Editorial
In an interview at Toronto FC’s KIA Training Ground prior to their friendly with Toronto FC II on July 28th, AS Roma’s Primavera (U19 side) coach Alberto De Rossi had only the nicest things to say about “the 6” and Major League Soccer. At the time, admittedly I didn’t think very much of it – I was more excited about getting the opportunity to witness the team that had beaten the likes of Ajax and Manchester City to finish 3rd in the UEFA Youth League the season prior.
In retrospective, something in particular stood out to me about what the father of the 2006 World Cup winner and AS Roma legend discussed, which was how special the relationship TFC II has with Toronto FC truly is. The USL/MLS partnership is a system that is lacking in the present Italian soccer landscape. MLS has a true reserve league, something that impressed him as the top leagues in Europe have only begun to start implementing this concept on a league-wide basis (Barcelona B and Real Madrid B are well established, yet they play in the second division with other non-reserve clubs).
Italian soccer is as Major League Soccer operated up until 2013 in terms of possessing no graduate system from the youth to senior levels. After the U19 level players are expected to progress to first team football, whether at their club or in a lower division. This is problematic for several reasons as most are aware; players can choose to ride the bench with the big club, or move down a league or two on loan but risk playing down to that division’s level and losing the parent club’s philosophy in the process.
Frankly, the Italian national team’s recent struggles are the outcome of this dilemma. Clubs would prefer to purchase ready-made professional talent from abroad who have first team experience than to risk using the unproven. To continue to use the AS Roma example, they have let players like Federico Viviani, Gianluca Caprari and Valerio Verre fall into relative obscurity while purchasing foreign players like Nicholas Lopez, Leandro Paredes and Tin Jedvaj to replace them. To what end?
For Major League Soccer those who don’t sell the shirts are those who have narrowed the gap in quality; with more opportunities to play at higher competitive levels in the USL than ever before, domestic competitiveness can only go up from here.
The notion of becoming a Home Grown Player signing is a promising one in the modern era; with early HGPs the majority of them were utilized to become squad fillers. Expansion within pre-existing markets at the USL level was something never truly successful up until this point in time. If the first HGPs were to come through the present system, the scenarios that played out with the likes of Oscar Cordon, Nicholas Lindsay and Matt Stinson would likely not have repeated themselves. Case in point – where are they now? They certainly would have benefited from playing in the USL to further hone their craft.
The quality of MLS has increased dramatically with the Designated Player rule as is well known, but with allocation money implemented it has allowed other players like Omar Gonzalez to be retained by their clubs without needing to trade away assets. It also allows someone like Benoit Cheyrou to step into the league; he would have commanded a DP status several years ago when the Designated Player rule was relatively new. All the while with attendance rates booming, this is a testament to just how far North American soccer has progressed in prominence.
You don’t often realize how great something you have is; it often takes someone else to bring it to light and my how bright it is!
