{"id":18288,"date":"2013-02-23T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2013-02-23T05:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=18288"},"modified":"2013-02-23T00:44:00","modified_gmt":"2013-02-23T05:44:00","slug":"18288","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/?p=18288","title":{"rendered":"Setting the Bar"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"GPS<\/a>

MPS Portland Phoenix has seen its players ascend the American soccer pyramid in recent years. (Photo: MPS Portland Phoenix)<\/p><\/div>\n

The bar is set high for GPS Portland Phoenix as they prepare for their upcoming season in the Premier Development League.<\/p>\n

After finishing with a record of 10-4-2 in 2012, the Maine-based club not only came in second in the standings, but also earned a spot in this year\u2019s US Open Cup in May. This adds more to the club\u2019s agenda as, according to General Manager Alistair Bain, they begin fielding a younger lineup for the upcoming season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, I think we\u2019re going to see a high-level of skill,\u201d says the GM. \u201c(Last year) we had a number of older players who had experience playing with pro teams over in Europe. This year, we\u2019ve switched our focus to taking on younger players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bain refers to the squad Portland assembled last season as \u201cprobably the oldest group in (the) conference,\u201d including international players such as Australian Joel Theissen (27) and Englishman Jason Massie (29), two midfielders who combined to contribute seven assists and four goals for the Phoenix.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe brought in players from Britain and Australia along with Americans who were older and wiser for the game,\u201d Bain points out. \u201cNow, we\u2019re going for younger players who we feel still have that same level of quality but are going to be with us longer\u2026 for the next two to three years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Developing young players over time is a goal Portland\u2019s known for achieving in the past, given the team\u2019s history with player development. While the PDL Northeast Division has always produced quality athletes for higher divisions such as Worcester Hydra\u2019s Charlie Rugg (Los Angeles Galaxy) and CFC Azul\u2019s Ryan Kinne (Pittsburgh Riverhounds), GPS Portland has continuously picked and trained high-quality prospects, including Aaron Schoenfeld (Columbus Crew), Bryan Gaul (LA Galaxy), and the newly-signed Brian Fekete, Sporting Kansas City\u2019s 52nd overall pick in Major League Soccer\u2019s 2013\u00a0Supplemental Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe (were) absolutely delighted.\u201d Bain says in regards to Fekete\u2019s progress. \u201cYou know, we set out with the mantra of building the club and making a successful program, but the ultimate angle is helping these players get to higher levels, and seeing the boys do that has been fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

A University of Tampa Spartan, Fekete joined GPS Portland Phoenix in 2011 via the club\u2019s partnership program with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and was part of the team\u2019s runs at both the PDL playoffs and US Open Cup in 2012.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrian was with us for a couple of seasons, so we really saw the development in him, but to see him really move on to the next level is going to be really exciting to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fekete recently scored for Orlando City SC, Kansas City\u2019s USL Pro partner, in a friendly against the Columbus Crew, equalizing for Orlando in the 79th minute to make it 2-2 before the Crew earned a penalty kick and walked away with the win.<\/p>\n

Like a phoenix rising, both Fekete and GPS Portland continue to go forth and prepare for what awaits them in the coming season. But while Fekete trains harder and hunts for opportunity with SKC, Portland follows a different path; trying to repeat its success not just at winning games but developing a new generation of players.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, the skill level and quality of the players are going to be such that our games will be very exciting to watch,\u201d Bain finishes. \u201cExpect to see the trek of the players and individual qualities (as they) come out this year. And in terms of coming and getting a bit of excitement, this will definitely be a team worth watching.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The bar is set high for GPS Portland Phoenix as they prepare for their upcoming season in the Premier Development League. After finishing with a record of 10-4-2 in 2012, the Maine-based club not only came in second in the standings, but also earned a spot in this year\u2019s US Open Cup in May. This […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":11525,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[88,84],"tags":[298,297,299,296,1291],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/Phoenix11.png?fit=494%2C200","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18288"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18288"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18295,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18288\/revisions\/18295"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11525"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}