MLS still lost in Development Woods

15 or so years ago MLS embarked on a journey to develop players itself instead of relying on college or ever-increasing expensive transfers for foreign lands. First with a Reserve League in the mid-aughts that got shuttered a few years later to - only rise again around 2011, before getting shut down yet again. 

I thought the 2011 version of the reserve league worked well for the Columbus Crew. It provided a needed competitive environment for a handful of players that helped take the team to the MLS finals in 2015.

After the 2nd fall of the MLS reserve league, the brain trust up in NY decided that every MLS should have a team playing in the USL. Be it a "II" or via affiliation. MLS boasted about how well this would work and required teams to participate. After a couple years most teams did have something. Others, like the Crew, not so much.

With the recent formation of "MLS Next," the league is now altering the plan yet again. It doesn't appear MLS is requiring its members to set up a reserve team (which is already morphing into a U23 team), but it is paving the road. Looks like they'll plop it in the 3rd tier on the busted up US Soccer pyramid.

WHY!?

MLS sees all other soccer in the US and abroad as competition. They will use the other domestic leagues when they have to, but ultimately, MLS wants them gone. With transfer demand for US-based players at a high, MLS is doing everything they can to make sure none of that money slips through their hands.

Imagine, if you will... a player in the USL with no affiliation to MLS transferring for a Pulisic or Davies type fee. This means a windfall of hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, all at once. It would and could change the landscape of soccer in the United States in a matter of just a few years. Fees are one of the major (if not THE major) sources of revenue in the rest of the world.

On the whole, MLS teams DO NOT MAKE MONEY. The missing ingredient in the financial success of MLS is transfer fees and TV deals. They have neither. Gate, merch, sponsorships, and property are just enough for teams to scratch by. 

MLS needs transfer money and they sure as hell don't want to pay transfer money to the USL or any other league in the US.

Anyway, that is why they are doing this. 

Ball-Winning Distributors, USL Championship

The USL Championship makes available Opta data for their regular season as well as playoffs. Each year I enjoy mining all that information for good players. This year is no different.

Below are what I'm calling "ball-winning distributors." Meaning; they will win the ball and keep the ball in your possession (good passers). You'll find mostly defensive mid, central mid and a backline player or two.

These are very active players, but don't necessarily involve themselves directly in the attack. I've included their strengths (near or at the top in the USL).

BALL-WINNING DISTRIBUTOR
Name	Age	2019 Team	Strength 1	Strength 2	Strength 3
Boluwatife Akinyode	24	NASHVILLE SC	Tackles Won	Pass in Opp Half	Long Pass
Kevan George	29	CHARLOTTE	Interceptions	Pass in Opp Half	All-round Defending
Ebenezer Ackon	23	SAN ANTONIO FC	All-round Passing	All-round Defending	Duels Won
Sam Hamilton	23	NEW MEXICO UNITED	General Passing	General Defending
Wesly Decas	19	ATLANTA UNITED 2	General Passing	General Defending
Kevin Partida	23	RENO 1868 FC	Tackles Won	All-round Passing	Pass in Opp Half
George Campbell	17	ATLANTA UNITED 2	General Defending	General Passing
Kevon Lambert	21	PHOENIX RISING FC	Tackles Won	All-round Defending	General Passing

What I considered:

PASSING ACTIVITY:
1. Overall Passing %
2. Passing % the Opponents Half
3. Long Pass %
4. Total Passes

DEFENSIVE ACTIVITY:
1. Interceptions per 90
2. Tackles Won per 90
3. All Duels Won per 90
4. Ariel Duels Won per 90
5. Total Activity (total of these categories)

Once I had a rank on all 1047 USL players, I took the average of both Passing and Defensive Activity to pull out the top players above. Players below 900 mins were not considered. More notes on each player:

Name	Age	POS	Value	Highest Level	Notes
Boluwatife Akinyode	25	DM	228k	NASL	Nomad, recently transferred to Birmingham
Kevan George	29	DM	200k	MLS	Established Trinidad International
Ebenezer Ackon	23	LB	0k	USLC	Ghanaian, in US via College
Sam Hamilton	23	DM	171k	MLS	Colorado Rapids Academy Player
Wesly Decas	20	CB	171k	Liga NOS	Honduras U20 Player
Kevin Partida	24	CM	143k	MLS	Jumps between Reno FC and MLS Quakes
George Campbell	18	CB	171k	USLC	Atlanta United Academy Player
Kevon Lambert	22	CM	257k	USLC	Jamaica Senior Team Player

Each one of these players is worth a look at the MLS level. Beyond that, perhaps Decas, Campell, and Lambert are worth bringing in for a closer evaluation outside MLS.

More ball-winning passers with a good year, if you happen to be shopper:

Name	Age	POS	2019 USL Team
Wal Fall	27	CM	OTTAWA FURY FC
Napo Matsoso	24	CM	LOUISVILLE CITY FC
Kai Greene	25	RB	SAN ANTONIO FC
Mitchell Osmond	24	CB	INDY ELEVEN
Paco Craig	25	CB	LOUISVILLE CITY FC
A.J. Cochran	26	CB	PHOENIX RISING FC
Joseph Farrell	24	CB	PHOENIX RISING FC
Ray Saari	25	DM	SACRAMENTO REPUBLIC FC
Bryam Rebellón	27	RB	EL PASO LOCOMOTIVE FC
Michael Gallagher	24	CB	LA GALAXY II
Ricardo Avila	21	DM	REAL MONARCHS SLC
Saalih Muhammad	22	AM	NEW MEXICO UNITED
Alexsander Andrade	22	DM	SWOPE PARK RANGERS
Tah Anunga	23	CM	CHARLESTON BATTERY
Logan Gdula	23	CB	HARTFORD ATHLETIC
Jean-Christophe Koffi	21	CM	NEW YORK RED BULLS II
Kenneth Tribbett	27	CB	NASHVILLE SC
Walker Hume	25	CB	ORANGE COUNTY SC
Eryk Williamson	22	CM	PORTLAND TIMBERS 14

Top Passers in the USL, 2018

The USL regular season has wrapped up, so I decided to dig into the wealth of data available on their site. First up - Passing.

The better passers you have on the team the better your possession. This means you can dictate more of the game. Do what you want to do instead of having it done to you. If that makes any sense.

Along with a couple of charts, I want to get to what it means to have good passers on your team. How I did this - take a few measurements that Opta has pulled out of USL games. Those categories:

1. Total Passes
2. Pass Completion %
3. % Complete in Opposition Half
4. Long Pass % Complete

Here are the top 12 players when you take the rank in each of those categories:

Having the better passers in the league should mean you have a better team. Obviously, that's not always the case, but let's put it to the test real quick.

By my count, there are 527 players that have managed over 900 minutes this year. If we take to top 20% passers (which works out to be about 100 players) and match them up with their team records, we should see a relationship.

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Pos.	City	P	W	L	T	GD	Pts	Top Passers
1	Cincinnati	34	23	3	8	38	77	4
2	Orange County SC	34	20	8	6	30	66	6
3	Louisville City	34	19	6	9	33	66	5
4	Sacramento Republic	34	19	7	8	15	65	3
5	Phoenix Rising	34	19	9	6	25	63	1
6	Real Monarchs	34	19	12	3	8	60	9
8	Reno 1868	34	16	7	11	18	59	6
7	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	34	15	5	14	21	59	2
9	Charleston Battery	34	14	6	14	13	56	3
10	Portland Timbers 2	34	17	13	4	9	55	4
12	Saint Louis	34	14	9	11	6	53	4
11	Swope Park Rangers	34	15	11	8	-1	53	3
13	New York Red Bulls II	34	13	8	13	12	52	0
14	Bethlehem Steel	34	14	12	8	15	50	2
15	San Antonio	34	14	12	8	-3	50	1
17	Nashville SC	34	12	9	13	11	49	4
16	Indy Eleven	34	13	11	10	3	49	1
18	North Carolina FC	34	13	13	8	10	47	7
19	Ottawa Fury	34	13	15	6	-12	45	0
20	OKC Energy	34	12	15	7	-3	43	4
21	Charlotte Independence	34	10	12	12	-13	42	6
22	Tampa Bay Rowdies	34	11	15	8	0	41	5
24	Fresno FC	34	9	13	12	6	39	3
23	Colorado Springs	34	11	17	6	-3	39	2
25	Rio Grande Valley	34	8	12	14	-6	38	2
26	Penn FC	34	9	15	10	-9	37	1
27	LA Galaxy II	34	10	17	7	-7	37	1
28	Atlanta United 2	34	7	17	10	-35	31	7
29	Las Vegas Lights FC	34	8	19	7	-24	31	0
30	Seattle Sounders 2	34	6	21	7	-31	25	2
31	Richmond Kickers	34	6	24	4	-50	22	3
32	Tulsa Roughnecks	34	3	19	12	-41	21	2
33	Toronto II	34	4	24	6	-35	18	2

Great, it works out (mostly).

- Top 5 average 4 players in the top 20% of all passers in the league.
- Middle group has 3
- Bottom averages 2.

Or, to put it another way. Average points earned if you have +5 top passers is 52. If you have 2 or less? Those teams averaged 41 pts. 11 point difference. Find passers everyone.

Below will be a more straightforward look at the top passers in the USL for 2018. Total passes / Overall Completion %.

USL Passing: Total Passes / Passing % Infogram

SPECIAL PLAYER CALLOUTS 

The United Soccer League isn't looked at as a pathway to a higher league. Part of that is exposure, part of that is the way soccer is structured in the United States. That said, here are some players that warrant a closer look.

1. Graham Smith, North Carolina FC. DM, 24 years old Graham is in the top 20% in all my categories. Notably 5th in passing in the opponents half of the field. At 24, he's reaching mid-career without a whole lot of professional experience, but what he's done in his first USL season is impressive.  

2. Boluwatife Akinyode, Nashville, DM, 24 years old Another defensive mid and ranked first in Pass% and % complete in the opposition half. He's been bouncing around the NY Red Bulls system for years, with stops at Bethlehem and NCFC. Currently mired in mid-table nowhere's ville Nashville, he's definitely worth a closer look.  

3. Justin Portillo, Real Monarchs, MF, 26 years old Justin spent quite a bit of time with the Charleston Battery and has struck gold in the USL. the Monarchs have 9 players in the top 20% according to my measurement, he tops the list.

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There are two Graham Smith's in the USL. The other plays off and on for Swope Park as well as MLS Sporting KC. Both are good players, but the NCFC one is better (at least in terms of the 2018 USL season).