Here is an excerpt of another great article on the positive influence of the college game on Major League Soccer, courtesy of Zack Ssebatindira of The Triangle.

Having started out writing this piece three weeks ago, I was adamant that the college game was indeed an impediment to the development of the professional game in this country, and it has only been through the subsequent reading up on the state of the game and exposure to other opinions on the matter that I have had a change of heart. I offer up three arguments why the college game is an integral part of the soccer landscape in this country.

The first, and perhaps most obvious, is the sheer size of the country. The logistics that would be involved in keeping track of every single youth team in the country, let alone every promising player, defy belief. It is here that the college game becomes important as it offers an additional stage where players from all over the country can showcase their talent and, hopefully, subsequently get signed to professional teams after college.

The second reason being that, as a college student myself, I am an ardent campaigner for the importance of education. Given the relatively short shelf life of a professional athlete, education takes on a more important role in that it allows athletes to pursue careers after their athletic career draws to an end. That gifted players can get scholarships to attend institutions of higher learning, while at the same time still be allowed to play the game, is a system that has few equals around the world.

The third reason I would give for the retaining of the college game is that the competitive environment fostered by a professional setting is not always the best for the development of younger players. One doesn't have to go far to find players like Freddy Adu, whose ability at a young age was trumpeted to all and sundry only for him to go on to have a relatively disappointing professional career.

As the old maxim goes, some players take longer to develop, and I believe that a college environment offers the right combination of competition and patience to foster this development.