Eric Quill played on the U-16 U.S. Youth Soccer 1994 national championship-winning Houston Texans team coached by legendary youth coach Roy Rees. During Quill's nine-year MLS career, his coaches included Bob Gansler and Bob Bradley. After his playing career, Quill returned to his childhood club and this summer guided Texans SC Houston to the 2017 Development Academy U-17/18 national championship title.

An Emergency Action Plan (EAP) is a written set of systems and processes that are followed if a serious health or environmental condition occurs.

Much has been written in the media about player fatigue, whether it's professional teams playing three games in eight days or youth squads playing four or five games in a weekend tournament. And rightly so! But while player fatigue is an obvious issue, what has been overlooked is referee fatigue.

Growing up in Southern California, the son of Argentine parents, Brian Kleiban admired Fernando Redondo, Ariel Ortega, Pablo Aimar, Juan Roman Riquelme and Juan Veron -- creative Argentine players and predecessors to Lionel Messi.

The U.S. Soccer Development Academy concluded its 10th season last weekend, with the Texans SC Houston winning the U-17/18 title and Atlanta United the U-15/16 crown. U.S. Soccer Youth Technical Director Tab Ramos, also the USA's U-20 national team coach, liked what he saw.

Efrain Alvarez, who turned 15 on June 19, sparked the Los Angeles Galaxy's comeback against the Seattle Sounders in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-17/18 semifinals. After Seattle took a 2-0 lead into halftime, Alvarez scored in the 71st minute. Ulysses Llanez equalized in the 78th minute and Ethan Zubak scored the overtime winner.

Texans SC Houston, which beat Real So Cal, 2-0, in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-17/18 quarterfinals, is the only non-MLS club to reach the semifinals at either age group.

In my last article, I wrote about some highs and lows in officiating thousands of soccer games. My game count is now above 9,950 so if I continue my current pace, barring a tragedy or serious injury, I would officiate my 10,000th game in the next couple of months.

The USA was drawn into Group A for the boys 2017 U-17 World Cup and will open against host India (Oct. 6) before facing Ghana (Oct. 9) and Colombia (Oct. 12) in first-round play.

It has been said that a referee never has a home game. But this is negative thinking and I have officiated thousands of soccer games so, on fields that I have officiated a good deal, I could be more familiar with them and the surroundings than the home team. Plus, I often see a friendly face on the field or on the touchline so, for me, more and more games seem like home games. Only four times in 2016 did I officiate at a field I had never been to and only four times so far this year.