SoccerAmerica - U.S. teams take five of seven age groups 04/11/2012

[DALLAS CUP SPOTLIGHT] Five U.S. teams won titles at the Dr Pepper Dallas Cup XXXIII. Local club Solar Chelsea is a long-time national powerhouse and a member of the Development Academy, but the other four champions -- the Fullerton Rangers White and United FC Gold from California, Sunrise Elite from Florida, and OBGC Rangers from Maryland -- are not part of U.S. Soccer's national league. For a look at the five U.S. champions ...

SOLAR CHELSEA. The Dallas club won its first time at the Dallas Cup since 2006 when it beat Southern California's Arsenal FC, 3-1, in the under-19 final. ODU-bound Ryan Condotta, William Webb and Northwestern recruit Cole Missimo scored for Solar Chelsea, which is third in the Development Academy's Under-17/18 Texas Division.

OBGC RANGERS. The Olney Boys & Girls Club got goals from Jony Karahbetyan, Karl Brown and Sean Cowdry to beat FC Golden State, 3-1, in the under-16 final. Cowdry also had the lone goal for the OBGC in its 1-0 win over FC Phoenix in the semifinals and scored in its 4-2 overtime win over FC Milan in the quarterfinals. The Maryland program dates back to 1975.

FULLERTON RANGERS. The Rangers, winners of the under-14 division at the Dallas Cup and then the U.S. Youth U-14 national championships, captured the U-15 division with a 2-1 win over Germany's Eintracht Frankfurt. Andres Lemus and Amirgy Pineda scored for Fullerton, which got an outstanding game in goal from Keith Murphy.

SUNRISE ELITE. The Florida club got an early goal from Emmanuel Perez and it held up for a 1-0 win over Arsenal FC. Sunrise is coached by Pitu Alvarez, who bounced around his native Argentina, Guatemala and Costa Rica as a player before settling in the United States.

UNITED FC GOLD. Hugo Espindola scored directly from a corner kick to give United FC a 1-0 win over Nomads Academy in a battle of Southern California teams for the U-13 crown. Based in San Juan Capistrano, United FC gave up just one goal in six games. The team is coached by Jamaican Bryan Wallace, a fixture on the Southern California youth scene for more than 15 years.

8 comments

mark courtney

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 10:59 a.m.

INTERESTING ....4 of 5 are not part of U.S. Soccer's national league and 2 of those 4 coached by non-American/non-English coaches.

Kraig Richard

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 11:02 a.m.

can't click on those stories

mark courtney

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 11:18 a.m.

From article - ....other four champions -- the Fullerton Rangers White and United FC Gold from California, Sunrise Elite from Florida, and OBGC Rangers from Maryland -- are not part of U.S. Soccer's national league. Sunrise is coached by Pitu Alvarez, who bounced around his native Argentina, Guatemala and Costa Rica as a player before settling in the United States. United FC gave up just one goal in six games. The team is coached by Jamaican Bryan Wallace, a fixture on the Southern California youth scene for more than 15 years.

Montele Graves

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 11:55 a.m.

come on now... don't fall for media bias... #1 US Soccer Dev Academy doesn't have a "league" for most of the age groups in question U13, U14, U15, U17, U19... only U16/U18 and since birth dates and years don't coincide, half the Academy U16 will be too old to play club U16. #2 Academy teams are in the heart of their season and cannot travel to Dallas Cup unlike club teams prepping for State Cups, etc.

Mike Jones

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 12:50 p.m.

Come on now Montele, are you falling for the hype? Non-Academy clubs are in the middle of their regional league seasons, so what? And many academy clubs did send their pre-academy and academy teams. Those teams were playing up by half a year due to the age group difference. If the academies are so elite, should that matter? Bottom line is that the Academy is hype. Many of the best teams and players, many that are not.

Joey Tremone

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 2:37 p.m.

"Non-Academy clubs are in the middle of their regional league seasons, so what?" --But they don't have a real dilemma here. For them it's an easy choice where to go and where to send all the top guys. "If the academies are so elite, should that matter? Bottom line is that the Academy is hype." -- Or the bottom line is they're not built just for winning tournaments. That was certainly the point of why the DA got started, that there's a difference between the teams that win today and the teams that produce the guys who are top players 10 years from now.

Mike Jones

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 5:20 p.m.

So Joey, let me get this straight. The Academy teams, which have "superior" talent, coaching, system of play and league, cannot win against "inferior" teams because they aren't built to win? I believe you are repeating the mantra aimed at pre-teen coaches where winning at all costs is hampering skill sets. I'm not going to tell you the best 5 or so teams in the country wouldn't come from the Academy, but there are 50+ teams around the country better than the bottom half of the Academy. And when I say better, I mean more talented players with better coaching.

Montele Graves

commented on: April 11, 2012 at 6:09 p.m.

Mike, I'd say you are half right. There are certainly many club teams with better players and better coaches than many Academy teams. However it is not "all hype". If you take the #1 Club team and #1 Academy team, guarantee that the Academy team will win, with many players being younger than the club roster. Don't knock the system because a handful of non-Academy teams beat Academy teams, I'm sure our best U13s can beat Barcelonas U13s but non will make the 1st team! (And don't talk about Pre-Academy teams either, that's a moot point and argument.)

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