Crew Dispatch: Columbus Homegrown Player Pipeline Making Inroads

When Major League Soccer implemented the Homegrown Player Rule back in 2008, its intention was to provide a pathway for talented young players in teams’ academy systems to make it into the league via clubs regionally close to their hometowns. It also made it easier for those clubs to sign local players to the full senior team by allowing HGP salaries to be untied from salary cap restrictions. This bottom up approach to enhancing the quality of play in the league, it is hoped, will allow top academy players to make a smooth transition into MLS and become regular contributors over time.

Columbus Homegrown Player Pipeline Making Inroads

The Columbus Crew youth system, founded in 2006, has already realized a great deal of success. The Crew Juniors, as they are known, have captured four youth national championships, two apiece in both U19 and U20 play. Of the seven Homegrown signees currently on the Crew roster, three played instrumental roles on those title winning teams (midfielders Ben Speas and Matt Walker as well as right back Ross Friedman). Still others have enjoyed varying degrees of success both at the collegiate level as well as internationally playing for US youth sides (Matt Wiet, Chad Barson, Matt Lampson and Wil Trapp).

Upon signing a Homegrown Player contract, not all players immediately end up getting regular playing time with their respective MLS teams. There are a few exceptional talents that can step in and contribute right away. Speas, Barson and Trapp were frequent starters for Columbus during their rookie seasons, and even goalkeeper Lampson made regular appearances last season before being supplanted by newcomer Steve Clark in 2014.

Most USL teams are independent entities, so there isn’t necessarily a farm system as there is in baseball or hockey, although some teams in the league are reserve sides for MLS teams (for example, LA Galaxy II or Red Bulls Reserves). For the most part though, clubs loan out their players to USL sides where they gain exposure to professional level competition for the first time. With time and hard work, those players can eventually graduate to the higher level of competition they’ll most certainly see in MLS.

The Crew regularly loan out new signees, both Homegrowns and those acquired via the MLS Superdraft, to the USL’s Dayton Dutch Lions. Both Friedman and Walker, who signed their HGP contracts this season along with defender Matt Wiet, have spent the entirety of the year with Dayton. All three enjoy regular starting roles with the club, including Wiet who made his debut June 1 against the Rochester Rhinos after recovering from a torn ACL.

Summer friendlies against European opposition are another means of giving younger prospects valuable experience early on in their careers. Though from a season continuity perspective, some decry these matches as mere money grabs that risk injuries to important players (to which I partially agree), I think this is another vital avenue from which the new guys can benefit greatly.

In Wednesday’s 2-2 draw with English Premier League side Crystal Palace, Lampson got his first start of the year in goal for the Crew, and all three Dayton regulars, Walker, Friedman, and Wiet came on as subs in the 2^nd half. Rookie Adam Bedell, an intriguing forward drafted by Columbus in the third round of the 2014 MLS SuperDraft, netted his second goal as a member of the Black and Gold.

Of the three Homegrown signings who have figured prominently into the Crew’s starting lineup this year, it’s pretty evident that Trapp has received the most buzz. Having already participated in the 2013 U-20 World Cup for the US, it is expected that his name will be included in the player pool when the 2018 World Cup qualifying cycle begins in roughly two years’ time. When you watch him play, you can’t help but be amazed at how adept he is at placing the ball downfield in spots optimal for attacking opportunities.

If you visit Alex Olshansky’s Tempo Free Soccer site, he did a spectacular analysis of what makes Trapp such a promising young talent and why it should only be a matter of time before Jurgen Klinsmann calls him up. Trapp’s accuracy rate of 86% on passes that are 25 yards or longer is best in the world amongst similarly aged players at his position or close to it. He also attempts more passes of this nature than any of the other names Olshansky profiled, including Toni Kroos: you know, that guy who just won a World Cup for Germany and recently made a high profile big money transfer from Bayern Munich to Real Madrid.

There is perhaps no better example of the intermingling between the developmental and economic issues moving the league forward than that of the Homegrown Player rule. It’s the perfect way to integrate teams’ youth academies with the full MLS side, along with giving the league clout with young up and coming players. Germany’s success at the recently completed World Cup has demonstrated to the world that having a solid domestic infrastructure in place to develop aspiring talent is of paramount importance to being a contender on the international stage. The steps being taken by organizations such as US Soccer, MLS, and others are promising to that end.

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