The Kids Are All Right: Gatt, Gil, and Fagundez Break Out

There’s been some hand-wringing lately about the cupboard being bare when it comes to rising U.S. soccer talent. In the past week, though, three players offered some welcome counterpoints. Add them to the likes of Juan Agudelo, Perry Kitchen, Joseph Gyau, and Charles Renken, and you can start to feel a little bit better about the future.

First up, Josh Gatt, 19, of Plymouth, Michigan. He played half a season in the Austrian second division last year, then jumped to Molde of the Norwegian top flight this season.

It’s going well: The club is in first place, and Gatt has made 14 appearances and scored two goals, including this one last Thursday, in which he may have forced the retirement of an IK Start defender, so badly did he juke the poor fella:

Molde won that game 2-1 and sit five points clear of second-place Brann after 19 games.

Next is Luis Gil, 17, of Garden Grove, Calif., who appears to have earned a starting central midfield spot at Real Salt Lake. Here he is on Saturday night, rifling his first MLS goal past Red Bulls keeper Frank Rost, a Bundesliga veteran with 20 years of professional experience and four caps for Germany:

Notice how happy Gil’s much older teammates are for him. Here’s RSL coach Jason Kreis after the game:

“Anytime someone scores their first goal for us, you kind of get a little emotional with the moment. And Luis is a kid that has worked extremely hard for us. He’s done an extremely good job of keeping his head down and not listening to other people around him telling him that he should be playing all the time … and just improved his game, and improved his game and improved his game. Now he’s ready for the moment. It was great to see him take advantage of it tonight.”

Third, we have Diego Fagundez, 16, of Leominster, Mass., the New England Revolution’s first Home Grown player. He made his first-team debut in a 3-2 loss to Chivas USA on Saturday, drawing a penalty kick (that Shalrie Joseph buried) and scoring his first MLS goal:

He did tug Zarek Valentin’s shirt to get position there, but hey, it was subtle enough that he got away with it. Savvy move for the youngster, who became the second-youngest player ever to score in MLS. You can probably guess the youngest, who, coincidentally, also did it in a 3-2 loss.

We’re not saying any of these kids is the next Landon Donovan, but there’s plenty of talent in this country and—thanks to changes like this, and this—more on the way.

Juan Pablo Angel’s Son Can Play

He’s eight years old, his name is Tomy, and he’s got some skills. Here he is in his youth league in California:

The only question is, will he be playing for the U.S. in ten years’ time, or Colombia?

Academy News: Toronto FC to Invest $18 million; FC Dallas Scores Historic Win

The first MLS youth academies were established in 2001. They got a huge boost in late 2006, when the league created the Home-Grown Player initiative, which enabled teams to sign players from their academies outside of the league’s draft and allocation regulations.

Since the initiative passed, 31 Home Grown players have signed with Major League Soccer. As one scribe put it, this rule will eventually have a greater impact on the quality play in MLS than the Designated Player rule (aka the Beckham Rule).

D.C. United’s Andy Najar and New York’s Juan Agudelo are both home-grown, former academy players, and they’re also both (or about to be, in Najar’s case) full internationals. The program is working, and the promising early returns are sure to be surpassed in seasons to come.

Down in Dallas this week, six MLS youth teams are taking part in the 32nd annual Dallas Cup, which features 180 teams, 70 of them from abroad, including academy sides from Arsenal, Corinthians, Barcelona, and Tigres.

FC Dallas’s academy team was drawn into Bracket B of the tournament’s showcase competition, the Super Group, a collection of 16 U-19 teams. Also in Bracket B are Barcelona and Japan’s U-18 national team.

The Hoops youngsters are off to a flying start: On Sunday, they beat the youth squad from Barcelona 3-1—that’s right, an MLS academy team beat their (approximate) Barcelona equivalent, handily—then followed that up with a 3-0 pasting of Costa Rica’s Cartagines.

If the Dallas youngsters get a win or a draw against the Japan U-18s in their third game, they’ll advance to the semifinals of the famous tournament, which has hosted the likes of Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez in previous years.

All of this player-development progress has not been lost on Toronto FC, which joined MLS in 2007 but has yet to make the playoffs in four seasons.

Today, the Canadian club announced plans to create an $18-million academy and training facility in north Toronto’s Downsview Park.

Here’s a money quote on the project from Earl Cochrane, TFC’s director of team and player operations:

“Having been involved in this game for 10, 12 years here in Canada, I don’t think we can underestimate how monumental this day is going to be. This day is going to change the face of the game here in Canada, it’s going to change the way players are developed in Canada—I think this is going to lead us to developing players who are capable of playing on the world stage.”

MLS moves onward, and definitely upward.

Hot Time In Red Bull Town Tonight

The Red Bulls announced the signing of 19-year-old defender Sacir Hot today, making the former academy product their fourth Homegrown Player (after Giorgi Chirgadze, Juan Agudelo, and Matt Kassel, who inked a deal on Tuesday).

Hot played two seasons at Boston College after leaving the Red Bulls academy, and was on trial recently with Borussia Moenchengladbach (former New York midfielder Michael Bradley’s club, though maybe not for long*) and Borussia Dortmund of the Bundesliga.

Moenchengladbach was reportedly very interested in acquiring the US U-20 national teamer, but he ultimately decided to sign closer to home (Hot is from Fair Lawn, NJ) and with the club that developed him.

* More on that shortly.

Galaxy Signs 16-Year-Old Academy Player Jack McBean

The Los Angeles Galaxy announced the signing of former Corona del Mar High School sophomore and Galaxy academy product Jack McBean today, making the six-foot target striker the fourth-youngest player ever to sign with MLS.

McBean is currently with the U.S. Under-17 team in Jamaica, preparing for next month’s CONCACAF U-17 championship, which will determine the region’s representatives in the U-17 World Cup (Mexico, June 18-July 10). He will join the Galaxy’s preseason camp following the U-17 qualifiers, and become the club’s second Homegrown Player after Tristan Bowen, whom LA traded in December.

With MLS rosters expanding from 24 to 30 this season (and the reintroduction of the Reserve Division), there’s a good chance that McBean will stick with the club in 2011.

“He is strong with his back to the goal and athletically good at 16,” said Galaxy coach Bruce Arena, according to the Orange County Register. “[But] we don’t get any bonus point for playing 16-, 17-, 18-year-old players, so he is now with the men.  We’ll see how that adds up in our environment.”