After a long period of open and invitational tryouts, Sacramento Republic FC released the rosters for each of their three academy teams on Thursday ahead of the 2015-2016 US Soccer Academy season. The Republic will be fielding a U17/18 team, a U15/16 team, and a U13/14 team for this upcoming season.
Among the teams that the U17/18s and U15/16s will be facing will be academies of the San Jose Earthquakes, Vancouver Whitecaps, Portland Timbers, and Seattle Sounders 2. The U13/14s will be facing mostly regional academy programs like Placer United and San Juan, as well as the San Jose Earthquakes U13/14s. More details on the schedule of the academy teams can be found here, although it seems there are some details still to be announced.
The 67 players in the Sacramento Republic FC academy were drawn from many different academy programs, including Placer United, FC Elk Grove, and the San Jose Earthquakes Academy. However, the top three academies that sent players to the Republic academy were San Juan Soccer Club, Sacramento United, and Placer United. A total of 25 players came to the Republic academy from San Juan: 10 U17/18s, 8 U15/16s, and 7 U13/14s. 12 players came from Sacramento United: 6 U17/18s, 3 U15/16s, and 3 U13/14s. 8 Placer United players were drawn to the Republic academy program : 1 U17/18, 7 U15/16s, and 0 U13/14s. For the full academy rosters, go to the Republic’s Academy Roster page.
The announcement of the rosters is the final step in a process that began publicly with the promotion of Rod Underwood to Academy Director in January of this year. It also marks the beginnings of the creation of a talent pipeline to the Republic’s first team and a real chance for local area kids to train with and possibly one day play for the team they cheered on as kids. A professional team full of locally born and developed players is something of an ideal in soccer. While such an ideal is unlikely to ever be fully reached, the launch of the Republic academy program at the very least puts Sacramento on the path of one day having a team with homegrown talent featuring prominently.
As the academy program goes forward with its inaugural US Soccer Academy season, Indomitable City Soccer will be bringing Sacramento soccer fans regular updates on how each of the three teams are progressing. Be sure to be on the lookout for ICS Academy Updates once the season gets underway.
