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New York Times
04-04-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Inside MLS youth league's experiment of replacing results with ‘quality of play'
Globally, competitive youth soccer leagues have become fertile ground for experimentation. Leagues have implemented rules aimed at making games safer, more competitive and more entertaining. In Germany, for example, certain age groups play without a goalkeeper, or take shots at a pair of goals along each endline. Other age groups take kick-ins instead of throw-ins, play shorter games on shorter fields and play matches without referees. All of this is done in an attempt to foster player development – and ideally create more technically gifted players. Advertisement Now, MLS Next, MLS's youth developmental league, is making its own attempt at overhauling a fundamental facet of the game. Instead of using a traditional win-loss-draw table to rank teams, the league will implement a 'quality of play' index aimed at '(shifting) the paradigm in player development to focus predominantly on the process and progress,' according to a league press release. MLS has partnered with Taka, a UK-based analytics firm, to somehow make this a reality. 'For younger age groups, we prioritize their individual development over competition, though we acknowledge competition's role in personal growth,' said former New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles, who is now the technical director of MLS Next. 'This pilot program allows us to evaluate both team and individual performance, helping us track progress while providing more support to players to achieve their goals.' This is Taka's first partnership with a professional league, though the company, which was founded about 10 years ago, says it has done consulting work for several English Premier League clubs. It is also Taka's first swing at the 'quality of play' concept, having beat out several more established outfits to win the MLS contract, which was put up for grabs about a year ago. At the Under-13 and U-14 levels, MLS Next had already moved away from using scoreboard results last year, in anticipation of installing this model. Teams will now be judged weekly on quality of play, with a handful of the top-ranked teams invited to compete at MLS Next Cup in the summer. 'Quality of play' feels inherently subjective, but Taka says it has done its best to quantify specific offensive and defensive movements and actions — on and off the ball — that will contribute to a player and team's overall ranking. The company has a team of about 40 analysts tasked with watching and analyzing every MLS Next match, which takes about 4.5 hours per encounter, according to Taka CEO Mark Shields. Advertisement 'They are a series of people with a background in scouting, coaching and more, based in Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, and Montenegro — so the sort of Balkans hot bed of Eastern Europe,' Shields said. 'The short answer to how is quality of play defined is that it's been defined over the 200 years of soccer that's been played by an assessment of people who are knowledgeable about the game assessing the quality of the game at its source,' he added. 'Typically, the mathematicians have tried to approximate that by a series of things that are well defined — OPTA, StatsBomb, Wyscout.' Some of those providers will define a successful pass as one that simply ends up finding a teammate. Taka's analysts, Shields said, look at the pass from a more holistic perspective. Taka's interface feels robust, with each player's graded action represented on a map by green and red circles — green for positive, red for negative. The circles vary in size based on the importance of each action. Players, coaches and scouts can examine each of these actions by clicking on the map, which brings up a corresponding video clip. 'The bigger challenge for players, I think, is 'are they willing to press the red dot?' And see themselves make a mistake. Because there are multiple perspectives on that red dot … Some players will lean into this, so that they can be better today than they were yesterday,' Robles said. MLS Next offered access to all of its players, and about 80% have created an account. Access to the match interface is free, but use of the clips — for social media, or to send to coaches and scouts elsewhere — is a paid service. 'What we provide as part of our commitment to player development is that they get several clips (for free),' added Robles. 'They don't get all of them. This was a major investment by Major League Soccer and MLS Next. For coaches, it's free — we want to give that to coaches, knowing that time management can be very difficult to them. So, there's no additional cost to them.' Advertisement MLS Next is hoping that open access to video will allow for more rapid player development. Robles was quick to point out that his own development only truly accelerated when he had open access to video, later in his career. The league will also be able to track player development more accurately, Robles said, and keep tabs on players who progress to the professional level. Taka and MLS Next's expansive video database will provide a comprehensive archive of every on-field movement in a player's youth career, a far cry from the handful of grainy camcorder clips available of some of today's biggest stars. Teams with a high quality of play index don't always win, of course. The system was first trialed last year, at MLS's annual Generation Adidas Cup. Using Taka's metrics, several of the highest-ranked team performances, in terms of quality of play, were not winning teams. 'We are aiming to recognize success at a team level,' Shields said. 'In a world where an MLS GM isn't at GA Cup, and he's saying, 'We lost this game,' this system provides, both in data and video, a way for him to see the game and say, 'Hold on, there is another story here.' All of this comes down to using data to recognize success, whether from a team or individual point of view.' This isn't the first time MLS Next has experimented with rule changes. Even MLS Next Pro, MLS's professional third-division league, has proved to be fertile ground for trialing new rules, with the league pioneering initiatives aimed at combatting time wasting and even eliminating the use of ties. As an aside, they also have a rule where you have to have your shirt tucked in. Robles is hopeful that prioritizing quality of play will have knock-on effects far down the line. 'We are just trying to develop the next generation of talent that will lead the pro game,' he said. 'Whether that's coaches, referees or in this case players, everything we focus on is about how we develop players who are going to impact first teams, and eventually national teams.'
USA Today
02-04-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
MLS Next rolls out new U13, U14 rankings to emphasize development over wins. How it works
When we win a game in a team sport, what does it mean for our individual development, especially when kids are still growing and maturing? It's a question youth sports parents ponder, and it's one Major League Soccer has wrestled with during the five years its MLS NEXT youth program has existed. "If we just have a bunch of dominant 13- and 14-year-olds that don't end up being dominant 18-year olds, I think that's a huge miss on the return on our investment,' said Luis Robles, MLS NEXT's technical director and a former USMNT goalie. "So this is why we have to tinker with different ways to evaluate players.' The organization will announce Wednesday a pilot program to evaluate its U13 and U14 age groups that looks beyond traditional results of games, focusing on complete performances of individuals. Its Quality of Play Rankings move away from wins, losses and draws to measure progress of teams based on their players' offensive and defensive actions, including their off-the-ball movements in games we sometimes don't see. This is the first time MLS Next will have a list of standings for teams in these age groups, but they will be ranked on this new metric rather than records, according to Robles, who spoke to USA TODAY Sports prior to making the new rankings public Wednesday. "We know that this is different," Robles said in an exclusive interview. "This is new. It could come off in the launch as gimmicky, but when you start to pull back and understand why we're doing it, it's a massive investment. But this is worth it, because then Major League Soccer and the national teams, long term, stand to gain the most. Our hope is that we're developing better professionals.' Robles spoke with USA TODAY Sports about what the move means for your player and the dramatic effect it could have on the youth soccer landscape. Why is MLS NEXT making the change to Quality of Play rankings? The program supplies about 90% of players to youth national teams, according to MLS NEXT GM Kyle Albrecht, and has never kept standings for these age groups. Robles said they want to lean more heavily on player progression without the added pressure of trying to win. "The question we try to answer is, 'What role does competition play in player development?'" Robles says. "It should play less of a role. It should be more about the training sessions, the technical ability, the formation of the player, helping them understand the game, solving the game with soccer." But if MLS wants to develop future national team players, Robles said, it must acknowledge how well players do in game-time situations. 'Part of development is competing,' he said, "What we saw with US Soccer, and all the cynicism and criticism towards the players and the coaching and the results, you can't help but admit that sometimes what it comes down to, it is just how well you do in a competition.' How do MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings work? Analysts with TAKA, a video tool that takes a panoramic view of the field, will spend about 4 ½ hours on each game looking for significant offensive and defensive actions. Each player will be scored for attack, defense and overall quality of play. Team rankings will be compiled based on players' overall scores, which MLS hopes will more completely represent their overall caliber of play than the result of the game. If you're a weak-side defender and the ball is on the other side of the field, for example, it might seem insignificant when you adjust your position. But new rankings will allow off-ball intelligence that could be scored. Positive tactical intentions will be encouraged, even if the execution isn't perfect. Robles said that in presentations to MLS NEXT academy directors, an example play was shown from a "very, very significant global, international" with the vision to make a pass. "The end result was it was a turnover, but everyone wanted to find a way to say that is what we want to see our players doing,' Robles said. 'We want them to have the courage to make that pass, because if the pass comes off, you're going to get immediate gratification in the form of a shot or goal. But because the pass doesn't come off, that play could lose meaning, even though it was a significant play, and that's what we're trying to capture, and that's what quality of play is. "It's just the aggregate analysis of significant moments, whether offensive, defensive, good or bad.' What happens if a team tops MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings? While U13 and U14 teams in MLS NEXT previously had no year-end competitions, the top two or three teams per division (Robles hasn't decided yet) will be invited to compete at MLS NEXT Cup. The U13 and U14 age groups have eight divisions. The rankings will be adjusted based on quality of opponent, rewarding significant actions against better teams. "We don't want it to be that this player is such a great attacking player when they play the minnows,' Robles says. "We want it to be that they're doing it across the board. We want to see that the team consistently playing well. Traditional standings isn't the whole picture because the team could be mid-table, but it's because they beat all the teams that they were expected to beat, but couldn't beat a team that was above them.' How much do stays and wins factor into MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings? "Zero,' Robles says. "Naturally, if a team is scoring more goals, they probably have more significant moments on the positive. If a team is giving up a lot of goals, they're going to have more significance in the negative. But what weight does it have in our decision making process? Zero.' Why is MLS NEXT adding Quality of Play rankings specifically to U13 and U14? There are just over 5,600 U13 and U14 players registered in MLS NEXT, more than 1/3 of the organization's 16,000 players across the U.S. and Canada. They are the two most malleable age groups. Robles referenced the book, "Outliers," in which author Malcom Gladwell tracked how American hockey players born in the first three months of the year were more likely to go pro. They had been bigger and stronger when they were younger, and thus placed into a top-level national pipeline because they were fortunate enough to be born in January, February or March. "If you're born in January, as opposed to someone that's born in December in the same year, it's 10% of muscle development,' Robles said. 'You're not even sure which direction that's going. We have to find ways to be able to mitigate that." While Brazil's Cristiano Ronaldo was born in February and identified early, Robles said, so was France's Kylian Mbappé, a December baby who was fast but small. He ended up growing to be one of the world's fastest players. MLS NEXT seeks to find more late developers, even ones who are playing down an age level to develop their technical skills before they catch up with their age group from a physical standpoint. 'Are we picking players that are dominant at 13 and 14 that don't end up becoming great at 17 and 18?' Robles says. 'I think yes.' COACH STEVE: How youth hockey brings out the worst in youth sports Will Quality of Play rankings improve scouting? Robles said the rankings will enable MLS Academy kids to "confidently" know they're being evaluated at all times through TAKA, and not just when they're in front of scouts. 'Growing up, I would see a U.S. Soccer scout at one of my games wearing the badge and was there for 12 minutes,' Robles says. 'How do they know if I'm a good goalkeeper after watching me for 12 minutes, right? Right? Because it's just not enough. "And now what we're hoping is that more players that are already in our system are getting seen by MLS Academy scouts to get more opportunities.' There are 29 MLS academies and 122 elite academies within the 151 clubs that make up MLS NEXT. While MLS NEXT strives to develop players to compete on national teams, it's new second tier of competition has opened up an opportunity for those who want to play at a high level but don't necessarily view that goal as realistic. But what about playing in college? Robles said college coaches, if they register with MLS NEXT, will have access to every player in the TAKA database. COACH STEVE:What does MLS NEXT's expansion meanyou're your youth soccer player? What is the end game with MLS NEXT's Quality of Play rankings? Over time, MLS will be able to look back and track growth of players who ultimately achieve an elite level. 'You can now take that information, extrapolate it across the entire player pool, and start to identify more Aidan Morrisons, Benjamin Cremaschis," Robles said. "We use those examples because they went through the full cycle, where they were at an elite academy. So when you look at a player who might have been in an elite academy first, who makes the move to an MLS Academy, who then goes the pathway of the homegrown and is now playing for the first team, you start to pull back those layers and look under the hood, and we haven't been able to do that." MLS' U15, U16, U17 and U19 players will continue to be ranked by traditional standings. 'We still want to prioritize developing those players to be better professionals over just developing teams that win trophies,' Robles said. 'I want more of those players to be in college with the prospect of going pro. I want more of those players getting a chance to represent our country at the national or international level.' Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons' baseball and basketball teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now sports parents for two high schoolers. His column is posted weekly. For his past columns, click here.
