t matter if you have a day, two days training. We have to put a bunch of guys out on the field who can compete and who can win, because at the end of the day through these homegrown programs we want to develop players and bring them up in the system.
“There’s going to be young guys who come into the program, young signings through the academies, other homegrown players, and you have to explain to them the importance of the whole process because this really is our future.”