As the role of the U.S. Soccer’s Development Academy has grown in scope in the youth soccer scene, the importance of other leagues has diminished. The novelty of players coming from small town clubs and making the national scene has evaporated as the importance of the U.S. Soccer funded league and the scouting network attached to it has overshadowed the other competitions across the vast land.
The elite 74 clubs in the U16 and U18 age groups of the Development Academy have been the placeholder for the vast majority of players in the U.S. Youth National Team system over the last five years. With roughly 3500 players in the older age groups of the Academy, the league is a small sample size of the millions of youth players in this country, but it is in theory supposed to be the best of the best of that player pool.
U.S. Soccer Scouts attend other events outside of the Academy as well. However, most of the players that play for the U.S. Boys Youth National Teams come from one of those 74 clubs. Of the most recent U.S. U17 and U20 Men’s National Team rosters, only one player, Quantrell Jones of Baltimore Celtic SC, of the 45 had no ties to the Development Academy. However, there was recently a name from a youth national team that came from outside of the Academy that stood out in an international tournament.
