elite level competition

just was talking about this with some "soccer" friends and with the recent talk about how "cali" teams are far superior to ntx teams and basically the entire usa looks like cali teams will venture out to dallas cup(and of course dominate) and it seems they have also done this at disney! ok so great for them, so when or why doesnt ntx load up an "all star" team and head to the lions den and try and slap them back in the face by winning one of their big tournaments? now there has been some ntx teams travel as far as vegas but with no luck mainly because he CAS or CAN team are there as well, now i wnder if those teams are loaded from top to bottom on their rosters? maybe we should load up a team and see what happns. discuss.........

From personal experience with my kids I can tell you that Cali teams usually have great skill and play possesion soccer (I am pretty sure they have been doing it for many years). They suck your energy and eventually take advantage. So play possesion and you have a better chance. Talked to some of the parents from Cali teams and the better teams (NO SURPRISE HERE) practice more than 2 a week. They do not have better athletes, eat anything different, or breath a better air than we do. Skill seems to take over BFS over in the west coast. Simple as that.

Real Barcelona wrote:From personal experience with my kids I can tell you that Cali teams usually have great skill and play possesion soccer (I am pretty sure they have been doing it for many years). They suck your energy and eventually take advantage. So play possesion and you have a better chance. Talked to some of the parents from Cali teams and the better teams (NO SURPRISE HERE) practice more than 2 a week. They do not have better athletes, eat anything different, or breath a better air than we do. Skill seems to take over BFS over in the west coast. Simple as that.

Last year, our '00 ODP boys made it out there (CA) and were completely owned by both CAN and CAS teams. To your point, yes possession took over BFS every time.

Real Barcelona wrote:From personal experience with my kids I can tell you that Cali teams usually have great skill and play possesion soccer (I am pretty sure they have been doing it for many years). They suck your energy and eventually take advantage. So play possesion and you have a better chance. Talked to some of the parents from Cali teams and the better teams (NO SURPRISE HERE) practice more than 2 a week. They do not have better athletes, eat anything different, or breath a better air than we do. Skill seems to take over BFS over in the west coast. Simple as that.

Played U16 finalist FC Golden State in the DC last year and yes they played fast , flowing, great possession. The also were big and strong front to back. We also had a possession oriented team but their midfield just physically over-powered our smaller mids. It is not a matter of NTX just playing BFSs. We were the smaller team in all three matches.

I'm sure most of you have heard the expression that "Football is king here in Texas." I wonder if they have a similar expression in California. If football is the king on the top of the sports totem pole here in Texas, where is soccer? Where is soccer ranked on California's sport totem pole? (I don’t know.)

If soccer is a more widely accepted part of the culture in California than it is here in Texas, doesn't it stand to reason that they would consistently produce better results?

If soccer is a more widely accepted part of the culture in California than it is here in Texas, doesn't it stand to reason that they would consistently produce better results?

I'd replace "soccer" with "fitness" in general. While not a huge factor, over 30% of Texan youth are obese. California's youth are closer to 20%. Anything that alters the size of the pool to pull from changes the end product.

But I do agree that Football in Texas is difficult to beat out. MY BB has a lot of friends that only play soccer to improve their agility and foot speed to help them during football season.

my2cents wrote:

Real Barcelona wrote:From personal experience with my kids I can tell you that Cali teams usually have great skill and play possesion soccer (I am pretty sure they have been doing it for many years). They suck your energy and eventually take advantage. So play possesion and you have a better chance. Talked to some of the parents from Cali teams and the better teams (NO SURPRISE HERE) practice more than 2 a week. They do not have better athletes, eat anything different, or breath a better air than we do. Skill seems to take over BFS over in the west coast. Simple as that.

Played U16 finalist FC Golden State in the DC last year and yes they played fast , flowing, great possession. The also were big and strong front to back. We also had a possession oriented team but their midfield just physically over-powered our smaller mids. It is not a matter of NTX just playing BFSs. We were the smaller team in all three matches.

M2C, in the U13 age group, the opposite was true. We threw the biggest, fastest, strongest kids we could find straight at the net and couldn't stop an undersized possession team from taking our trophy.

2 very strong points

1. 70 to 85 degrees year round allows better performance and training environment
2. Guest players.

Tx teams tend to play tournaments with their true players. Cali teams always have the max guest players. Don't fool yourself into thinking that they are so much better elsewhere in the country.

The grass ISNT greener elsewhere.

Soccer players arent being developed any better elsewhere either.

football is the biggest sport in california too. Grass may not be greener but the soccer is better

Perhaps what we see in tournaments is a skewed version of "Californian" soccer. The teams I have seen play are fun to watch and are very comfortable with the ball on their feet. No panic when pressured and mostly play possesion with a long ball once in a while when the opportunity arises.

finish1 wrote:

my2cents wrote:

Real Barcelona wrote:From personal experience with my kids I can tell you that Cali teams usually have great skill and play possesion soccer (I am pretty sure they have been doing it for many years). They suck your energy and eventually take advantage. So play possesion and you have a better chance. Talked to some of the parents from Cali teams and the better teams (NO SURPRISE HERE) practice more than 2 a week. They do not have better athletes, eat anything different, or breath a better air than we do. Skill seems to take over BFS over in the west coast. Simple as that.

Played U16 finalist FC Golden State in the DC last year and yes they played fast , flowing, great possession. The also were big and strong front to back. We also had a possession oriented team but their midfield just physically over-powered our smaller mids. It is not a matter of NTX just playing BFSs. We were the smaller team in all three matches.

M2C, in the U13 age group, the opposite was true. We threw the biggest, fastest, strongest kids we could find straight at the net and couldn't stop an undersized possession team from taking our trophy.

Actually watched most of the U13 DC games, and I don't recall the team that won being all that special. I do recall, three years ago, a U11 Texans team that played the possession style extremely well. The following year, they sort of changed their style. Some FCD youth teams are also playing very good possession soccer. Let's see if North Texas will manage to change that down the road.

Ibystander wrote:

finish1 wrote:

my2cents wrote:

Real Barcelona wrote:From personal experience with my kids I can tell you that Cali teams usually have great skill and play possesion soccer (I am pretty sure they have been doing it for many years). They suck your energy and eventually take advantage. So play possesion and you have a better chance. Talked to some of the parents from Cali teams and the better teams (NO SURPRISE HERE) practice more than 2 a week. They do not have better athletes, eat anything different, or breath a better air than we do. Skill seems to take over BFS over in the west coast. Simple as that.

Played U16 finalist FC Golden State in the DC last year and yes they played fast , flowing, great possession. The also were big and strong front to back. We also had a possession oriented team but their midfield just physically over-powered our smaller mids. It is not a matter of NTX just playing BFSs. We were the smaller team in all three matches.

M2C, in the U13 age group, the opposite was true. We threw the biggest, fastest, strongest kids we could find straight at the net and couldn't stop an undersized possession team from taking our trophy.

Actually watched most of the U13 DC games, and I don't recall the team that won being all that special. I do recall, three years ago, a U11 Texans team that played the possession style extremely well. The following year, they sort of changed their style. Some FCD youth teams are also playing very good possession soccer. Let's see if North Texas will manage to change that down the road.

are you sure you watched the games or did you see what you wanted to see? so what your saying is that texans team from years past was the only team that played possesion soccer? i think the solar red people would disagree even barcelona plays a good possesion game at times and to add that texans team from years ago they lost some of its key players and gained a few players with too much skill which didnt seem to mix well,so that along with greedy parents and clubs(preacademy) is what happened to that team.

That '99 U11 Texans team was amazing. They traveled to the Las Vegas Cup and beat the top Cali team at that time, Pateadores. Every kid on that team was a D1 starter. They won Classic and State Cup. By the end of the season, though, greedy parents and drama took its toll. They ousted their coach, lost some players, and the team never returned to their U11 top form. They managed to win Classic the second time, but couldn't grab the State Cup title. Since then, Nuno has taken Solar Red to the top of the mountain and they have become The Team of the 99 age group.

The Boss wrote:

Ibystander wrote:

finish1 wrote:

my2cents wrote:

Real Barcelona wrote:From personal experience with my kids I can tell you that Cali teams usually have great skill and play possesion soccer (I am pretty sure they have been doing it for many years). They suck your energy and eventually take advantage. So play possesion and you have a better chance. Talked to some of the parents from Cali teams and the better teams (NO SURPRISE HERE) practice more than 2 a week. They do not have better athletes, eat anything different, or breath a better air than we do. Skill seems to take over BFS over in the west coast. Simple as that.

Played U16 finalist FC Golden State in the DC last year and yes they played fast , flowing, great possession. The also were big and strong front to back. We also had a possession oriented team but their midfield just physically over-powered our smaller mids. It is not a matter of NTX just playing BFSs. We were the smaller team in all three matches.

M2C, in the U13 age group, the opposite was true. We threw the biggest, fastest, strongest kids we could find straight at the net and couldn't stop an undersized possession team from taking our trophy.

Actually watched most of the U13 DC games, and I don't recall the team that won being all that special. I do recall, three years ago, a U11 Texans team that played the possession style extremely well. The following year, they sort of changed their style. Some FCD youth teams are also playing very good possession soccer. Let's see if North Texas will manage to change that down the road.

are you sure you watched the games or did you see what you wanted to see? so what your saying is that texans team from years past was the only team that played possesion soccer? i think the solar red people would disagree even barcelona plays a good possesion game at times and to add that texans team from years ago they lost some of its key players and gained a few players with too much skill which didnt seem to mix well,so that along with greedy parents and clubs(preacademy) is what happened to that team.

Whoa, Nelly! Allow me to address this run-on sentence. I didn't mean to insinuate that this Texans 99 team (bb wasn't on it) was the only one that played possession style. For the record, I did mention FCD. However, since some of us have multiple children who play, we tend to gravitate toward games within our children's age brackets. I try not to stalk other parents and watch their kids play, so I cannot speak about other teams, although I've heard that there's a great DTS 02 team somewhere out there, beneath the pale moonlight. There's also an FCD 03 team (no bb on that one, either)that plays great possession, but who knows how long that's gonna last? One thing I can't seem to understand, though, is all this talk about greedy parents. What does that have to do with anything?

Maybe the simple answer is that California is just more 'advanced' than Texas when it comes to soccer.

They have been playing out there longer, have a huge concentrated player population, more infrastructure (just about every major university has mens soccer, more pro teams, etc.)and maybe teach proper, attacking football.

As opposed to NTX taking the path of least resistance in order to achieve the beloved CL results.

'throwball' has very little to do with it.

Don't know if it's still true, but my CA friends say they didn't play musical clubs every season when they were little. Stayed local and moved up within the club...so familiarity with teammates was always there not being re-built every July.

Laimport wrote:Maybe the simple answer is that California is just more 'advanced' than Texas when it comes to soccer.

They have been playing out there longer, have a huge concentrated player population, more infrastructure (just about every major university has mens soccer, more pro teams, etc.)and maybe teach proper, attacking football.

As opposed to NTX taking the path of least resistance in order to achieve the beloved CL results.

'throwball' has very little to do with it.

this is the bottom line here

We will once again be reminded of this come Dallas Cup

Joker wrote:We will once again be reminded of this come Dallas Cup

so why wouldnt ntx teams stack teams for the sake of winning like they do everything else especially within its own club?

The Boss wrote:

Joker wrote:We will once again be reminded of this come Dallas Cup

so why wouldnt ntx teams stack teams for the sake of winning like they do everything else especially within its own club?

Why wouldn't they? Ultimately... Probably because of income.

Most coaches wouldn't jeopardize loaning their top player to a better team for fear of losing that player during the next contract signing period. If the loaning coach then loses that player (and others then follow) then that jeopardizes the coach's income stream.

This system in North Texas is set up so that each team must be treated like basically a small start-up business. That is all teams, including those inside large clubs. I don't think we should blame the individual coaches for trying to protect their businesses and most-valued customers.

Well in the Disney Showcase, there are quite a few Division I NTX teams playing from the U-17 (96) age group, and most seem to be doing very well. Solar and Texans Red South have won both their opening games, and could possibly meet in the finals of their bracket. Texans Red and White West both drew 2 and FCD Premier has tied one and won one. FCD is playing in the top bracket, and the win came against the number 2 ranked team in the nation for the age group. The score was 5-0. So don't count NTX out quite yet

Iplaysoccer wrote:Well in the Disney Showcase, there are quite a few Division I NTX teams playing from the U-17 (96) age group, and most seem to be doing very well. Solar and Texans Red South have won both their opening games, and could possibly meet in the finals of their bracket. Texans Red and White West both drew 2 and FCD Premier has tied one and won one. FCD is playing in the top bracket, and the win came against the number 2 ranked team in the nation for the age group. The score was 5-0. So don't count NTX out quite yet

hmmmm before you run with this that so called #2 team in the nation doesn get out much fromthe northeast has played only 1 team from cali and lost but according to their gotsoccer rankings(for what thats worth) has as many losses as wins? hell there are teams here that are ranked supe high according to gotsoccer but are nowhere near that caliber i could name a few examples:lol:

omega striker wrote:

Iplaysoccer wrote:Well in the Disney Showcase, there are quite a few Division I NTX teams playing from the U-17 (96) age group, and most seem to be doing very well. Solar and Texans Red South have won both their opening games, and could possibly meet in the finals of their bracket. Texans Red and White West both drew 2 and FCD Premier has tied one and won one. FCD is playing in the top bracket, and the win came against the number 2 ranked team in the nation for the age group. The score was 5-0. So don't count NTX out quite yet

hmmmm before you run with this that so called #2 team in the nation doesn get out much fromthe northeast has played only 1 team from cali and lost but according to their gotsoccer rankings(for what thats worth) has as many losses as wins? hell there are teams here that are ranked supe high according to gotsoccer but are nowhere near that caliber i could name a few examples:lol:

Then how about beating the OBGC Rangers team, who are 7th in the nation and beat the number 1 team in the group stages. Fc Dallas Premier won the Disney showcase in the top bracket, which was played live on ESPN3. 1-0 Final.
All I'm saying is there are some NTX teams that can compete.

Iplaysoccer wrote:

omega striker wrote:

Iplaysoccer wrote:Well in the Disney Showcase, there are quite a few Division I NTX teams playing from the U-17 (96) age group, and most seem to be doing very well. Solar and Texans Red South have won both their opening games, and could possibly meet in the finals of their bracket. Texans Red and White West both drew 2 and FCD Premier has tied one and won one. FCD is playing in the top bracket, and the win came against the number 2 ranked team in the nation for the age group. The score was 5-0. So don't count NTX out quite yet

hmmmm before you run with this that so called #2 team in the nation doesn get out much fromthe northeast has played only 1 team from cali and lost but according to their gotsoccer rankings(for what thats worth) has as many losses as wins? hell there are teams here that are ranked supe high according to gotsoccer but are nowhere near that caliber i could name a few examples:lol:

Then how about beating the OBGC Rangers team, who are 7th in the nation and beat the number 1 team in the group stages. Fc Dallas Premier won the Disney showcase in the top bracket, which was played live on ESPN3. 1-0 Final.
All I'm saying is there are some NTX teams that can compete.

I wont argue there good sir just that i think we could and should do a way better job of identfying talent and organizing it according to teams based on it instead of what we have here now:suspect:

arsenalfan wrote:2 very strong points

1. 70 to 85 degrees year round allows better performance and training environment
2. Guest players.

Tx teams tend to play tournaments with their true players. Cali teams always have the max guest players. Don't fool yourself into thinking that they are so much better elsewhere in the country.

The grass ISNT greener elsewhere.

Soccer players arent being developed any better elsewhere either.

Last year's U13 Dallas Cup Champion (United FC) had zero guest players from outside of their club but did bring 1 player from their B team in the same club. But from what I hear this is the exception for most teams since others from Texas and outside of Texas bring in guest players for this event.