I want solutions, not problems!

I once had a great boss who insisted that if any of us brought up a problem, we should be prepared to suggest a solution at the same time. Sounds obvious, but it was great advice that I still try to use as much as possible.

So when it comes to the impact of Major League Soccer on the development of young players in the United States - about which Washington Post writer Paul Tenorio wrote a very interesting piece that ran today - I want to try to be a small part of the solution. It’s an extremely important topic for both MLS and American soccer, and Tenorio did a good job of efficiently discussing the multiple aspects of a very complex issue.

As far as possible solutions, Tenorio primarily mentions partnerships with minor-league clubs and an increased investment in the MLS Reserve League. Of the two, I would favor the latter, where players will remain more connected to the MLS club and will play, generally speaking, on better fields. MLS teams currently play 10-game Reserve League schedules, but several considerations - mostly financial, as I understand it - prevent the league from running a full 34-game Reserve League, in which each MLS fixture is mirrored at the lower level. Given the travel required and the lack of any tangible revenue from a reserve game in most markets, the financials will continue to make it a tough sell.

It is a third option that most intrigues me, however, one raised by MLSsoccer.com’s Jonah Freedman in this April column. Read on for more ...
For several seasons around 2008, Mexico’s top division had a rule, Regla de Menores, legislating that, on each team, at least one U-20 player compete in at least 1,000 minutes out of the 1,530 minutes available during an abbreviated Mexican season. Failure to do so resulted in that team being docked three points in the final standings.

Now my guess is that MLS coaches would not be thrilled to deal with this rule, and I don’t suggest it be implemented exactly as in Mexico. But I think the MLS competition committee would do well to try a variant of the rule, perhaps requiring that each team give a total of at least 3,000 minutes (out of a team total of 33,660 for a 34-game season) to players aged 21 or younger. It would provide meaningful, pressurized playing time for additional young players, yet still give teams flexibility to satisfy the rule with multiple U-21 players, rather than almost requiring one U-21 player to be a full-time starter.

Yr	Name	Tm	Nat	Mins
1991	Felipe	MTL	BRA	1,170
1992	Perry Kitchen - GA	DC	USA	1,108
1991	Gershon Koffie	VAN	GHA	903
1991	Zac MacMath - GA	PHI	USA	810
1991	Ashtone Morgan - HG	TFC	CAN	796
1993	Luis Gil - GA	RSL	USA	775
1993	Andy Najar - HG	DC	HON	765
1992	Fabian Castillo	FCD	COL	674
1991	Kelyn Rowe - GA	NE	USA	650
1992	Joao Plata	TFC	ECU	638
1991	Reggie Lambe	TFC	BER	612
1991	Danny Mwanga - GA	PHI*	DRC	548
1991	Zarek Valentin - GA	MTL	USA	425
1993	Omar Salgado - GA	VAN	USA	385
1993	Doneil Henry - HG	TFC	CAN	373
1992	Jose Erik Correa	CHV	COL	366
1992	Bryan Leyva - HG	FCD	MEX	363
1992	Juan Agudelo* - HG	NY CHV	USA	179 166
1991	Sebastian Velasquez	RSL	COL/ USA	340
1992	Andrew Jean-Baptiste - GA	POR	USA	336
1991	Victor Palsson	NY	ICE	311
1991	Orr Barouch	CHI	MEX/ ISR	180
1991	Amobi Okugo - GA	PHI	USA	160
1991	Miguel Montano	MTL	COL	115
1992	Jack McInerney - GA	PHI	USA	93
1995	Diego Fagundez - HG	NE	URU	78
1991	Roger Torres (inj.)	PHI	COL	72
1992	Matt Stinson - HG	TFC	CAN	68
1992	Cordell Cato	SEA	T&T	51
1992	Ruben Luna - HG	FCD	MEX	40
1993	Jonathan Top - HG	FCD	USA	30
1992	Tyler Polak - GA	NE	USA	30
1993	Cristhian Hernandez - HG	PHI	MEX/ USA	26
1991	Kofi Sarkodie (inj.) - GA	HOU	USA	8

So far this season, I count 21 U-21 players (those born in 1991 or later) who have played at least 300 MLS minutes, and they come from 11 different teams. Three more teams have U-21 players who have played, but have not yet reached 300 minutes this season.

Perhaps tellingly, only seven of the 21 players have pledged their international futures to the U.S., although a couple could still wind up with the U.S. So even if MLS mandated minutes for young players, it would not always benefit U.S. players. That might be one counter-argument to an MLS version of the Regla de Menores, since the Mexican league is much more homogenous than MLS. Those mandated minutes might not wind up benefiting the U.S. national team.

So is it a perfect solution? Absolutely not. But I think it deserves some consideration when considering the future of youth development in MLS.

This list also makes for interesting reading. Of the 34 total players on the list, 12 are Generation adidas and 10 are home-grown players. Of the 21 players who have played at least 300 minutes, 7 are Generation adidas and five are home-grown. Not a huge difference between those numbers, and a slight edge to GA players, which might indicate that, not surprisingly, MLS academies have not yet cornered the market on young talent. Many elite players still come up through other clubs or the U.S. youth national team system and enter MLS via the college ranks. While this ratio may change over the years, as MLS teams recruit young talent more actively, it certainly indicates that MLS academies are unlikely to be responsible for all development of elite talent in the near future.