SANDY, Utah (Friday, September 1, 2017) – Rio Tinto Stadium doors open Saturday morning at 10:30 a.m. MT, inviting the public to kick off their Labor Day Weekend festivities with a pair of FREE games featuring Real Salt Lake's U-19 and U-17 Academy teams, as the 2017-18 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season kicks off.
The clubs' inaugural contests on Utah soil feature Academy Director Martin Vásquez' U-17 side at 11:00 a.m. against the visiting Portland Timbers FC in Southwest Division action, followed by the RSL U-19 team against Portland at 1:30 p.m. MT in Sandy. Both games feature FREE admission at Rio Tinto Stadium, with FREE parking in the main West lot (fans must enter the building from the main West Side entrance).
Returning to lead the RSL Academy U-19 side this season are recent West Best XI selections MF Glademir Mendoza, FW Sebastian Soto and MF Richard Ledezma. Mendoza serves as the U-19 co-Captain along with MF Erik Virgen, while Soto led the USSDA in goalscoring last season with 36 goals in as many games.
Honors abound for Real Salt Lake's youth development over the last seven years, with 128 players advancing from the RSL Academy to college soccer, with 79 of them earning Division I NCAA opportunities. Thirty-one (31) of the Academy's athletes have signed professional contracts, including 19 with RSL/Monarchs, a total which considers the nine current Sandy-based professional players.
In the club's seven-year US Soccer Development Academy history, 11 players have received Western Conference “Best XI” honors, while three players – Elijah Rice (2016),Jose Hernandez (2015) and Sebastian Saucedo (2014) – were named the USSDA West Players of the Year. Vasquez credits his staff and the entire club setup with his most recent U-19 “Coach of the Year” award, which he also won in 2015.
On four consecutive occasions, the RSL Academy has been recognized by U.S. Soccer with the Development Academy's “Style of Play” Award, each season from 2012-13 through 2015-16. Both RSL Academy clubs are perennial Southwest Division powers, with the U-19s winning decidedly in the most recent 2016-17 season with a 24-6-6 record (78 points, 73 GF / 34 GA), advancing deep into the USSDA Playoffs this Summer. RSL's U-19 team was stopped one step shy of the Semifinals, losing a 4-1 shootout decision in knockout play after a 1-1 regulation draw with LA Galaxy.
The RSL U-17 side finished second in the Southwest last season with a 22-8-6 mark (72 points, 87 GF / 47 GA), one point shy of FC Golden State before capturing third place overall with a 3-2 win in the third-place match over Vancouver, after succumbing to FC Dallas at the Semifinal stage.
Vásquez & his coaching staff – Juan Fresquez, Rafa Sifuentes, Mike Kraus and Jeff Ginn – joined the 46 players now residents of the Zions Bank Real Academy in being recognized before nearly 19,000 fans at halftime of last week's Real Salt Lake Major League Soccer win against Rocky Mountain Cup rival Colorado Rapids.
"We want to one day have 8-10 players with the Monarchs and 6-7 players starting for the first team," Vásquez said regarding the importance of the Academy developing players as both students and as players, as well as his vision for the program. "Four years ago we had (current RSL players) Justen Glad, Brooks Lennon, Sebastian Saucedo and Danilo Acosta on the field. They had a dream and they had goals to be here one day. Right now we have 15-year-olds and I think in four or five years from now, we're going to be seeing the same thing with these players in the Academy."
The ability to produce quality young talent in Major League Soccer is a high priority for Real Salt Lake, which started two academy alumni in last week's 4-1 win over Colorado, while Head Coach Mike Petke dressed three more for the seven-man bench.
As Real Salt Lake continues to develop young talent and it is rewarded with first team playing time and international opportunities, Vásquez' smile broadens. So when FWSebastian Saucedo assisted on a goal by FW Brooks Lennon late in RSL's 4-1 win over the Colorado Rapids last week to clinch the Rocky Mountain Cup and they celebrated together, it surely brought a tinge of satisfaction and pride in Vasquez.
"I played for 17 years and it's the best satisfaction you can get. I had coaches and mentors that supported me and pushed me. When I started coaching I found it was satisfying in different ways. There are challenges. The tactics. The stress. The pressure. The adrenaline. It's pressure, but when you win, it's satisfying," Vasquez said. "When we saw that we were influencing our boys and could get them to the professional level, there is no greater satisfaction. It's an amazing feeling to have a positive impact on those young men."
Construction is ongoing at the world-class $72-million facility on the south end of the Salt Lake Valley as the U-17 and the U-19 sides kick off Saturday at Rio Tinto Stadium and then call America First Field in Sandy home on September 16 and 30, with several other road games leading up to an anticipated October 28 opening of the fields at the Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman.
ABOUT THE ZIONS BANK REAL ACADEMY & YOUTH SOCCER FACILITIES:
When Real Salt Lake's $72.5-million dollar facility at the Zions Bank Real Academy is completed, it will be among the most advanced training facilities in North American soccer and will put the club on par with several big clubs around the world. In bringing the four teams within the organization – Real Salt Lake, Real Monarchs SLC and the U-19 and U-17 Academy teams – under one roof, it will be a game-changer for the club's youth development.
Already one of the premier academy setups in U.S. Soccer, the Real Salt Lake Academy made the move from Casa Grande, Arizona, to Herriman, Utah. With that move comes a giant leap forward in the ability to progress players through the system from a young age and attract talent from around the country to a residential academy that is unlike any other.
Its high school opening officially last week, the Zions Bank Real Academy training campus arrives in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium. The $72.5 million facility – which includes five grass "TORO Fields" (sod installation began in early August) – will soon serve as the daily training home beginning in 2018 for both of the club's professional teams – RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) – while centralizing the club's U-19, U-17 and future U-14 development academy youth selections, under the supervision of Academy Director Martin Vásquez . The Herriman facility will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 200 boys and girls.
Opening in early October in North Logan, Utah, after breaking ground a year ago, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen will dedicate the first of a half-dozen regional training centers across Utah and Arizona to be built in the next 24-36 months. Each $5 million RTC houses a classroom, as well as an indoor and outdoor field, dedicated to fulfilling a curriculum consistent with the club's vision and mission for youth soccer training and education, and the continued development of both recreational and competitive pre-Academy (ages 7-12) initiatives across Utah and Arizona.
ABOUT ACADEMY DIRECTOR MARTÍN VÁSQUEZ:
In addition to the facilities, Real Salt Lake has another tantalizing piece that has consistently drawn promising young players to the reclusive desert in Arizona – Academy Director Martin Vásquez, the reigning US Soccer Development Academy U-19 Coach of the Year.
"What makes him unique is the experience that he brings. He's played internationally – for the U.S and Mexico. He holds an interesting dynamic because he has healthy relationships throughout U.S. Soccer, the professional clubs in the U.S., the Mexican Federation and Liga MX," Real Salt Lake General Manager Craig Waibel said. "There's no one else who has the same credentials. No one else can claim the things he has."
Vásquez' resume reads like a potential head-coaching hire. Born in Jalisco, Mexico, Vásquez is one of just two players to have played internationally for both the U.S. and Mexico (Edgar Castillo), the 53-year old playing 17 years professionally for clubs in both countries, highlighted by a five-year stint with Atlas in Mexico's Liga MX and 88 games (with 9 goals) during the first three seasons of Major League Soccer.
Since retiring as a player in 1999, Vásquez' coaching career has included stops with the LA Galaxy, Chivas USA, Bayern Munich and the U.S. National Team. He served as an assistant coach at each stop until making his head coaching debut with Chivas USA for the 2010 season. However, after parting ways with the now-defunct MLS club, he didn't immediately seek another assistant job in MLS, instead opting to coach at the youth level. After one year with the Chicago Magic, he took a leap of faith and relocated to Arizona to be part of the burgeoning academy for Real Salt Lake.
"I saw the place and the team and the complex … it was totally different because of the residential program, because of the facilities and being an MLS academy," Vasquez said earlier this week after reflecting on his lengthy list of coaching achievements.
Immediately upon arriving the wheels started turning and he took to transforming the secluded facility in Casa Grande, Arizona, into a haven for youth soccer development.
The list of players that have found success in the professional and international ranks after working through the academy is lengthy. It includes current Mexican National Team center back Carlos Salcedo and the slew of Claret-and-Cobalt players that have represented the U.S. at the FIFA U-20 World Cup, from Jordan Allen in 2015 to the five players donning the Stars-and-Stripes in 2017 – Danilo Acosta, Justen Glad, Aaron Herrera, Brooks Lennon and Sebastian Saucedo.
Vasquez has had a knack not only for attracting top young players to RSL's Academy setup, but also in getting the most out of those players in accelerating their development.
"These kids coming out of the academy understand what it means to train at a high level with intensity. I don't know if they understand that when they get there, but they sure get it when they leave," Waibel said. "By and large, the majority of them come out with remarkable work ethic in practice, great focus on the field and an understanding that there is room to learn and develop. We have a rock solid academy with a remarkable facility and a remarkable staff that command respect so the kids listen."
That is a credit to Vasquez's coaching ability, but also to his passion for developing young players. When he was their age, Vasquez sought Sunday league matches that would pit him against adults from around the Los Angeles area. A native of Yahualica in Mexico, he moved the U.S. as a teenager and quickly adapted to the local scene, despite its lack of organization when it came to youth development. While he didn't get the on-field education that comes from regular training sessions, he was hardened by steel of facing people many years his senior.
"I was getting kicked and pushed around by men. But I was playing the game and that was part of my development," he said. "I had to survive. I had to get clever and savvy and look out for myself. In a way, I think it helped me and I made the best of it."
That stoked the fire for the game until he was able to move to the professional ranks. There, he was able to learn from the likes of Cesar Luis Menotti – a legend in the coaching circles in Mexico and Argentina – and he started towards a path that has kept him active in the game well after he retired from playing in 1999.
In addition to Menotti, he his list of mentors when he took to the assistant coaching ranks reads like a who's who of U.S. coaching luminaries and he's not shy about praising them for helping his development as a coach.
"I think I have taken a little bit of everyone. I was very fortunate to be Sigi Schmid's assistant when I became a professional soccer coach. Bob Bradley has been a very successful coach. Working with him was an incredible experience. And then at the next level coaching with Jurgen Klinsmann at Bayern Munich and with the national team," he said. "I've been influenced in many ways by those three coaches."
With all of those tremendous stops on his coaching journey, he still holds the greatest passion for developing young players. That comes from a combination of his own opportunities – or lack thereof – as a young player, the valuable lessons he has learned throughout his career on the field and on the technical staff and the relationships he has developed with the prospective players along the way.
It's his passion and humility that elevate him above his peers.
"He has an inner fire to succeed and develop not only the kids, but also himself. He has no ego. He's coached at the highest levels and in the biggest games in the world and he doesn't take that as something you should allow him to rest for," Waibel said. "Humility is a big piece for him. He is a steadfast worker and his drive to be in the office … he's going to be advised by me to take a break."
