TFC Academy 2013

[Yohan]

6 players called up to U17 camp

GK- Marco Carducci | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
GK- Daniel Milton | CAN / Ajax Thunder
CB- Alex Comsia | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
CB- Mathieu Laurent | CAN / Mississauga
CB- Elias Roubos | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
FB- Kevon Black | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
FB- Ian Fernandes | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
FB- Aron Mkungilwa | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
M- Hanson Boakai | CAN / FC Edmonton Reserve
M- Marco Bustos | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Mikaël Cantave | FRA / FC Nantes
M- Matthew Chow | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Kianz Gonzales-Froese | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Jordan Haynes | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Derick Sequeira | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
F- Paco Deckers | NED / SC Heerenveen
F- Andrew Gordon | CAN / Hearts Azzuri
F- Jordan Hamilton | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
F- Luca Uccello | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
F- Derek Cornelius | Unionville SC

[TFC07]

Congrats to those kids and their parents. Nice to see TFCA is making a big impact in Canadian youth soccer.

[maxpower]

Luca Uccello is the best player in his age group in the province and just signed with the club a few months ago. I'll be real interested in his progression in the acadamy.

[Greatest Ripoff]

Luca Uccello is the best player in his age group in the province and just signed with the club a few months ago. I'll be real interested in his progression in the acadamy.

Luca played for the academy last season. He was one of the key players on the u15 team and won the golden boot at the Generation Adidas Cup.

[maxpower]

Luca played for the academy last season. He was one of the key players on the u15 team and won the golden boot at the Generation Adidas Cup.

Unaware of that, I know he was still playing for his OYSL team and the provincial team on at least a semi-regular basis until few months ago.

[Soccerpro]

Which academy players are with the team in Florida?

[Greatest Ripoff]

Which academy players are with the team in Florida?

I would love to know but there has zero information on anyone who traveled with the team. I tried to do a little twitter snooping on some of the highly regarded academy players. I didn't see anything about being with the team from Tyler Pasher, Mark Wadid or Sergio Camargo. Jordan Hamilton who went last year with the team to Orlando is currently with the Can U17 team.

[prizby]

Which academy players are with the team in Florida?

Not sure there will be many; anyone that is there will probably be going off with Canada very shortly for the u20 concacaf championship

[Waggy]

Interesting that there's 6 from TFCA and 6 from Whitecaps Residency. I wonder if that was intentional on the part of the CSA (also interesting Montreal has ONE. Wtf are they doing over there?)

[denime]

6 players called up to U17 camp

GK- Marco Carducci | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
GK- Daniel Milton | CAN / Ajax Thunder
CB- Alex Comsia | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
CB- Mathieu Laurent | CAN / Mississauga
CB- Elias Roubos | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
FB- Kevon Black | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
FB- Ian Fernandes | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
FB- Aron Mkungilwa | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
M- Hanson Boakai | CAN / FC Edmonton Reserve
M- Marco Bustos | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Mikaël Cantave | FRA / FC Nantes
M- Matthew Chow | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Kianz Gonzales-Froese | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Jordan Haynes | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
M- Derick Sequeira | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
F- Paco Deckers | NED / SC Heerenveen
F- Andrew Gordon | CAN / Hearts Azzuri
F- Jordan Hamilton | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
F- Luca Uccello | CAN / Toronto FC Academy
F- Derek Cornelius | Unionville SC

There are 4 players from GTA REP teams that made the U17 roster,makes me wonder why are they good enough for U17 National team and not for TFCA?

[ag futbol]

^ I don't think it's necessarily a matter of "make" in all circumstances. Some of these kids have no interest in playing for TFCA. They want to explore their options abroad.

You could argue there is an element of politics though. The way it's divided up between the professional academies and a handful of GTA clubs, no SAAC representation... might be nothing, or could be what was done to please certain corners.

[Soccerpro]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle7464830/

"While Toronto FC is hoping to get similar results from its own academy, which started in 2008, results have been mixed, producing players long on ego but short on talent, with some of the coaches from top European sides, who travel over every year to observe players at Sigma’s annual camp, left bemused by the coaching methods employed by the MLS club."

I have all the respect in the world for Sigma and some other Saac academies. I personally feel that once Kevin Payne is done trying to fix the first team he will have to turn his attention to the academy. What are the coaching qualifications of the coaches at TFC academy? Isn't it just a bunch of former players and a few local university coaches? I'm not saying they aren't good, but they should have their UEFA badges. I read recently ROngen bragging about TFC's youth development and how they were sending Dichio to France this year for courses, which is funny considering many FTA clubs/academies have more qualified staff than TFCA at the moment.

I think the program could use some improvements, from what I see. Then again, they keep everything so secret, I don't all that much, as opposed to the Whitecaps who do a great job with media and their academy.

[Strait shooter]

There are 4 players from GTA REP teams that made the U17 roster,makes me wonder why are they good enough for U17 National team and not for TFCA?

Daniel Milton has signed with Blackpool and will go over in July. Always intended to go to England.
Derek Cornelius is intending to go to Europe.
Don't know about Andrew Gordon and Mathieu Laurent. Possibly Gordon is setting his sights on Europe too. Last year with provincial program, so maybe will go to TFCA April? Laurent either doesn't have aspirations or is hoping for Europe too?
Once a player goes to TFCA it becomes a problem if they can or want to try Europe. So you will find that some players will not go there. TFCA releases instead of training until the player can go and getting something for that player. Not all players can go anyway due to no citizenship or not skilled enough.

[prizby]

once a player starts looking at Europe, TFC acadmey releases that player

[Ajax TFC]

once a player starts looking at Europe, TFC acadmey releases that player

not a bad idea either. No point investing time, money, and PT that could go to other players into a player that you know you wont get a return on

[ag futbol]

^ It's a balancing act. You're right, no point in investing resources in someone who won't stick around. Also can't have a solid environment where everyone has one foot out the door.

That being said, I'd like to see TFC sell the merits of their academy more and really get focused on having the best youth trainers available run the place. The attitude I've sensed coming out of that corner of the club at times was "we're the best, take it or leave it". Unfortunately for the club, the kids these days have plenty of options. TFCA isn't the only game in town, not by a long shot.

[denime]

once a player starts looking at Europe, TFC acadmey releases that player

Yeah,and they ask for $$$ in case players find the club.I know for the case of a boy who spent less then season with TFCA,got offer from German club and Germans drop the offer when TFC came around asking fro 12K.He wasn't develop by TFCA but by his REP team and 6 months with TFC and so called "letter of commitment" screw him up.Now he is not with TFC nor in Europe,boy is looking for some scholarship hoping he can carry on playing in NCAA.
There are many kids/boys in GTA who are refusing to go to TFCA for exact same reason,and opting to stick with their rep teams or going to Sigma FC academy.
SIGMA FC has already committed several players to NCAA Div.1 soccer programs for the fall, joining more than 30 players that have received scholarships in the past three years and after this year draft they are overwhelm by parents from younger players and 15-18 old ones registering for their winter tryouts.

What I'm trying to say is while TFCA should be #1 option in Ontario for talented boys,they are still not manage to convince parents and players that TFCA is place to be.Last TFCA open tryouts 20 days ago was nothing else then PR,they did not pick any boys all they did collect data and send all parents "thanks for coming,here is 30% off for our summer camps" email.

[denime]

^ It's a balancing act. You're right, no point in investing resources in someone who won't stick around. Also can't have a solid environment where everyone has one foot out the door.

That being said, I'd like to see TFC sell the merits of their academy more and really get focused on having the best youth trainers available run the place. The attitude I've sensed coming out of that corner of the club at times was "we're the best, take it or leave it". Unfortunately for the club, the kids these days have plenty of options. TFCA isn't the only game in town, not by a long shot.

QFT many options indeed!

[ag futbol]

^ Yeah, the other thing about the letter of commitment is its questionable legality. My bet would be that if someone was willing to fight it, TFC would be all bark and no bite. It's about the illusion they can control where these players are going, which they want to preserve. If they went to court and it got thrown out, they'd look stupid and have drawn attention to how helpless they are. I'm sure the Germany club just smirked a little bit and thought it wasn't worth their trouble for a prospect.

Anyway, that's not to say TFC shouldn't take measures to stop players from leaving or be concerned about this type of activity, but I think the main solution to this problem is offering extremely high quality training and drawing attention to it. For example, the staff should be high enough quality where we'd laugh at the idea of comparing them to the amateur clubs around the GTA.

[Soccerpro]

^ Yeah, the other thing about the letter of commitment is its questionable legality. My bet would be that if someone was willing to fight it, TFC would be all bark and no bite. It's about the illusion they can control where these players are going, which they want to preserve. If they went to court and it got thrown out, they'd look stupid and have drawn attention to how helpless they are. I'm sure the Germany club just smirked a little bit and thought it wasn't worth their trouble for a prospect.

Anyway, that's not to say TFC shouldn't take measures to stop players from leaving or be concerned about this type of activity, but I think the main solution to this problem is offering extremely high quality training and drawing attention to it. For example, the staff should be high enough quality where we'd laugh at the idea of comparing them to the amateur clubs around the GTA.

Exactly. However as it stands, they're not at that quality, and they have no one else to blame but themselves.

[spark]

Anyway, that's not to say TFC shouldn't take measures to stop players from leaving or be concerned about this type of activity, but I think the main solution to this problem is offering extremely high quality training and drawing attention to it. For example, the staff should be high enough quality where we'd laugh at the idea of comparing them to the amateur clubs around the GTA.

This is pretty much it. I pretty much spat out my coffee last year (2011?) during the whole Aleman debacle when Mariner would mention ManU and Barca's academies in the same breath as TFCA.

Right now it is all about the facilities, which is also the same for the organization for a whole. Maybe this will begin to change but TFC has been all sizzle no steak for most of the last seven years.

[Yohan]

Don't think it's worth a new thread, so I'll post U20 stuff here.

CONCACAF U20 tourney

http://www.canadasoccer.com/canada-m...3256-preview-1

1- GK- Ricky Gomes | POR / Sport Clube de Mirandela
2- FB- Jon Dollery | ENG / Crawley Town FC
3- FB- Marco Lapenna | GER / FC Erzgebirge Aue
4- CB- Doneil Henry | CAN / Toronto FC
5- CB- Daniel Stanese | GER / FC Nürnberg Reserve
6- M- Samuel Piette | GER / Fortuna Düsseldorf
7- M- Ben Fisk | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC U-23
8- M - Bryce Alderson | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
9- F- Caleb Clarke | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC
10- M- Keven Aleman | ESP / Real Valladolid
11- M- Michael Petrasso | ENG / Queens Park Rangers
12- M- Dylan Carreiro | ENG / Queens Park Rangers
13- M- Alessandro Riggi | ESP / Celta de Vigo
14- F- Yassin Essa | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC Residency
15- CB- Manjrekar James | HUN / PMFC-MATIAS
16- M- Mauro Eustáquio | POR / Sporting Clube de Pombal
17- F- Anthony Jackson-Hamel | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
18- GK- Maxime Crépeau | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
19- FB- Jordan Murrell | USA / Syracuse University
20- M- Zakaria Messoudi | CAN / Académie Impact Montréal
21- M- Ben McKendry | USA / University of New Mexico
22- F- Stefan Vukovic | Unattached / sans club
23- FB- Allan Zebie | CAN / Edmonton FC Reserve

[elironico]

Not to mention Jordan Murrell...

[prizby]

Don't think it's worth a new thread, so I'll post U20 stuff here.

CONCACAF U20 tourney

http://www.canadasoccer.com/canada-m...3256-preview-1

19- FB- Jordan Murrell | USA / Syracuse University

forgot one

[Yohan]

TFC academy U17 team will participate in AEGON Future Cup hosted by Ajax.

http://www.wakingthered.com/2013/1/2...gon-future-cup

http://translate.google.com/translat...Future-Cup.htm

[GeorgeR]

There are 4 players from GTA REP teams that made the U17 roster,makes me wonder why are they good enough for U17 National team and not for TFCA?

It's not that they're not good enough. They have to make the decision themselves to get out there, and for some I guess they don't feel that TFCA will benefit them which is totally incorrect.

[jiforio]

Kudos to TFC for having 6 players called to the under-17 camp, however Vancouver has 6 players attending as well. It should also be noted that we only have 1 player, Henry (same as bush league Edmonton FC) attending the Under -20 camp whereas Montreal has three of their players and Vancouver has FOUR. It seems our academy may not be making the strides we are lead to believe.

[Yohan]

Kudos to TFC for having 6 players called to the under-17 camp, however Vancouver has 6 players attending as well. It should also be noted that we only have 1 player, Henry (same as bush league Edmonton FC) attending the Under -20 camp whereas Montreal has three of their players and Vancouver has FOUR. It seems our academy may not be making the strides we are lead to believe.

5 ex TFC academy players on U20 team...

[Greatest Ripoff]

There will be a show on GOLTV tonight about the recent open tryouts for the academy. Here is a teaser video.

http://www.torontofc.ca/video/2013/0...y-open-tryouts

[Yagbod]

Any update on where they will play this year? I had heard that TFC had a back up plan for the CSL debacle, but I have not heard what it is.