Welcome to the Wednesday Q&A series, where we focus on one particular topic – today's being Homegrown players and roster realities – and ask you to react, share, and discuss in the comments section. However, feel free to ask about anything game-related (MLS, USL, NASL, USMNT, CanMNT, etc.) over the next several hours.
I'm going to start today's Q&A off with a question I've received several times over the past month. I think it's a weird question, but the fact that it's popping up so much means it's worth answering:
Put simply, this is not a problem at all -- this is just business. Most guys signed after four years of college, Homegrown or not, won't be good enough to make it in MLS. These guys on the Red Bulls were given a shot and, as judged by the coaching staff, came up short. The same is true all over the league for Homegrown players who don't cut it, for draft picks who don't cut it, and for foreign trialists that don't cut it.
That's the way it's done all over the world, and that's the way it's done here.
Now for the truly good news: These guys RBNY cut will have a chance to land somewhere else in MLS or, more likely, in USL/NASL, and many of them already have. A couple are still with the Red Bull organization, playing for RBNY II. Nobody's taken their ball away and told them they should never play soccer again.
So the way the system is now starting to work, these guys have the chance to earn a living playing the game and also to improve over time, while maybe climbing back up the ladder to MLS. "Over time" is the key component here -- remember that Chris Wondolowski didn't break through until he was 27, after half-a-decade of toiling in the old Reserve League, so just because the door is closed now doesn't mean it's closed permanently.
On a team specific level, it's also important to understand that RBNY kept guys like Alex Muyl, Tyler Adams, Brandon Allen (he scored a pair of goals in his pro debut last weekend) and Derrick Etienne, while holding onto previously Homegrowns Sean Davis and Connor Lade. Those last two guys are already contributors, and my guess is three of the others will be. As will many, many more coming through the ranks in Harrison and elsewhere.
This is what US and Canadian fans should want. A decade ago there were about 25 professional teams north of the Rio Grande; now there are 61, with more on the way every year. Talent coming out of the academies will play an increasingly influential role in filling all of them.
And that, my friends, is progress.
Ok folks, thanks for keeping me company for a few hours!
