Adrián Ruelas of Santos Laguna and Fontana, CA

Mexican clubs extending their reach across the border to pull in young American talent is nothing new; as the changing complexion of the US U-20 roster indicates, there are more than a few Mexican-American players in the youth systems of Mexico.  These players tend to have dual citizenship, the opportunity to play for either country internationally, and leave the US in search of the better opportunities Mexican player development presents.


Until now, American clubs were unable or unwilling to search out these players.  The lack of a true development program meant that MLS clubs were dependent on other sources for new infusions of talent, players developed in the American college system or elsewhere.  There was no battle for the players coming out of the Mexican-American communities because MLS teams lacked the weapons needed to engage; the like of Jose Francisco Torres (Longview, TX) and Edgar Castillo (Las Cruces, NM) returned to the land of their parents because opportunity was lacking at home.


Times are slowly changing, and MLS clubs are launching, or already have launched, full-fledged development systems.  These systems will take years to reach similar quality to those of clubs in Mexico, but are nonetheless alternatives for young American players; this development presents a question as to whether MLS clubs should push harder to recruit talented Mexican-American players into the academies, rather than to continue to lose out to clubs across the border.  What was previously a non-issue will suddenly heat up as MLS teams go on the hunt for their own prospects in serious manner.


For now, Mexico still holds all the cards.  As Tigres Director of Youth Development Dennis Te Kloese told Soccer America, his club (and others) can offer a smoother transition from academy prospect to professional.  For all the change happening in MLS, there are still gaps in the process; the returning reserve league should plug one of those gaps, but roster restrictions and budgetary restraints make it more difficult for American clubs to bring a player up in a way that will maximize his ability to get games and gain confidence.

"They need a lot of playing time and competition -- but competition within reason. It’s difficult with an MLS club when suddenly you go from youth soccer to competing with a Designated Player." - Te Kloese

MLS clubs must follow relatively strict guidelines in regards to the players they can draft into their academies.  Territories are established for each club, meaning that teams are restricted on how wide a net they can cast.  With no fully operational residency academies, youth players are generally locals commuting from home while balancing their efforts to start a soccer career with school and family.   Eric Wynalda, on explaining his decisions to join Mexican club Murcielagos in a development capacity, highlighted these restrictions; with controls in place meant to maintain parity through limited spending, American clubs are unable to simply head out into the country's various soccer hotbeds and scoop up talented players as their southern contemporaries can.  With a Mexican club, Wynalda can scout whenever and wherever he chooses, finding talented players and offering them a chance to "jump start" (his phrase) their professional career.  If those players remained in the US, they'd likely to either end up playing college soccer, still Major League Soccer's predominant source of new talent, or slip through the cracks altogether.


There are essentially two ways to look at this new "competition" for talent.  One, that there isn't really a competition at all; with MLS teams as restricted as they are, and with their programs only just beginning to produce professionals, Mexico's plucking of American kids is hardly a concern.  The limited scouting coverage of MLS teams, and the nascent nature of programs much less adept at producing professionals, means Mexican clubs are simply picking up the slack or recruiting players that might have otherwise given up or gone to college.  In many or most cases, players will not be faced with a decisions between Mexico and MLS; still more likely is a competition between two or more Mexican clubs for the signature of the same American player.

"All of them, I can assure you because I talk to a few of them–I was there two weeks ago–they would prefer to play in the US, but they know the reality that will not get the chance here in the US. They are torn; it is a sacrifice. They have been away from home. They are not the best circumstances where they go, but they know, the parents know, they have no chance at that point to make it over here." - Hugo Salcedo on Waiting for Gaetjens (via This is American Soccer)

The alternate take is of course this is a competition.  Nothing between Mexico and the United States, when it comes to the game of soccer, is ever not a competition.  Taking this position brings with it the belief that American clubs must step up to find and keep talented American players, lest they risk becoming irrelevant to the large Mexican-American community as a launching pad for professional careers.  By investing in young talent at all, they've essentially started the arms race; letting players fall into Mexican hands represents a failure to maximize the resources available, defeating the purpose of mining for it in the first place.  Moving forward, MLS clubs should strive to keep players like Torres in the United States.


The most recent US U-20 roster called up by head coach Thomas Rongen included seven players in academy systems of Mexican clubs (a number that does not include forward Omar Salgado, dropped by Chivas Guadalajara after he declared his intention to play for the United States); three of those players are with the aforementioned Tigres.  Only five are, or were, in MLS academies.  Of the five MLS academy players/graduates, three are Mexican-American.


While those numbers may shift over time and noting that those players may not have been youth international quality had they not had the benefit of improving in strong Mexican academies, it's clear that a good portion of Mexican-American talent is heading south; the pressing question, for MLS clubs and their fans, is whether it will be viewed as a failure of the new system should these players continue to join clubs like Tigres or Pachuca rather than clubs like the Houston Dynamo or FC Dallas.


In the battle of resources, MLS clubs are at a supreme disadvantage, and will be for the foreseeable future.  Success in the battle for Mexican-American talent should not be viewed in terms of pure numbers or based entirely on an eventual star "missed" but as a push for slow but continual growth of the number of the these players clubs are able to keep at home.  If and when a talented Mexican-American chooses Chivas USA over Chivas Guadalajara, his choice will represent very real progress in the struggle to keep American talent in America.


For the time being, players heading to Mexico is better than players being missed entirely.  Professional clubs in the United States will never have the type of reach needed to catch every bit of talent that exists; while the league should nevertheless work toward that end, the development of the Mexican-American player will always be shared endeavor.  If MLS clubs can scout effectively and make themselves an attractive alternative to Mexico, the battle will grow less and less one-sided.