FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Despite the Revolution Academy Under-16 team suffering a 5-3 defeat to the Philadelphia Union in Wednesday’s U.S. Soccer Development Academy Playoff Quarterfinal – signifying the end of the Revolution Academy’s 2014-15 season – it was a campaign filled with positives for director of youth development and U-16 head coach Bryan Scales.
Season highlights included a Homegrown signing in Zachary Herivaux in May, 10 players being called in to various levels of the U.S. Youth National Team program, 10 college commitments from the U-18 players and the success of the Revs’ U-16s, who reached the quarterfinals of the Academy Playoffs for the first time ever while also finishing sixth out of 16 teams in the Premier Division of the prestigious Generation adidas Cup in April.
“When we look at these cycles, or seasons, you want to measure how much progress each team makes from the beginning of the season to the end,” Scales said. “Obviously, there are results and people are keeping track of scores and we’re trying to put competitive teams out there, but I think the main mission or goal of our Academy is each year to progress these guys a little further and move them along a little closer to being a top player.”
“The U-14s, U-16s and U-18s made a ton of progress, obviously the results for the U-16s get them to the national quarterfinals, and the U-14s had some terrific results and terrific performances,” Scales continued. “We’re more proud that Zach Herivaux was able to come out the other end and get signed to a Homegrown contract which is, ultimately, what we’re all about.”
The mission of the Academy is to develop players for the first team, so when Herivaux signed as the club’s third Homegrown player on May 2, it was the culmination of four years of hard work developing a player who joined the Revolution Academy ahead of the 2011-12 season.
“When he came in at 15, there were Generation adidas Cup games, there was the South Africa tournament, there were Playoff games with the U-16s and the U-18s, the finals week with the U-18s – all of those moments add to his backpack and prepare him as best it can for his experience with the first team,” Scales stated. “Obviously, adding in first team training sessions and those experiences are priceless, they’re so valuable.”
While Herivaux was called in to Haiti’s roster for the 2015 CONCACAF U-20 Championship in January, where he played in all five of his side’s games, 10 other Revolution Academy players were called in to U.S. Youth National Teams for various age groups. Daniel Jones and Justin Rennicks led the Academy with three call-ups, while Isaac Angking, Calvin Aroh and Amos Shapiro-Thompson were each called in twice. Jonathan Ferreira, Tyler Freitas, Connor Haskell, Trey Miller and Kevin Vang rounded out the group with one call-up each.
“When we started back in 2008, I think Scott Caldwell had been in (with a National Team), so now to get to the point where you have a pool of players that have been invited into all the different age groups for camps and trips, I think it gives a good indication of the type of players that can come out of this region,” Scales said. “It’s a privilege for those guys to represent their country and get invited into these camps and be evaluated by U.S. Soccer and to play at the highest level, which is representing your country.”
The Academy season typically takes a two-month hiatus in January and February before picking up again in mid-March. That was not the case for the U-16s, who instead travelled to Florida in February to take part in the final preliminary stage of the Generation adidas Cup, which is Major League Soccer’s annual elite youth tournament for U-17 Academy teams.
The Revolution qualified to the Premier Division of the final stage of the competition – which included group and knockout play in Frisco, Texas. After advancing as the second-place team in Group D behind Colombian outfit Independiente Medellin, the Revs beat Chivas USA in the Knockout Round before falling to Brazilian side Recife in the fifth-place game to finish sixth of the 16 teams in the Premier Division. The achievement was made more impressive through the fact that although it was a U-17 tournament, the Revs travelled with a mix of their U-16 and U-14 squads, with six players from the Revs’ youngest age group taking part.
“For me, this year that was one of the most valuable experiences for all of our guys because nothing makes me and our staff prouder than to see the young guys come up and have the courage and the willingness to play in those games against older kids, against professional clubs from other countries,” Scales said on the side’s performance in the Generation adidas Cup. “It’s a game changer for their development and it really accelerates how they look at the game, how they play, how fast they think, how they concentrate.”
“You can see these guys making huge strides, and that happens throughout the course of a Development Academy 10-month season, but specifically you can see it happen against teams like Medellin and Recife, playing against Chivas, the Timbers and the Rapids – those are all really important games for these guys and the fact that we can do it with a younger group and still put a performance together is exciting.”
While the U-18s missed out on a Playoff berth by one point, the Revolution U-16s qualified as the 18th seed in the nation and knocked off the favored Capital Area RailHawks and the Crew SC Academy Wolves before tying with Seattle Sounders FC to top their group and advance to the Quarterfinal stage where they would face the second-seeded Philadelphia Union.
Despite a 5-3 extra time defeat against Philadelphia, Scales is taking the positives while looking ahead to next season and what the Quarterfinal appearance means for the program.
“This group deserves the success that they’ve achieved, and there wasn’t much of a difference in that game between the two teams,” Scales said, before noting that the U-16s came back from deficits numerous times before eventually topping Group A to advance to the Quarterfinals. “That’s stuff that you can’t really teach, that’s just intrinsic motivation and mentality and willingness to compete. That’s a very good indication of the type of characters that we have within the Academy and it’s also a great example for the other players in the Academy that mentality matters, competitiveness matters, never quitting and always competing and scratching and fighting to try to win these games matters when it comes to developing top players.”
