Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union II Communications

It is mid-May, so academic graduation rises above the horizon. The mid-season transition from Union II’s birth year 2005 amateurs to the 2006s looms. It is time further to discuss what 2023 reveals about the development pipeline.

Probably, four YSC Academy underclassmen are still candidates for future professional signings. Three are seventeen and one is sixteen. Two other seventeen-year-old candidacies are not yet impossible. Graduating seniors are moving on.

2023 expected graduates together with their soccer plans, courtesy of YSC Academy.

Graduation is June 9th.

Discussion

The four we call candidates are probably under evaluation for professional contracts. They consistently get not only minutes, but deliberate non-emergency Union II starts.

In past years several amateurs have started consistently but not received contract offers. There has never been an academy year without a professional signing to one of the two teams. And there have never been more than four signings in a single season, (2020, Paxten Aaronson, Jack McGlynn, Quinn Sullivan, and Brandon Craig).

On to the specifics.

Francis Westfield, the captain in the feature photo, has been starting at right back for Union II since appearing there when he was still fifteen during the team’s 2021 independent season.  Of the four players under discussion, he has far and away the most MLSNP minutes with 2,008 in 23 totals starts, six this year and 17 last.

In 2023 he has appeared seven out of the eight times, although the seventh was one minute at the end of the Chicago game. This year he was overmatched only against New England. He did not start in Chicago when Anton Sorenson played as an “inverted” right back. He was suspended for the second Miami II match.

Aside from using a surprise cut-back, Westfield is not likely to beat his marker with dribbling trickery. His passing and service are effective but not spectacular. Defensively he has strong pace and jumps passing lanes well. He anticipates the game excellently. He is competitive in the air despite his height. He has seen emergency game time at defensive center mid and right center back, which speaks well for his soccer IQ. He instinctively understands Union II’s overall system of play.

He travelled with the first team to Florida during its first 2023 stay in Clearwater when it needed additional practice bodies while others were absent from camp.

When compared to current first-team homegrowns in his strengths and weaknesses he most closely resembles Quinn Sullivan. He is quick and fast, he is well-conditioned, he has a good soccer IQ, and he is a ball winner. He does not have much “shake-and-bake” when possessing the ball. He depends on combining with his teammates in conformity with the Union’s organization-wide style.

If he is not offered a professional opportunity this year, it seems unlikely that he will be. Timing may be influenced by his early December birthday. (Recently the organization has eschewed its earlier use of “pre-contracts” that finessed the signee being 18.) Olivier Mbaizo is out of contract after this year. Nathan Harriel was re-signed through 2025 this past March. Among true right backs, Westfield lies third behind them on the depth chart.

Goalkeeper Andrew Rick, following his captain in the photo, has played well in 2023. He competes directly with fellow keepers Holden Trent of the first team and Brooks Thompson of the second. He has hit a growth spurt, adding weight but especially the length that is so important for goalkeepers.

2023 will be his first full season of Union II play. To date he has started four of their eight games for 360 minutes.

He played for the U-17s in the playoff portion of the recent GA Cup and was with them for MLS NEXT Flex. The U-17s may have one more tournament left on their schedule if they qualify: MLS NEXT Cup at the end of June.

Rick has not yet had a full, thorough exposure to MLSNP’s level of play. Since he is not a graduating academy senior, he will be available to Union II until the end of this season. A decision concerning a professional opportunity cannot be as advanced as it is for Westfield, and his birthday is 30 January, so it does not need to be. Barring injury or illness and commensurate with thorough fairness, competition among Rick, Thompson, and Trent should determine who returns where for 2024 once Joe Bendik’s future role is determined.

Attacking midfielder C. J. Olney is a year younger than everyone else under discussion, a point to remember when anticipating decisions. He has the fewest MLSNP minutes of the four being discussed with 270 in three starts.

He belongs with Union II for practice. He has been present every time we have observed one. He is already moving into a more frequent role anticipating the academic year’s re-cycling itself by late summer.

He joined the U-17s for MLS NEXT Flex. We shall see about MLS NEXT Cup.

Attacking midfielder David Vazquez is as new to Union II as Olney but is a year older and has one hundred minutes more in 2023 with 370 distributed over five matches.

 He was with the national U-17s in Guatemala when they qualified for the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup to be held in Peru this coming fall. He has had five starts in MLS NEXT Pro and has belonged on the pitch with the older players in each one.

Like Rick and Olney he joined the U-17s during the MLS NEXT Flex tournament. His role in the U-17 MLS NEXT Cup remains unknown. His next step at the Academy level is to become a dominant match-defining player. Were that to happen, the next developmental step would be to demonstrate the same on Union II’s pitch from July through September.

Center back Daniel Kreuger and midfielder Alex Perez have received two and no starts respectively so far this season. We suspect the discrepancy reflects that two professional CBs were simultaneously injured and unavailable. Both Kreuger and Perez have played the roles offered to them effectively. To our eyes, neither has stood out in matches. Both clearly belong during Union II practices.

A final caveat

The scouting department constantly looks for players from outside. We have no way to know for what or for whom they are looking.

We speculate they may look hardest at positions both scarce sport-wide and uncertain within the organization. The latest unidentified players observed at Union II practice scrimmaged at defensive center mid and left back.  Single sixes and left backs are both scarce. And Kai Wagner’s and Jose Martinez’s longer-term Union futures seem uncertain.

Professional Union II newcomer left back Juan Castillo well illustrates the players-from-outside caveat. Left backs are scarce. Kai Wagner may be leaving. Anton Sorenson remains vulnerable to wide channel attackers with athleticism and size.

We are watching how Union II deploys Castillo. We know lineups are decided by the technical staff, a collective in which coach LeBlanc has a voice. The former Red Bull II man is still being evaluated. But after seven starts he has not disqualified himself from further consideration.

Castillo has been called on twice to play as an emergency center back. As a left back five starts are too few to conclude that he rates ahead of Sorenson, although that’s what the tea leaves in the cup are suggesting. If current behaviors persist to the end of the season, that will be the conclusion.