Sounders FC General Manager & President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey had plenty to say about the state of the club’s youth system on Sounders FC Weekly, which airs Tuesday evenings at 7:30 p.m. PT on Sports Radio KJR, as well as the status of some of the brightest prospects in the pipeline.
When asked about Sounders Academy’s success at both the national and international level – the U-17s won the USSDA national championship, the SDP 2005s won the Youdan Trophy in England and a hybrid U-18 squad finished third at the Toyoma World Challenge in Japan – Lagerwey noted that all these accolades are indicators of a vibrant youth system that can consistently produce top-class prospects for years to come.
“We said that we wanted it to be sustainable, we didn’t want it to be a one-off,” said Lagerwey. “This is the pipeline. This is the future.”
While the Academy has reached some significant milestones in recent years, both from an individual and team perspective, Lagerwey was quick to preach patience as the young players take the crucial next step of consistently contributing at the USL level.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” he said. “We have to get these guys into S2, we have to get them integrated there on a regular basis, playing games in front of our fans in Tacoma. Once we can do that, then we can pick our heads up and look to the First Team. We’re on a good path. There’s a good pipeline of talent. There’s a good diversity of talent. And we’re really, really excited about the future of the club.”
Two players from the youth system who have already signed professional contracts, forwards Alfonso Ocampo-Chavez and Ray Serrano, recently started for the U.S. U-17 Men’s National Team in a 1-0 win over Mexico, with Ocampo-Chavez scoring the decisive goal. Lagerwey offered up praise for the pair, again insisting they must parlay these strong performances in the youth ranks into meaningful contributions at the professional level, while he also highlighted a few of the older Sounders Academy alums who’ve taken massive strides in the last year.
“It’s not just those [Ocampo-Chavez and Serrano], we think there are a bunch of kids with a bright, bright future,” said Lagerwey. “Sam Rogers is in the U-20 [U.S. National Team] pool along with Trey Muse, who is one of our Homegrowns playing at Indiana University. So, there’s talent out there, there’s talent coming through. It’s up to us now to matriculate it into the First Team.”
