Javier Carrillo calls it a domino effect that’s underway at the Orlando City Academy.

An initiative that is not only pushing up players to the first team but a reason why the U-17 and U-15 teams just capped a rather successful regular season ahead of this weekend’s MLS Next Cup playoffs in Dallas, Texas.

Carrillo, who’s the interim academy director and head coach of the U-17, is returning for the third consecutive year to the academy postseason after having won the 2021 edition.

But there’s a unique detail that stands out following a prosperous season amid the current chain of events underway in Orlando City’s youth setup 

“This season has been successful because we’ve focused on giving opportunities to younger players,” Carrillo told the Orlando Soccer Journal recently. “Our U-17 in particular, most of our rostered players born in 2007 and in some cases, players born in 2008 who play with the U-15 are competing with the U-17 group and because of that we’ve had to push players up to Orlando City B.” 

“In this case, Alejandro Granados, Tahir Reid-Brown, Fernando Sanchez– players who are U-17 are playing with OCB and that’s a domino effect we’re seeing,” he added. “While the more players we can push to OCB, we can also push players from the U-15 to the U-17 and that opens opportunities for the youngsters to compete.”

For example, the U-17 team which is primarily composed of 15 and 16-year-olds finished atop the East-South Division with a record of 8-5-2.

They take on Met Oval from New York City in the Round of 32 on Sunday at 1 p.m., which will stream live on Apple TV through MLS Season Pass.

The U-15 Orlando City team (7-4-4), coached by Phil Gordon, kickoff their playoff run seeded at No. 12 and will take on the Seattle Sounders U-15 on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Winners from the respective age groups advance through the knockout tournament, culminating on June 25 with the championship game.

A rigid pathway to a national title, but Carrillo said it’s possible only because of what they put in daily.

“We know our responsibility is to develop players who have the potential to be in the first team, that’s our priority when we talk about developing players,” he said. “By developing, it’s making sure they’re correct and disciplined. In the process of developing players who can play in the first team, there are daily expectations and standards that are required to be met and because of that the players compete better and win, we just define what it means to win.” 

While that opportunity exists for the U-17 and U-15, it goes even younger for the U-12 group that will convert to the U-13 next season – a group, Carrillo said, that was combined by players born in 2011 and 2012.

Those same players will also be put in scenarios to train and play higher up their respective age groups next season as part of the developmental process.

“It’s challenges that develop players,” he added. “And we try to put the players into that because that’s what we believe in. Challenges play a part in development. When you look at the MLS first team, you’ll see a couple of players from the academy, and the same with OCB because it’s part of our culture.”

Most recently, Orlando City B standouts Alejandro Granados, Javier Otero, and Juninho signed short-term deals with Orlando City, a mechanism that allows MLS teams to roster players from their second team for a limited number of games.

And that’s something leadership at the club is emphasizing most recently.

“We want to give resources to the academy; ownership is really invested in that, and we really want to make our own players,” Orlando City VP of soccer operations Luiz Muzzi told the OSJ recently. “Ownership has been very committed to the academy. We think that there’s a lot of talent here that we can develop, and they can be contributors to the first team and move on eventually.”

With intentions from the club ownership there, Muzzi pins the focus on having more 17-year-olds and 16-year-olds prepped and ready to be exposed to a professional environment.

And by that, it involves having a select group of players from the academy identified, which is then followed by a recommendation to train with the first team on occasion considering the academy teams, OCB and MLS team train under one roof in Kissimmee.

“The ball doesn’t ask for your driver’s license, right? The ball doesn’t know how old you are so if you’re ready, you’re ready,” added Muzzi. “We want to keep pushing these youngsters that are ready to start moving to OCB. And then from there to the first team but we have a clear pathway now, and that pathway goes through OCB.” 

“You’re going to see more and more of those players making that that transition, from Academy to OCB to the first team.”

Perhaps another resource Orlando City has that’s beginning to reap its benefits are the soccer schools.

A pay-to-play structure that’s part of a youth network created by Orlando City and scattered across Central Florida which also helps with scouting local talent for the academies.

Most recently over a dozen players from select soccer schools were picked up by the academy.

“It helps us a lot because it allows us to expand our player pool with the access to players that we need,” Carrillo said. “These schools follow our development plan that we implement in the academy and just being able to go to these schools to capture players, it’s really pleasing.”

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