Red Bull raising the stakes with U-17 national tournament...

Everyone wants to be able to call themselves the national champions of their certain sport. BCS has been trying to figure out the best way to do it in college football. NCAA has created an exciting basketball tournament. Heck, Major League Baseball even calls their champion World Champs (it helps when not many other countries want to bestow that honor and now baseball is trying to rip off the World Cup) but don't get me started about baseball.

Red Bull is going to throw their hat into the ring with the Red Bull National League 17. The awkwardly named tournament will pit the "best of the best" in terms of U-17 soccer teams against each other in four weekend long tournaments.

Here is the format. 16 teams will attend the first event of the season whereas the second and third events will be regional competitions. They will each play three games per weekend and only play each other once in the entire regular season. Standings will be based on the point system: 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie and 0 points for a loss. The fourth event will take place in Chicago, May 26-28, 2007, and will serve as the official league playoffs. One team will leave the field that day as the national champion.

The teams competing in the league in 2007 will be split into two regions, as follows:
West Region
Arsenal FC
Colorado Rush
Crossfire Premier
Dallas Texans
Irvine Strikers
Nomads
Pateadores
Solar

East Region
Atlanta United
CASL Elite
Chicago Magic
Chicago Sockers
Concorde Fire
FC Delco
PDA
Scott Gallagher

It will certainly be interesting to follow this league next year. I like that Red Bull is getting involved in the youth game and bringing together the powerhouses of the youth club world. I'm a little curious why their own youth team is not going to be included, but it sounds like one "prize" of winning is a match against the Red Bull U-17's.

Hopefully when all of the MLS clubs have youth teams, they'll be playing in events like this.

MLS youth development – “Homegrown” players to join local clubs…

According to Soccer America’s Ridge Mahoney, 2007 will be the first year of mandatory MLS youth squads. A few months back I got extremely excited about an announcement league Commissioner Don Garber made at his annual All*Star break address. The words vertical player development rolled off his tongue and a bright halo appeared over his head as he winked at the crowd. Ok, I didn’t see the announcement but that is what I was picturing while listening over the Internet here at FCTP headquarters.

Vertical player development was the only detail at that point. Now Soccer America is giving us some more details. This is the start of something great so long as the league executes well on their vision. Let’s go over the rules we learned today:

HOMEGROWN PLAYER RULES

Homegrown players are eligible to be added to a team's regular MLS roster without being subject to the league's drafts or other distribution procedures.

Me: So, players who play for the club are going to be able to join the senior team without being put through the draft. Excellent. Johnny X, you can be a Red Bull.

Players must have lived in the area (with their parents, if appropriate) for one year prior to their placement on a list as a homegrown player.

Me: Players can’t be scouted in one part of the country, moved to another and immediately join the MLS club. A one year limit doesn’t seem like a lot, but it seems like enough so that teams don’t do this all the time. Believe me, if there is another Freddy Adu spotted, some team will try to move his family.

Each team can list up to 18 homegrown players on each of its developmental teams.

Me: Here is the first mistake by the league in my opinion, only 18 youth players per team! So the U-15’s can have 18 kids, the U-17’s can have 18 kids, etc. Eventually each team will be able to have six youth teams, so that is 108 kids in each club and 1,296 across the league. That is a decent number, but I would have liked to see two teams per age group, or something to cast a larger net at younger ages. However, I’m not going to look this horse in the mouth.

A player is eligible for an MLS roster two years after his name is submitted to MLS on a team's homegrown list.

Me: The homegrown players can’t play for the senior club until two years after starting with the youth team. I imagine this is another rule to keep clubs from trying to move kids around or circumvent the SuperDraft. A college kid can’t drop out of school and join an MLS youth team and then join the senior team six months later. This is probably meant to protect the draft in the short term.

Players in U.S. youth national team pools cannot be included on a team's homegrown list unless they joined the MLS team prior to being summoned for a national camp.

Me: This seems like a big generation adidas and draft protector. If a kid has been identified by the national set up as a prospect by being called into a camp, they can’t join a home club. MLS must want to hold on to the ability to sign the cream of the crop and distribute them how they see fit. In the long run I hope most of the young national team players are identified through their play with their MLS club, however for now the current youth stars are off limits.

Now let’s jump into the analysis. As I said when The Don first spoke of vertical youth development, I think this is a huge step forward for MLS. Up to this point the youth clubs run by Red Bull New York, DC United and Chivas USA could not be assured their young players would join the senior club. This gave the clubs little incentive to spend money on youth clubs. Some did because they saw the value in building a soccer community but others did not because they were more worried about paying other bills. Now, each club will see their player development as a competitive advantage. The clubs that can develop more youngsters will have a cheap player pool to pull from where the talent is a known quantity as opposed to a shot at the SuperDraft dart board.

MLS made the right decision by making this a mandatory part of running a club. In 2007 clubs will have two youth teams and sometime down the road they’ll have six, training kids ranging in age from 14 to 25. As I said earlier, when each club has all six youth teams we’re looking at 108 players training in a professional environment. If the league makes their goal of 16 clubs by 2010, that is 1,728 youth kids getting professional training. That will help the American soccer gene pool grow.

There is one huge question still out there, will this be a pay to play system? Right now talented soccer players don’t get the best training and exposure because their families can’t afford to pay thousands of dollars a year to join the best club team. This cuts youth development off at the knees. MLS needs to make this system entirely club sponsored so that the kids with the best talent are not left on the sidelines. All I’m saying is that I want every kid to have the same chance of making it to the pros. MLS should take some of their new found TV wealth and divvy it up amongst the clubs to run their youth systems. John Harkes says Nottingham Forrest in England spends roughly $3 million a year on youth development. I don’t see MLS clubs spending that much since the salary cap to this point has been hovering around $2 million, but $500,000/club out of the league kity would go along way to making sure these kids don’t have to pay to join their local club.

We’re still waiting for the official league announcement where I’m sure more rules will be spelled out and some will remain murky, that’s MLS’ style. But right now, I know this is a huge plus for the league and will someday be seen as one of the watershed moments for soccer in the USA.

Bic's View: UNC 2 - 1 UVA (9/22/06) and UNC 1 - 0 Elon (9/26/06)

Home victories over #1 ranked Virginia 2-1 and regional rival Elon 1-0 in extra time capped an exciting week for the Tar Heels. On Friday, UNC bested the Cavaliers for their first ACC victory of the season on the strength of goals from Scott Campbell and Eddie Ababio. Tuesday, Bill Dworsky put home a rebound about 5 minutes into the first overtime period to get the better of the visiting Phoenix. With the two victories, the Tar Heels push their overall record to 9-2-0 (1-2-0 in ACC play).

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TSF: Did the win on Friday night, particularly the way the Tar Heels played in the second half, boost the team's confidence and morale, which might have been flagging after the 0-2 start in the ACC?

Bic: Absolutely, beating a #1 ranked team, a conference opponent, and a rival such as UVA does wonders within the squad. It was a fantastic performance by everyone involved.

TSF: Elon proved to be yet another tough regional opponent. In fact, the Tar Heels seemed to have a tougher time breaking down the Phoenix than they did the Cavaliers. What do you see as the biggest difference between the two matches.

Bic: Elon defends well and defends with numbers. They are less likely to throw the same number of players forward on offense that UVA tends to throw. This leaves them less vulnerable to counter-attacks which is how we scored both goals against UVA.

TSF: We're about halfway through the season now we the ACC home stretch looming on the horizon. What type of training schedule do the coaches keep you on during the regular season.

Bic: We typically have saturdays off with training on every other day that we're not playing. The workload of the training session varies depending on the day of the week, the previous match, and the upcoming match.

TSF: On a related topic, how do you balance studies with the training, match, and travel schedule during the height of the season?

Bic: Currently we have roughly 6-8 hours of training per week with two matches. I'm in the weight room for about 45 mins-1 hour three times a week, and I must complete 4 hours of study hall that same week. Add that to 2-4 hours of class depending on the day and you have the life of your typical UNC college soccer player! After you figure out your schedule everything becomes automatic and isn't too difficult to figure out.

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Stephen Bickford, a sophmore forward at UNC and Green Hope (Cary) High School alum, will be sharing his thoughts on the Tar Heels season with Triangle Soccer Fanatics throughout the year.

Reprinted from Triangle Soccer Fanatics.

Class of 2009 is in the house...

On the right margin you can now see the sophomores I've been following. Once again, any input is appreciated.

Class of 2008 joins the party...

On the right margin you can now see the juniors I've been following. Once again, any input is appreciated.

Where are they now...The 1999 US Soccer U-17 Residency class...Part 1...

In the spring of 1999, twenty players moved to Florida to go after a dream. In Bradenton, Florida US Soccer was opening a first of its kind facility in the States; a year round soccer training facility to help the development of the US National Team. This group of twenty young soccer players were virtual no names to people like you and me. However, seven years later most of them are well on their way in the professional ranks of the sport.

In this post I’ll check in on each of the players to see what they’ve done since going to Bradenton. Ok, the first thing you’ll notice about the below list is that it isn’t just twenty player, it is twenty three. In between the fall and spring semesters, a couple left and a couple came in. So I’m not trying to intentionally lie to you.

Nelson Akwari – Born and raised in Texas, Nelson “Nelly” Akwari was a hot commodity coming out of the Bradenton program. As a senior he was named the 1999 NSCAA National Player of the Year and was named first-team Parade All-America. UCLA won the services of this up and coming star.

After two years at UCLA, Nelly decided it was time to go pro. He signed with MLS’ P-40 program and was selected by the New York MetroStars in a weighted lottery. After one season with New York, Nelly was traded to Columbus where he became a starter, helping Columbus win the league’s Supporter Shield in 2004. In 2004 Real Salt Lake decided to take Akwari from Columbus and to build their young defense around him. So far this season, Akwari has played in 16 games for Salt Lake.

While he was once an upcoming star in the national scene, and part of the inaugural Bradenton class, Nelly has dropped out of the national picture while he continues a solid MLS career.

DaMarcus Beasley – After the 2002 World Cup, every US Soccer fan knew DaMarcus, or as many of us like to call him Run DMB. Prior to 2002 DMB was causing a stir at the lower national team levels before joining MLS. At the 1999 U-17 World Championship, Beasley earned the Silver Ball as the tournament’s second most valuable player. The player who beat DaMarcus to the Golden Ball? Teammate Landon Donovan.

The year 2000 saw DaMarcus join MLS as a Project 40 player. In his sophomore season Beasley was named to the All-Star game at the age of 19. In 2002 he was one of the young stars of the World Cup, helping the US beat European powers Portugal and regional rival Mexico en route to a Quarter Final match against Germany. Two years after catching the attention of the world in 2002, Beasley made a multi-million dollar move to Dutch powerhouse, PSV Endhoven. Beasley became the first U.S. player to appear in the semifinals of the prestigious UEFA Champions League, playing against Italian greats AC Milan.

Beasley looked tired and played uninspired through much of the disappointing 2006 World Cup. Looking to move on from PSV, Beasley was joined Manchester City in the English Premier League in August of 2006 on a one-year loan, hoping to revive his promising career.

Kyle Beckerman – Beckerman, otherwise known as “Becks” to Rapids fans, made the jump from Residency to MLS in 2000 after signing with Project-40 in the summer of 2000 and bring claimed by the Miami Fusion. He had a promising slow start to his career in Miami getting limited playing time while scoring his first professional goal in the final regular season game. In 2001 his career progress was significantly slowed when he broke his leg while playing with the P-40 team. Later that year Beckerman’s MLS team was contracted and he was claimed by the Colorado Rapids in the dispersal draft.

Becks struggled under Rapids coach Hankinson who tried to keep him playing as a defensive midfielder while Kyle previously played a more attacking role. Before the 2006 season he scored 3 goals while making 12 assists. In 2006 he’s doubled that production becoming one of the leading scorers on the team with 6 goals. Under current Rapids manager, Fernando Clavijo, Beckerman has regained the confidence and qualities that made him a highly rated youth player. Beckerman has missed only one MLS match this season and will no doubt feature heavily going forward.

Danny Bolin – Is the first player on our list who is no longer playing professional soccer. After life at Bradenton, Danny attended Wake Forrest University. However, after one year of limited playing time at Wake, Danny transferred to the US Air Force Academy. He graduated last year and is now attending pilot school at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia. (Editors Disclaimer: this information came from Wikipedia, take it for what you will.)

Filippo Chillemi – After leaving Residency, Filippo enrolled at Notre Dame in 2000. After four years he compiled a good enough career to attract the attention of Italian clubs FC Mazzarra, FC Olbia, and Empoli FC, however nagging injuries forced his retirement. (Editors Disclaimer: Again, this is based on information found in Wikipedia)

Jordan Cila – Joined the Duke Blue Devils soccer program in 2000 as a freshman. Over four years he never lived up to the hype created by the Residency title. In 2004 he went undrafted and joined the Colorado Rapids as a trialist. His trial went well and he earned a developmental contract. In his rookie season, Cila impressed coaches and fans, scoring 3 game winning goals.

Cila’s impressive start made him more valuable to the Rapids on the transfer market, and he was traded to rival start-up, Real Salt Lake, where he was reunited with Bradenton coach, John Ellinger. However, the sophomore season wasn’t an easy one and in 2006 he was shipped off the New York, where he is currently playing. This season has seen Cila continue to struggle, playing in only 4 games for the Red Bulls.

To Be Continued With...

Bobby Convey –

D.J. Countess –

Steve Cronin –

Kenny Cutler –

Justin Detter -

Landon Donovan –

Adolfo Gregorio –

Bryan Jackson –

Kellen Kalso –

Greg Martin –

Oguchi Onyewu –

Raul Rivera –

Matt Roberts –

Abe Thompson –

Seth Trembly –

Peter Withers –

Alexander Yi –

Coach John Ellinger –

New feature at From College to the Pros...Future Pros Player Database (kind of)

I believe I have mentioned the player database I maintain. Well, for weeks I have been trying to figure out the easiest, most effective way to display these players. Right now my solution is the margin of formerly wasted blank space.

These players have been added to the database for various reasons. Reasons include: playing on the US national team, winning a college award like player of the week, playing well in the PDL, being invited to the adidas ESP camp, being named a high school All American.

Currently I have only posted Senior players. I have 68 seniors and almost 400 other class members because I wasn't keeping this list as extensively four years ago when these guys entered school. So, once I get the lower classes posted, you'll see the difference.

You no doubt will feel I'm missing someone. If so, post a comment or email me. The idea of sharing this is to improve my information.

Enjoy! I'll get the other classes up in the coming weeks.

Ok, so maybe I jumped the gun on the whole Cam Weaver thing...

I've got to admit, as a Rapids fan I was very excited to hear that Cam Weaver had played for the Colorado Rapids Reserve team last weekend. I've been reading the reports out of Seattle on Weaver for months now and he seems to be the real deal. After working hard in the USL-1, he earned his shot at the big boys and the Rapids need someone with his size and nose for goal.

Now it seems that Cam was just visiting. The signing deadline in MLS was last Friday and a number of clubs made moves to squeak players at the deadline. It seems that the Rapids couldn't get this done in time and Cam was just trying to get some playing time. MLS Reserve League rules allow for guest players and at this point it seems Weaver was just passing through.

I know Cam will join MLS sooner rather than later. This time it seems that it didn't happen. I'm sure going to be pissed when another club marches into our new stadium next year with Weaver on the back of one of their jerseys.

Carnival of Soccer 5 : Colorado Rapids – Stuck in Mediocrity

The following post is my submission to the Carnival of Soccer 5. The Carnival is hosted over here by my friends at It's a Simple Game.

If you’re new to the league, think of the Colorado Rapids as your third cousin, twice removed. The one who you met once when you were twelve at a family reunion in Fargo, North Dakota. You know the one. You kind of forget he exists. You don’t want to visit that side of the family often and you’ll be surprised if one day he does something exceptional, like get his name in the local paper. That’s the Rapids.

The Colorado Rapids are one of the original MLS teams, now in their 11^th season. The team has made most of the playoffs, making it to the championship in 1997. However, each year they are never expected to win it all and no one outside Colorado seems surprised or disapointed when they lose to LA in the semi-finals. The only other honor earned by the team is making it to the final of the US Open Cup, and being the only team to lose to a lower division club in that event’s final match. The Rapids lost to the Rochester Rhinos in the 1999 final. Each season fans are treated to soccer with nothing special attached. We typically see a lot of 1-0 results due to a strong defense and weak offense. Somehow that describes most seasons.

At this point the team is on its fourth manager (1996: Bobby Houghton, 1997 – 2000: Glenn “Mooch” Myernick, 2001 - 2004 : Tim Hankinson, 2005 – present: Fernando Clavijo), not too bad considering the revolving door out in New York. The Rapids have had some of the more exciting players in the league cross through the locker room (Chris Henderson, John Spencer, Carlos Valderrama, Paul Bravo, Marcelo Balboa, Mark Chung and Anders Limpar to name most) but none of those players have been magical gifts like some other teams have received (Youri Djorkaeff ending up in NY being the first to mind).

As per usual we’re currently locked in a battle for both second place in the division and our playoff lives. Honestly, as a Rapids fan I feel like every year we’re teetering between greatness and despair. A couple wins on the road and we get some home field advantage. A couple losses on the road and we’re not in the post season. I guess league parity through single entity ownership is achievable.

The biggest recent news is that the Rapids are moving to a new home to kick off the 2007 season. The Rapids have done a great job with the design and construction of the new facility. The stadium is part of the Prairie Gateway development in Commerce City, Colorado which is about 8 miles from downtown Denver. The facility will include something like twenty soccer fields around the stadium, making it one of the biggest soccer facilities in the world. Year round there should be a place to go grab a meal and soak up some soccer action whether on the field or in the club’s pub.

An additional recent development has been the rivalry developing between the Colorado Rapids and our neighbors to the west, Real Salt Lake. Most people living outside the region have a hard time believing there is a natural rivalry between the two cities, however if you put residents of both cities in a room together you’ll get to the typical “my skiing is better than your skiing argument.” Once that argument is resolved, a Coloradan will take a pot shot at the Salt Lakers having ten wives. So the bad blood was there and with the creation of the Rocky Mountain Cup the supporters clubs of both teams have involved the players. Colorado has won the past two years (both editions of the competition) and at this year’s final match the bad blood was evident as Salt Lake owner, Dave Checketts, threw what can only be described as a hissy fit over the celebration of Rapid captain, Pablo Mastroeni. The Cup was created by both teams’ supporter groups and seems to be creating the passionate rivalry as envisioned on both sides of the Rocky Mountains.

A dubious distinction held by the Rapids is that they are probably the worst drafting team in league history. Over the years the Rapids have traded away first round picks and selected future league no names. Jean Harbor, Tahj Jakins and Andrew Mittendorf highlight first round picks by the Rapids who have gone on to not have a career in the league. To give credit, the Rapids did draft Ross Paule, Steve Trittschuh and Tyrone Marshall…I guess the distinction is self explanatory.

Another poor decision by the club is the fact that the Rapids are one of the only clubs not to have most, if not all of their road games televised. To add insult to injury, the Rapids’ owner, KSE, owns a television network, Altitude Entertainment. Altitude is often showing professional bull riding or classic motor sports as opposed to the Rapids because the club doesn’t spend the cash to get a crew to each road game. The league is backwards for making it the road team’s responsibility to televise matches, but it doesn’t take the Rapids off the hook for not spending the money to help the fans watch the away games. With the new ESPN and FSC tv deals, I am hopeful this will change in 2007.

So, that should give all you readers a good idea of the Rapids. Until they win a league championship, US Open Cup or Supporters’ Shield they’ll probably continue bubbling along as one of the more mediocre clubs in MLS. But hey, we’ve won the Rocky Mountain Cup twice now, so at least RSL is below us.

Bic's View: UNC 3 - 1 Virginia Commonwealth (9/19/06)

UNC bounced back from their loss away at Clemson with a 3-1 win over Virginia Commonwealth on Tuesday. Stephen Bickford, who's been fighting for playing time among a talented group of forwards for the Tar Heels, seized his opportunity and turned in a Man of the Match performance when he entered the 1-1 match in the 61st minute. Bickford's inclusion immediately turned the balance in UNC's favor and within a dozen minutes, Stephen had scored the game winner and assisted on an insurance goal. Although he has only seen about 135 mins of play through 9 games, Bic now stands third on the Tar Heels scoring chart with 2 goals and 2 assists.

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TSF: When you entered the match, the score was tied and neither team seemed to have an edge. What tactical instructions did coach Bolowich give you coming on in order to try and break the game open?

Bic: Coach gives the offensive players a lot of freedom to try and express themselves on the field. There is no specific intstruction but he expects a subsitute to make a positive impact on the match.

TSF: The goal you scored was from a bit of an extreme angle. Surely that was supposed to be a cross or were you trying to chip the keeper?

Bic: Yes it was definitely intended to be a cross. Luckily the ball skimmed off the thigh of the left back and sailed in off the back post.

TSF: Your substitution seemed to turn the advantage in the Tar Heels' favor and you contributed to the attack last night both by running at the left back with the ball at your feet as well as serving as a target and laying off passes for your teammates, like the assist on Campbell's goal. Which aspect of your game do you feel is stronger and why did those two aspects have such an impact on the match?

Bic: I mainly played as the target forward tonight although in that role I am expected to "run the line" when I'm out there. By "running the line" I mean that I am supposed to run laterally across the field even with the last defender, looking for any openings that present themself. As always a target is supposed to be able to effectively hold the ball and distribute it which is an area of my game that had struggled a bit in the past. I worked a lot this summer on trying to hold the ball and keep possession, and I think my efforts there are beginning to show.

TSF: Carolina has a lot of talent at forward and you've had difficulty getting playing time so far this year. How does it feel to be able to come off the bench and have such an immediate impact on the game?

Bic: Whenever you're struggling for playing time you always want to make the most out of the minutes that you get. I love being on the field and I was thrilled that I could help my team the way I did last night.

TSF: That was your third goal in your Carolina career. How does it rate both among your collegiate and previous club careers?

Bic: It was certainly the least glamorous of my three college goals but it was undoubtedly my most important. Goals I scored in club and high school aren't worth anything now that I'm playing at the collegiate level.

TSF: You had a similar impact on the William & Mary when you entered late in both the first and second halves. Have you found a niche role for yourself as "super-sub" or are you making a case for the starting XI?

Bic: I think every player certainly wants to be a part of the starting line-up. I'm going to keep working and hopefully it will pay off.

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Stephen Bickford, a sophmore forward at UNC and Green Hope (Cary, NC) High School alum, will be sharing his thoughts on the Tar Heels season with Triangle Soccer Fanatics throughout the year.

Reprinted from Triangle Soccer Fanatics.

Watch ACC Soccer on Your Computer

The Atlantic Coast Conference has just launched a streaming video service called ACC Select, which allows users to watch Olympic Sports (i.e., not football and men's basketball) via broadband. This means fans of both ACC men's and women's soccer who cannot make it out to the stadium don't need to miss a match. This is going to come in particularly handy for me as I typically miss the midweek matches due to business travel.

The service allows you to watch the matches live or delayed on-demand. I signed up for the 15-day free trial to check it out and watched the first few minutes of the Duke v. Va Tech match that I attended in person. While it is definitely not HDTV, I was impressed with the picture and audio quality for streaming video, especially when watching it in full-screen mode (I was even able to pick out my two kids running up down the sideline in the background). The service will cost $9.99 per month, but charter members that signup now get a $5.99 rate. Considering that a ticket to a UNC men's match costs $6, this seems like a pretty reasonable deal to me. Subscribers can cancel at any time so if you're only interested in soccer, the rest of season will run $12 after your free trial expires.

Looking at their upcoming schedule, it looks like they only have the capability to broadcast from certain campuses at the moment -- Wake Forest, UNC, Duke, Virginia & Boston College. Once they add the rest of the campuses so we can see more games outside the Triangle, this will be a really great service in my opinion.

>> Don't forget that Tarheelblue.com is also streaming select UNC Women's matches starting with the Florida State match (also on FSC) on 9/21.

Josmer Altidore scores a blaster to earn Red Bull NY the win...

If you haven't seen it yet, make sure you watch the highlights of Josmer Altidore's game winner from this past weekend. The New York Red Bulls' rookie, 16 year old, striker was a little awkward with his first touch, but the shot had enough pace, height and then dip to elude Crew keeper Bill Gaudette. I'm sure no one on the field for the Crew actually thought the kid would shoot from that range and certainly no one thought he'd score from that range.

Altidore wasn't even sure he scored the goal. After the game he admitted he felt like he may have been day dreaming that he scored the goal. The 16 year old isn't the youngest in the league to score a goal but that has to be one of the most stunning goals by a rookie, let alone a 16 year old rookie.

Go to mlsnet.com to vote for Altidore's goal for MLS Goal of the Week. 62% of voters already have, so there is a great chance he'll win the award. Maybe he'll be the youngest to do that.

Josmer Altidore has been on the American soccer radar for a few years now. He started playing high school soccer in his Florida hometown in 7th grade. In 2002, at the age of 12, he was named the team's MVP. In the fall of 2004 he started his two year residency with the U-17 team in Bradenton, Florida. Last year he participated in the adidas ESP camp and was named an All*Star of the camp. In 2005 he played 25 times for the U-17's, scoring 19 goals.

Altidore was picked by New York with the 17th pick in the SuperDraft, behind a number of guys who didn't make any MLS rosters. Next year teams like New England will look at taking the next Josmer as opposed to Leandro de Oliveria.

Altidore will no doubt be one to watch in the coming years.

I think that's my cue

I think that's my cue to say hello. W. Jarrett Campbell here, first with a quick word of thanks to Bonji for inviting me to contribute here, and a quick hello to everyone reading this blog.

I've been blogging over at Triangle Soccer Fanatics for close to a year now. We try to cover anything to do with soccer in the Raleigh-Durham-Cary-Chapel Hill area of North Carolina. Our biggest topic of discussion for the last few months is the upcoming expansion of the the USL-1 to Cary. We've also done a lot of in depth coverage of our local Raleigh Elite PDL team and the fanatastic youth soccer being played at CASL, Triangle Futbol Club, Goldstar, Triangle United, and the other fine youth programs in this part of the state. Of course, with college soccer season in full swing, it's all we can do to keep up with the amazing mount of Division I soccer being played within a 30 mile radius of SAS Soccer Park in Cary. It's too bad that we can't do justice to the lower division schools as well.

Take a quick look around our site over at TSF. Some of the features that we've been running include:

• RailHawks Underground: A podcast focused mainly on the coming USL-1 side but also rambling into other tangents.
  
• USL Alumni Series: Profiles of players that made the jump to the big leagues after starting their pro career at the USL level.
• Triangle Area Traveller's Guide: A soccer-friendly travel guide for folks coming to a soccer match in the Raleigh-Durham-Cary-Chapel Hill area.
• Reviews: Summaries and recommendations on some of our favorite soccer films and books.

And the final feature, the one that I will be sharing here on College to the Pros, is a recurring column where we take a look at the UNC Tar Heels through the eyes of sophmore Stephen Bickford. Stephen, who is a local Cary product was the 2004 NSCAA national high school player of the year and has represented the USA on the U-18 national team. Stephen has been working to break into the first team at Carolina which is filled with talented upper-classmen. After each game or two, we check in with Bic looking for a little insight on what goes on behind the scenes in college soccer.

So enough about me and my website...I'll be back soon with another installment of Bic's View, or perhaps an article or two on another topic that fits the bill of this blog.

New Blogger Joining From College to the Pros...

I am pleased to announce a new writer around these parts. Wjarrettc is already writing the great blog focusing on soccer in North Carolina, Triangle Soccer Fanatics, and is going to contribute his series focusing on UNC Super Soph Stephen Bickford. I look forward to having a new contributor and I hope you all enjoy getting another perspective.

If you're interested in joining in the fun and think you can contribute meaningful writing in my subject area, think about applying.

Welcome Wjarrettc!

Top USL Rookie, Cam Weaver, to MLS and the Colorado Rapids...

On Friday the United Soccer League announced that rookie forward Cam Weaver is leaving the first division Seattle Sounders to join an MLS side prior to the MLS roster deadline day. When Weaver suited up for the Black and Blue Colorado Rapids in Saturday's reserve league match against the LA Galaxy, the tba team was unofficially announced. We're still waiting for an official announcement but I for one am already doing the happy, happy, happy, joy, joy, joy dance.

Weaver is the latest American college player to miss the attention of MLS scouts, sign with USL, then shine as a rookie. Every year we've seen players brought into the top division after success in the lower tier. Brian Ching is another current star of MLS who made the jump from USL to MLS. After a strong college career at Gonzaga University, Ching was drafted by MLS' LA Galaxy in 2001 but he struggled before signing with Seattle. He wasn't deterred and strong play for Seattle led him back to the higher league in 2003. Ching took that and turned it into a place on the 2006 US World Cup Squad. Ching's Houston teammate, Dwayne De Rosario, is another example of someone who had to prove themselves in a lower league before making it to MLS. So is Jimmy Conrad.

Cam Weaver is often going to find himself amongst the tallest players in MLS. At 6' - 4" there aren't too many taller. His size is going to make him a strong candidate for target man with the Rapids' closest forward being Melvin Tarley at 6' - 1".

Weaver has proven he can score goals at all levels and in this 2006 USL season he kept pace with Brazilian great Romario to lead the league with 18 goals. Hard work and good service is going to be the key to Weaver's success in MLS. I'm hopeful he'll be able to make an impact for the Rapids as we head into the MLS playoffs. Maybe this weekend we'll see a similar celebration to this one, this weekend in LA.

If you didn't already know, third year forward Nate Jaqua is a beast...

I went to see my Rapids last night play against the in-form Chicago Fire. As the playoffs loom, the Rapids really need wins to secure their place in the post season. Recent form of both teams had me worried. Home wins are critical for the Rapids as their road form is downright terrible. The Fire came to Denver with one of the strongest recent records in the league (8 wins - 1 draw between MLS and the US Open Cup) and looked to be storming to the second place playoff spot in the east. Pre-game it wasn't looking good.

The Jim Curtain own goal in the 3rd minute quickly made me feel more confident.

After that own goal and the Rapids control of the play I figured we'd get another point on the board before the half. That didn't happen. In the second half I was downright shocked the Fire didn't put a few goals on the board. Forward Nate Jaqua looked like he could take any cross coming into the box and put it on frame. At 6' - 3", 180 lbs. he is a big guy. However, his vertical leap puts him on a different level. This kid is the target forward everyone drools about. If he were playing for the Rapids last night Terry Cooke would have a field day crossing to him.

Jaqua is tough too. I lost count of how many scrapes he got into with the opposing Rapids. More than once he was going to ground while chasing the ball, or not. He isn't afraid to challenge. He is probably the next Brian McBride for the national team. As a Rapids fan I felt like Jaqua was a little dirty in some of his play. However, I'd love to see those tactics against Italy at World Cup 2010.

I figured I'd take a look at how Jaqua got to this point in his career.
- Attended South Eugene High School in Eugene, Oregon from 1996-2000. Played on the varsity team all four years. He was named a Parade All-American twice and named Oregon 4A Player of the Year twice.
- Attended the 1999 adidas ESP Camp along with; Jose Burciaga Jr., Brian Carroll, Alecko Eskandarian, Leonard Griffin, Oguchi Onyewu, Logan Pause, Troy Perkins, David Wagenfuhr and Chris Wingert.
- In 1999 he got his first national program experience with the U-18's. Since then he's played for the U-20's, U-23's and full National Team.
- Played college soccer at the University of Portland from 2000 - 2002 where he was a Hermann Trophy nominee, NSCAA 3rd Team All-American, he earned several Team of the Week honors.
- Signed as a Nike P-40 player by MLS.
- Selected 3rd in the SuperDraft by Chicago in 2003. Selected behind Alecko Eskandarian and Ricardo Clark but ahead of Mike Magee, David Stokes, Todd Dunivant, Diego Walsh, Guillermo Gonzalez, Pat Noonan and Shavar Thomas in the first round.

If you haven't seen Jaqua play, look for him. He entertains with each leap, shot, pass and tackle, even if he is ringing Rapid Hunter Freeman around the neck while falling out of bounds.

Editor's Note: Jaqua has been in the league 4 years, not 3. Thanks Prk.

Observations of the college soccer season thus far...

- John DiRaimondo is making people take notice early on. The senior St. Louis Bilken scored two goals and helped out on two more in the #20 Bilken's 5-1 thrashing of #22 UConn. UConn came into the season ranked #4 by College Soccer News, but that ranking seems to be jinxing them as they haven't won in their first three matches.

DiRaimondo has seen action with almost every level of the US Youth program, starting with the U-16 team in 2001. He was a Bradenton resident with the likes of MLS vets Guillermo Gonzalez, Eddie Gaven, Mike Magee & Justin Mapp. He has been named to seemingly every All American list possible and this year is included in the Herman Trophy Watch list. Last year he scored 8 goals and made 10 assists and seems ready to break through those numbers this season. I have no doubt he'll be invited to the combine and be one of the big names in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft.

- SMU is not failing to disappoint. They started the season with a hefty #2 ranking in the pre-season College Soccer News poll and they are still up there after four straight wins, one of them being a 6-0 thrashing of Cincinnati. Additionally they have not yet given up a goal. Matt Wideman is their starting keeper getting credit for the clean sheets. In front of him there is a strong defense helping to keep the saves required to a minimum. So far Wideman has only had to stop 13 shots, or 3.25/game. That's low.

- The ACC should be renamed the amazing conference. So far the top teams in the conference are 24-1, with the only loss being North Carolina losing to rival NC State, in the conference. Once full conference play starts up it is sure to get exciting. Six of the top ten College Soccer News teams are from the ACC. If you live in the area, get out there and enjoy some great soccer.

US U-20 beats Argentina in Busan, South Korea

I was on vacation this weekend so you have to imagine my surprise and delight in reading this morning that the US beat Argentina in a youth tournament. True, this doesn't mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but anytime we can beat a youth powerhouse, I'm happy. The US finished last in the tournament since they had the worst goal differential while South Korea clearly enjoyed the home field advantage, winning all three of their games.

As I've said before, the experience these kids get playing the world's best is priceless. The fact that a majority of the team is made up of professional players, makes it even better. Coach Rongen is working towards the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup qualifying which will take place early in 2007 in Panama and Mexico. Playing in these kinds of events helps the coaching staff evaluate talent and put together the qualifying team.

It seems Nik Besagno needs to work on his temper. In a three minute span he earned his first and second yellow card resulting in a red. He kicked the ball away after being called for a foul. According to ussoccer.com the Americans started to unravel once Besango was sent off. In matches that matter, this kind of poor sportsmanship can't be tolerated and I hope Nik learned that after his red card.

Overall, good to see the Americans get a win against a powerhouse, especially when playing almost an entire half with 10 men and 26 total shots in the match.