What we learned after this weekend...

What did we learn this weekend from the Texas Summer Classic and Dr Pepper Fair Play tournaments? My thoughts:

• Tejanos and Rev Premier will likely struggle in D1 this year - Tejanos tied a D3 team and lost to Club Classic a D2 team, RP lost 4-2 to a D3 team.
  
• Real Madrid appears to have improved their talent and play significantly since last year.
  
• Solar is even further ahead of Diego's TFC Royal (formerly FCD) with a 7 - 0 blowout in the finals. TFC Royal was previously the only team to consistently challenge Solar with hard fought 3-2 losses in the two previous matches.
  
• Texas Longhorns Orange will probably fall to D3 after having lost 3 straight games including 2 losses to non-Classic teams by a combined score of 0 - 8.
  
• Club Classic looks good - so far. We need to see them against better teams before saying they should be able to move up to D1. Labor Day results should be a better test.
  
• FWFC and Andromeda White are good teams that will challenge for the top spot of D3.
  

What did you learn?

I think that is a good analysis based on the weekend results. Surprised that TFC Royal got stung that badly; did they lose a couple of good players or something when they switched clubs? Also surprised that Tejanos showed so poorly; they seemed to be on a roll at the end of spring but didn't show D1 ability this weekend. I was never that impressed with Longhorns even though they earned a ticket into D2 last year. 0-3 against that competition suggests a real long year coming up for them.

Too early to say teams will struggle... Tejanos dominated possession play in Andro White game and Club classic game. (obviously possession does not win games) Shooting practice will help them close games out. Not taking anything way from CC they played well utilizing their strengths. FWFC will do well in D3, they dismantled Andro white in semi final.
Labor day should provide more insight as far as team strength. If Tejanos, Revolution struggle at Labor day it will be a very long season.
Solar is still head and shoulders above everyone else. Should be a fight for 2nd place. TFC Royal, Andro, Texans, Pumas and Solar Red fight it out for second place. I think Tigres, Real Madrid, Revolution, and Tejanos fight to stay in D1.

Why do you think Tigres are at risk rather than Pumas? I thought Pumas were on a slide at the end of the year while Tigres were rising. Did Pumas do something to shore up over the summer?

Not to take anything away from Solar, however, TFC, I heard was missing a couple of players/and or had some injuries to key players...but down 5-0 halftime is hard for any team to battle all the way back.

rqps wrote:Too early to say teams will struggle... Tejanos dominated possession play in Andro White game and Club classic game. (obviously possession does not win games) Shooting practice will help them close games out. Not taking anything way from CC they played well utilizing their strengths. FWFC will do well in D3, they dismantled Andro white in semi final.
Labor day should provide more insight as far as team strength. If Tejanos, Revolution struggle at Labor day it will be a very long season.

RQPS - I am assuming that you didn't see the game based on that comment above. CC dominated play, Tejanos had very little controlled possesion on their offensive side of the field. In the first half alone, CC had more quality Shots on Goal then Tejanos had shots. Beyond a PK (where the offensive player had already lost possesion of the ball to the Keeper, but was thrown down by a defender) Tejanos did not score against either FWFC or CC.
I agree that they need help on finishing, however, it is well beyond what some "shooting practice" alone will help. Tejanos will struggle scoring in D1 against defenses much stronger than what they saw this weekend.
TFC was supposed to have improved with the addition of a new midfielder and defender. I heard that they retained everyone they targeted. Don't know about injuries or absences.

One of the Tigres better players moved over to Pumas, that is why I made that comment.
I was at the Tejanos/CC game and I suppose I saw it differently than you did. Since I dont have a kid on either team maybe that might have something to do with it. I do agree with you that if Tejanos do not improve their offensive production that it will be a hard year for them.
What tournament is CC playing in for Labor day... maybe we will get a rematch? Again not taking anything away from CC just saw the game differently.

Solar 98 looked like they are ready for the Fall season...

...is that even a good strong punt from a typical 98B keeper could hit Jerry's video scoreboard.

TM is just about dead...txsoccer is pretty cool...that's just what I learned.