d1 end of season analysis team by team

i've spent the last 8 months watching as many d1 games and tourneys as possible, mingling with parents, talking with coaches and managers, etc. observations in order of their end of season form/finish:



TOP OF CLASS



SOLAR castro - speed kills. combination play advanced considerably as the season went on. they clearly improved over the course of the season, so must give diego credit for not letting complacency set in. i thought they would be challenged by premier, but only bates and elite gave them a game. no discernible weak spots on these guys. unquestioned class of the league, maybe the nation. let's see what happens in june's supercopa. after watching my older kids/nephews play classic the last 7 years, this is the best u-11 squad that i can recall



STILL CLASSY



FCD PREMIER pino - only midfield that i believe is as strong as castro's. strong finishers and very well organized team, which you would expect from jose. only significant weakness is lack of speed across backline. hurt them vs. castro and bates. usually when they got beat late in the season, it was central defense not covering ground quickly enough. were a fun team to watch when they were in a rhythm (vs. bates for example) and would almost toy with people. parents very friendly, approachable, and spoke very positively about their experiences



TEXANS thornber - obviously a strong team defensively, which gives them a chance against anyone. biggest challenge is too many games would get bogged down in midfield. their defensive shape can be blamed/credited; however one chooses to look at those things. got a little lucky against sal's team to come away with 1-0 win; could have gone either way. parents seem to be a good crew, and these guys did well while nipper was away. will expect them to remain top 5 if they keep it together. have no reason to doubt that they will; quality coach, parents, and players



TEXANS south adames - i put them 4th because of their total domination of odyssey at end of season. i would stack their fast, ball-hawking back line against anyone at this point. they were impenetrable late, only allowing 2 goals in last 6 games. of the teams in places 2 - 6, i would say these guys have the biggest upside. consistent finishing will elevate them. can get it the ball in the box on most teams, but getting it in the net was a challenge. stellar goalkeeping from what i saw. bet they would give castro a much better game now than they did at beginning of season



HAPPY TO BE HERE



ODYSSEY gallagher - this was the only top 10 team whose abilities clearly digressed as the season went on. were brilliant against fcd in september, but by end of spring they could barely string 3 or 4 consecutive passes together. disheartening to watch a group with so much potential and athleticism have their creativity crushed. to paddy's credit, this appears to be the only one of his 3 teams that won't be relegated this year. parents highly approachable but lots of grumbling. would expect mass player defections to gradually start affecting this group just like i've seen on his older teams in the past. history repeats.



SOLAR bates - can anybody stop their forward? didn't think so. their games were always entertaining, and i think the only team outside of castro that never got shut out. they were never out of any game, and their unpredictable defense made every game a high-wire affair. one of those teams that was just good enough to make magical things happen on attack, but just bad enough to give up an inexcusable goal. the kids seem to genuinely be enjoying themselves out there, which can sometimes be lost at this level. credit the coach for that. imagine they'll benefit the most from new players next season. got to see one of their training sessions and the kids seem to respond well to the coach



LIVERPOOL trevino - obviously anything i say about this team would be completely biased and self-serving. but eff it, i'll say it anyway. did a good job of integration under the circumstances from last year. we were playing like a top 3 team at end of season, narrowly losing to premier. good coach, always loved our boys, very proud of results and clear technical improvement. very confident about the future



ON THE CAROUSEL



LIGHTNING black sampaio - is there a maximum height limit at this age? wildly inconsistent, with results to prove it. the only top 10 team that i can say "they play to the level of their competition" had a lot of trouble putting away the teams on lower end of 20-team d1. parents didn't seem to be too thrilled with the coaching style, but hard to argue with maintaining d1 spot. had some beautiful combinations from mf to fw in games i saw, but then would have 30 minutes of nothingness. guess that happens with 11 year olds



LIVERPOOL wright - this is another team that baffles me somewhat. wildly inconsistent squad. have two midfielders and the one forward that can really influence a game when they're in the mood. it appears that lack of depth hurts them. if they solve that in the offseason then look out; could pass by us, lightning, and probably odyssey. i would expect the liverpool system to rally around these guys a bit, if you know what i mean. parents very vocal



more later.

Maybe I'm a little oversensitive, but it seems like bb's teams "review" is a bit more harsh than everyone elses.    That is if you consider being called disheartening, regressing, dominated, can't pass the ball, and doomed to fall apart as harsh.    

Ody will almost assuredly end up 5th, that's completely fair.  Whether due to suckitude or bad day or OMG not paying attention to guy unmarked repeatedly or whatever they didn't do real well for at least half the game against DTS right before Spring Break.   No arguments there.  They don't always deal real well with longballs and footraces throughout the season, no doubt.  They were getting better results versus the age group 18 months ago with a different roster, completely agree.  Sometimes they pass well, sometimes they don't.  Seeing the individual kids all the time, the skill level is definitely improving, though not equally across the board.  Next week they are going to try to dribble and chew gum at the same time, we will make sure there are volunteers to give them a hug at the end of practice regardless of whether they succeed or fail.

A few things though w.r.t. multiple teams:  

FCD has a high general level of soccer ability and is a great team, but FCDs midfield didn't fare too well against Castro.  I only watched half, but that looked more like a "knife to a gunfight" matchup than an "as strong as the other" matchup.  There are probably less reducer fouls in a gunfight though.  Just as an aside.  

Quite sure Bates got shut out at least once by some losers.  It's hard to score with 10 kids playing defense.  I mean, I'm not sure and all, I don't think those scores are available anywhere publicly so I could just be talking out of my ass.

I'm sure we got you on a bad day, because you guys were not too hot.   Like swing and miss the ball repeatedly unhot.  Like watch the video and cringe and feel bad for the kid unhot.  There is a reason Trevino was mocking the kids with the Madagascar circus song at halftime.  We have four kids who play 60 minutes of every game in the middle of the pitch, and against you guys one of them didn't even show up and the rest sat in the 2nd half.  That's pretty much sums up that game.   And this was near the end of the season when we apparently were in full regression and you guys were a top 3 team.   I certainly expected you to be better but just wrote it off to outlier.  Bottom line, sometimes who should be publicly reviewed in a critical fashion is somewhat subjective and largely influenced by snapshot viewpoints of wildly inconsistent 10/11 yr old kids.  Just sayin.   I don't know, I have no bone to pick with any team so unsolicited sweeping negative reviews of anybody seems kind of sketchy to begin with.   

I mean, I don't want to piss on your Opus or anything.  Most of the stuff seems largely obvious or undebatable.  You should be proud that you spent 8 months watching as much youth soccer not involving your kid as is humanly possible.  

Season went about as I expected, only real surprise was Liverpool Wright/Toshack, who have a lot of athletic kids.   I imagine we will field a team next year and my kid will try to fight through his crushed creativity.  

Cheers

and Number 13 gets post of the month for March.

btw, Trevino is still a jack ass.

you confirmed what i wrote about the roster for your team.  sounds like my prediction already has started playing out.

yes, our biggest weakness was the latter half of the roster.  shocker there.  everybody must find their place.

look out for toschack in the future.  no doubt.

tfcreds wrote:i've spent the last 8 months watching as many d1 games and tourneys as possible, mingling with parents, talking with coaches and managers, etc.  observations in order of their end of season form/finish:



TOP OF CLASS



SOLAR castro - speed kills. combination play advanced considerably as the season went on. they clearly improved over the course of the season, so must give diego credit for not letting complacency set in.  i thought they would be challenged by premier, but only bates and elite gave them a game.  no discernible weak spots on these guys.  unquestioned class of the league, maybe the nation.  let's see what happens in june's supercopa.  after watching my older kids/nephews play classic the last 7 years, this is the best u-11 squad that i can recall



STILL CLASSY



FCD PREMIER pino - only midfield that i believe is as strong as castro's.  strong finishers and very well organized team, which you would expect from jose.  only significant weakness is lack of speed across backline.  hurt them vs. castro and bates.  usually when they got beat late in the season, it was central defense not covering ground quickly enough.  were a fun team to watch when they were in a rhythm (vs. bates for example) and would almost toy with people.  parents very friendly, approachable, and spoke very positively about their experiences



TEXANS thornber - obviously a strong team defensively, which gives them a chance against anyone.  biggest challenge is too many games would get bogged down in midfield. their defensive shape can be blamed/credited; however one chooses to look at those things.  got a little lucky against sal's team to come away with 1-0 win; could have gone either way.  parents seem to be a good crew, and these guys did well while nipper was away.  will expect them to remain top 5 if they keep it together.  have no reason to doubt that they will; quality coach, parents, and players



TEXANS south adames - i put them 4th because of their total domination of odyssey at end of season.  i would stack their fast, ball-hawking back line against anyone at this point.  they were impenetrable late, only allowing 2 goals in last 6 games.  of the teams in places 2 - 6, i would say these guys have the biggest upside.  consistent finishing will elevate them.  can get it the ball in the box on most teams, but getting it in the net was a challenge.  stellar goalkeeping from what i saw.  bet they would give castro a much better game now than they did at beginning of season



HAPPY TO BE HERE



ODYSSEY gallagher - this was the only top 10 team whose abilities clearly digressed as the season went on. were brilliant against fcd in september, but by end of spring they could barely string 3 or 4 consecutive passes together. disheartening to watch a group with so much potential and athleticism have their creativity crushed. to paddy's credit, this appears to be the only one of his 3 teams that won't be relegated this year. parents highly approachable but lots of grumbling.  would expect mass player defections to gradually start affecting this group just like i've seen on his older teams in the past.  history repeats.



SOLAR bates - can anybody stop their forward?  didn't think so.  their games were always entertaining, and i think the only team outside of castro that never got shut out.  they were never out of any game, and their unpredictable defense made every game a high-wire affair.  one of those teams that was just good enough to make magical things happen on attack, but just bad enough to give up an inexcusable goal.  the kids seem to genuinely be enjoying themselves out there, which can sometimes be lost at this level.  credit the coach for that.  imagine they'll benefit the most from new players next season.  got to see one of their training sessions and the kids seem to respond well to the coach



LIVERPOOL trevino - obviously anything i say about this team would be completely biased and self-serving.  but eff it, i'll say it anyway.  did a good job of integration under the circumstances from last year. we were playing like a top 3 team at end of season, narrowly losing to premier. good coach, always loved our boys, very proud of results and clear technical improvement. very confident about the future



ON THE CAROUSEL



LIGHTNING black sampaio - is there a maximum height limit at this age? wildly inconsistent, with results to prove it.  the only top 10 team that i can say "they play to the level of their competition"  had a lot of trouble putting away the teams on lower end of 20-team d1.  parents didn't seem to be too thrilled with the coaching style, but hard to argue with maintaining d1 spot.  had some beautiful combinations from mf to fw in games i saw, but then would have 30 minutes of nothingness.  guess that happens with 11 year olds



LIVERPOOL wright - this is another team that baffles me somewhat. wildly inconsistent squad.  have two midfielders and the one forward that can really influence a game when they're in the mood.  it appears that lack of depth hurts them. if they solve that in the offseason then look out; could pass by us, lightning, and probably odyssey. i would expect the liverpool system to rally around these guys a bit, if you know what i mean.  parents very vocal



more later.

LOL!

I guess your hurt the boys scored 2 goals in the last 5 minutes and won the game.

And remember folks, they are u11's!

Team results have very little impact on their futures as individual players.

Playing like a top 3 team (what are you smoking?) You didn't beat the top 5 or even the top 6 so where is all this bravado coming from? I think your assessment of the year is off base and your analysis of Odyssey seemed personal. I watched an incredible ody texans game that had people cheering because of the technical merits of both teams. TFC is as pure a "boot and run" as we have in D1 classic so I understand your game perspective, but don't rewrite the season to suit a belief that you are a top 5 let alone top 3 team in Classic.

Laimport wrote:And remember folks, they are u11's!

Team results have very little impact on their futures as individual players.  

Wait...wait...wait...what?   That is heresy.   You mean every kid on Castro isn't automatically better than every kid on Lightning?  

I kind of doubt team results have any impact on their current status as individual players.  Which doesn't mean you can't be proud of group things, its fun to see progress and hard work translate into results.  Its good to come up short and have that motivate you.  Its cool to have a group that you like to hang out with all pulling in the same direction, success or failure.   As far as the individual players, well, they are little kids.  

And ultimately, yeah, we all just have one little kid.  If I was a Liverpool parent I would worry less about a recap and just be happy that I could look forward to a future of PA and DA and all those wonderful opportunities for my son.

Number13 wrote:

Laimport wrote:And remember folks, they are u11's!

Team results have very little impact on their futures as individual players.  

Wait...wait...wait...what?   That is heresy.   You mean every kid on Castro isn't automatically better than every kid on Lightning?  

 If I was a Liverpool parent I would worry less about a recap and just be happy that I could look forward to a future of PA and DA and all those wonderful opportunities for my son.

Not true, every kid on the #1 team is automatically better than every kid on the #2 and down.  I was told that by parents on a #1 team. 

Below the belt shot at LP.  Their PA/DA team won't be up and running for a few more years.  

tfcreds wrote:
ODYSSEY gallagher - this was the only top 10 team whose abilities clearly digressed as the season went on. were brilliant against fcd in september, but by end of spring they could barely string 3 or 4 consecutive passes together. disheartening to watch a group with so much potential and athleticism have their creativity crushed. to paddy's credit, this appears to be the only one of his 3 teams that won't be relegated this year. parents highly approachable but lots of grumbling.  would expect mass player defections to gradually start affecting this group just like i've seen on his older teams in the past.  history repeats.

I'd disagree. I like Odysseys quick play and short passing. I think Paddy does a good job of developing players. Wish we would have been in better form when we played.

tfcreds wrote:
SOLAR bates - can anybody stop their forward?  didn't think so.  their games were always entertaining, and i think the only team outside of castro that never got shut out.

LFCA Rush - Trevino: Never got shutout.

All reviews aside I like the competition and a lot of the families and athletes in this 03 group. I think some teams stack up better against different opponents and sometimes 10-11 year old boys are inconsistent. I like our club and how the coaches support each other at games and practice. While each player has a lot of pride in their team there is a definite club development mentality.

I enjoyed the season. I'm looking forward to playing a stacked schedule next season.

Number13 wrote:

Laimport wrote:And remember folks, they are u11's!

Team results have very little impact on their futures as individual players.  

Wait...wait...wait...what?   That is heresy.   You mean every kid on Castro isn't automatically better than every kid on Lightning?  

I kind of doubt team results have any impact on their current status as individual players.  Which doesn't mean you can't be proud of group things, its fun to see progress and hard work translate into results.  Its good to come up short and have that motivate you.  Its cool to have a group that you like to hang out with all pulling in the same direction, success or failure.   As far as the individual players, well, they are little kids.  

And ultimately, yeah, we all just have one little kid.  If I was a Liverpool parent I would worry less about a recap and just be happy that I could look forward to a future of PA and DA and all those wonderful opportunities for my son.

I don't disagree. Just adding a little perspective on the big picture.

It's a long road and one thing you can count on is change. Team dynamics, depth charts, player movement, etc.

Laimport wrote:

Number13 wrote:

Laimport wrote:And remember folks, they are u11's!

Team results have very little impact on their futures as individual players.  

Wait...wait...wait...what?   That is heresy.   You mean every kid on Castro isn't automatically better than every kid on Lightning?  

I kind of doubt team results have any impact on their current status as individual players.  Which doesn't mean you can't be proud of group things, its fun to see progress and hard work translate into results.  Its good to come up short and have that motivate you.  Its cool to have a group that you like to hang out with all pulling in the same direction, success or failure.   As far as the individual players, well, they are little kids.  

And ultimately, yeah, we all just have one little kid.  If I was a Liverpool parent I would worry less about a recap and just be happy that I could look forward to a future of PA and DA and all those wonderful opportunities for my son.

I don't disagree. Just adding a little perspective on the big picture.

It's a long road and one thing you can count on is change. Team dynamics, depth charts, player movement, etc.

What that can't be right? I heard of one 03 coach already promising college scholarships to his players at U9/10.

The 03's had a good long season. No one mentioned Solar Gold -- came on strong at the end and consistent throughout their roster. Loved watching the defense and their ability to move up and down the field. Play like that dictates pace in a lot matchups. They get a good number of shots on goal probably because they get the ball up from the defense so well.

Loved watching FCDP and Castro. Always heard how strong Castro was but didn't believe it until I saw it. They really work hard and have an extra gear when needed.

Toshack was a very athletic team to the point above. Lacked cohesion on defense and gave up some wins as a result (or at least the 2 games I saw the end of) but everyone expected them to move down anyway. Defense wins soccer games. From what I could tell they were stacked with fast and responsive mids and forwards with a few just unable to pass the ball when needed.

Bates -- those guys were great as well. Played a good style and were consistent and didn't give up. Coaches were even keeled as well and you could tell the team responded well. They have a great playmaker.

Odyssey -- always liked watching this team. Saw parts of a couple of their games this year, still looked good to me.

Good point about Gold and just like Toshack, Gold was able to come up with a win against a Top 5 team in the first half of the season. They never give up and have every intention of winning each fixture and they fought Hard to garner their D1 spot. I am certain that Solar has got to love that they cranked out 3 of the Top 10 teams and Gold deserves recognition.

"ODYSSEY gallagher - this was the only top 10 team whose abilities clearly digressed as the season went on. were brilliant against fcd in september, but by end of spring they could barely string 3 or 4 consecutive passes together. disheartening to watch a group with so much potential and athleticism have their creativity crushed. to paddy's credit, this appears to be the only one of his 3 teams that won't be relegated this year. parents highly approachable but lots of grumbling. would expect mass player defections to gradually start affecting this group just like i've seen on his older teams in the past. history repeats."

Wow this is a bit harsh. While I do not have any affiliation with Odyssey other than being a fan of many of the boys on the team, I would think the health issues Paddy had earlier this spring was very difficult on the 03 boys as well as the Odyssey club in general so to judge them on their spring is a bit misguided. To finish 5th in a very competitive group of D1 teams is probably a very good place to be. Gives them room to grow, a goal to focus on but still receive the respect they deserve (except from a few closed minded haters).

I hold a great level of respect for each of the 20 teams who were in D1 this year, as well as the teams who were in D2. I look forward to the future lessons my son and his team will learnand the experience gained from these teams during his next 7 years of development.

I was hoping to see reviews regarding the other D1 teams.  Hopefully he has not been scared off.     

Fanofson wrote:"ODYSSEY gallagher - this was the only top 10 team whose abilities clearly digressed as the season went on. were brilliant against fcd in september, but by end of spring they could barely string 3 or 4 consecutive passes together. disheartening to watch a group with so much potential and athleticism have their creativity crushed. to paddy's credit, this appears to be the only one of his 3 teams that won't be relegated this year. parents highly approachable but lots of grumbling. would expect mass player defections to gradually start affecting this group just like i've seen on his older teams in the past. history repeats."

Wow this is a bit harsh. While I do not have any affiliation with Odyssey other than being a fan of many of the boys on the team, I would think the health issues Paddy had earlier this spring was very difficult on the 03 boys as well as the Odyssey club in general so to judge them on their spring is a bit misguided. To finish 5th in a very competitive group of D1 teams is probably a very good place to be. Gives them room to grow, a goal to focus on but still receive the respect they deserve (except from a few closed minded haters).

I hold a great level of respect for each of the 20 teams who were in D1 this year, as well as the teams who were in D2. I look forward to the future lessons my son and his team will learnand the experience gained from these teams during his next 7 years of development.

All should be applauded. Not sure if this absolutely 100%, but the top teams for the most part are a result of the teams being together as a majority for a while. Of course the good ones that Castro wants, Castro gets. Solars, Odyssey, and to some extent Texans seem to have consistency from the last couple of seasons. Knowing that Johnny always makes a diagonal run in certain cases and you can trust making that pass to the spot adds to quality of the result. Hopefully the newer teams realize that the team piece of this is key and not let their club rip the teams up. Didn't do several teams any good to just slash and burn and then add again with shiny objects. Be careful what you wish for when trying to go after these top teams next season, they've been around a while.

As stated above as well. The teams in D2 should be getting some positive vibes as well. Texans Faber beat Toshack at a tourney based on gotsoccer results. Had they been in the top bracket they could be going on in D1 next season due to quality lately and could have gotten a nice mention in the first post to this subject.

Good1stTouch wrote:I was hoping to see reviews regarding the other D1 teams.  Hopefully he has not been scared off.      

I don't think so, he is probably watching the current responses and will post his next round soon. He knew it was going to take a pair to start the discussion and as expected he got Some strong replies.

I want to see how he viewed the d2 relegated group (2 big Surprises in that group) and the bottom two headed to d3 since his perspective is on target for the teams that play more physical football (excluding Ayses Gold of course) and rely on athleticism.

I knew straight away when I saw his message thread that things were gonna get heated.

Excellent input, even if you know that we need to tolerate de blablabla of the numbers, the fans and the rest of soccer, futbol or whatever gurus.....blablablabla I know everything blablablabla....I am the expert blablablabla...my bb blablablabla....

The analysis of the current state of the teams is amusing; it is fun to have a discussion around it and distracting to see people's reactions. Now, it is not worth much, can only be biased and in the end, after 19 games per team all you need to do is look at the standing to see what a team is currently worth. It really sums it all.
Now, maybe more interesting might be the discussion about the future of those teams. With the new season coming up (come on, don't we all think about next season?), all the teams are going to change and will build up on what they already have and try to improve. No big transformation as we will see between U12 and U13 just a slight evolution. So, how about talking about which team is likely to improve the most AND which team will provide the best environment to grow as a soccer player ?

Half of that discussion is about recruiting with some of following variables : Size of the club, location of the club, its preacademy label or not, the soccer quality of its coach, the sales power of the coach and of the club owner. What else ? Maybe, the behavior of the parents (I don't think it matters that much but it was mentioned several times above) ?

The other half is actually about soccer (I guess it matters a bit too). I think we can safely say that if the coach stays next year and keep his team (and as far as I know all those D1 teams will keep their current coach) it is extremely likely that the team will pretty much play the same soccer and the practices will be more of the same. So, based on what we have seen this year, who are the most attractive teams and coaches ? Who will you trust to make you son a better soccer player ?

Liverpool will be interesting to watch because they are a Big club, have an Excellent DOC and lots of BB's with ability spread out over multiple teams. Toshack and Trevino are top 10, but play differently just Like DT South anf DT (same club different formations) which is probably a function of coaching style and player athleticism and can change over time. Liverpool is the club with giant players so this should be fun to watch because they can boot and run and be physically imposing when they are up to it and internal player movement would further beef up their (2) D1 teams.

If Liverpool's top 2 teams are willing and able to absorb internal talent from their other teams and as long as they retain their coaches, both D1 teams will be interesting to watch and I think both could rise in the Table. If I were a D1 Liverpool team I would not miss this excellent opportunity to shop in my own talent pool before everyone else gets too.

PremierLeagueFan wrote:Liverpool will be interesting to watch because they are a Big club, have an Excellent DOC and lots of BB's with ability spread out over multiple teams. Toshack and Trevino are top 10, but play differently just Like DT South anf DT (same club different formations) which is probably a function of coaching style and player athleticism and can change over time. Liverpool is the club with giant players so this should be fun to watch because they can boot and run and be physically imposing when they are up to it and internal player movement would further beef up their (2) D1 teams.

If Liverpool's top 2 teams are willing and able to absorb internal talent from their other teams and as long as they retain their coaches, both D1 teams will be interesting to watch and I think both could rise in the Table. If I were a D1 Liverpool team I would not miss this excellent opportunity to shop in my own talent pool before everyone else gets too.

Good idea. That worked for LP Elite    Already getting calls for my BB from a Toshack parent because they need defense. I'm sure other parents are getting similar calls. Those 5-6 top teams are going to stay top teams and continue to improve due to coaching and teamwork. It's hard to improve when you are having to pack it in every week. Outside of the top 5-6, going D2 is where most of the development will take place. When we played Toshack and Lightning it was no passing and more running vs the control and patience of the other teams. They didn't get more than 15-20 passes in the entire game.

Gababa, good point. If the behavior of the parents is due to them just wanting to win and you are not on Castro or Premiere or Texans, D1 is maybe the worst league in the country to be. These top teams are too good and will remain that way. Makes for some quiet rides home after most of a 19 game season.

Solars and Texans to improve and develop.

PremierLeagueFan wrote:Liverpool will be interesting to watch because they are a Big club, have an Excellent DOC and lots of BB's with ability spread out over multiple teams. Toshack and Trevino are top 10, but play differently just Like DT South anf DT (same club different formations) which is probably a function of coaching style and player athleticism and can change over time. Liverpool is the club with giant players so this should be fun to watch because they can boot and run and be physically imposing when they are up to it and internal player movement would further beef up their (2) D1 teams.

If Liverpool's top 2 teams are willing and able to absorb internal talent from their other teams and as long as they retain their coaches, both D1 teams will be interesting to watch and I think both could rise in the Table. If I were a D1 Liverpool team I would not miss this excellent opportunity to shop in my own talent pool before everyone else gets too.

I agree with you 100% regarding Liverpool.  Of their 10  03B teams, I think someone said like 8 are from the Plano area and practice at or near one another.  I was talking to a parent who's BB plays for St John (one of the non-Plano LP teams) and he stated that Trevino had one of the better middies from the Hunt team (wasn't Hunt also TFC at one point?) playing with him in a St John vs. Rush friendly this morning.  Looks like they may be already looking at making some moves.  LP has the overall talent, due to sheer numbers, to put together two even better D1 teams.  

My BB played for a short time with a LP team prior to going select, so I know that they have always stated that they "put the kid first" over the team, and frowned on the "funnel" structure of a FCD to create a Premier team in favor of more local teams.  So maybe there will be some internal resistance to building two better LP teams.

That being said, however, what will happen with LP's Elite team?  (odd to tell parents that they don't build elite teams, then name one Elite, but I digress)  I know the OP hasn't finished his review, but I thought LP Elite was probably the biggest disappointment this season in D1 ,at least in the win-loss column, if not their actual play.  D2 was not what was probably expected from the group.  There's a lot of good individual talent there.   I wonder how many of those kids (umm.. parents) will be eyeing Toshack and Rush to stay in D1...

SoccerIsFun wrote:

PremierLeagueFan wrote:Liverpool will be interesting to watch because they are a Big club, have an Excellent DOC and lots of BB's with ability spread out over multiple teams. Toshack and Trevino are top 10, but play differently just Like DT South anf DT (same club different formations) which is probably a function of coaching style and player athleticism and can change over time. Liverpool is the club with giant players so this should be fun to watch because they can boot and run and be physically imposing when they are up to it and internal player movement would further beef up their (2) D1 teams.

If Liverpool's top 2 teams are willing and able to absorb internal talent from their other teams and as long as they retain their coaches, both D1 teams will be interesting to watch and I think both could rise in the Table. If I were a D1 Liverpool team I would not miss this excellent opportunity to shop in my own talent pool before everyone else gets too.

I agree with you 100% regarding Liverpool.  Of their 10  03B teams, I think someone said like 8 are from the Plano area and practice at or near one another.  I was talking to a parent who's BB plays for St John (one of the non-Plano LP teams) and he stated that Trevino had one of the better middies from the Hunt team (wasn't Hunt also TFC at one point?) playing with him in a St John vs. Rush friendly this morning.  Looks like they may be already looking at making some moves.  LP has the overall talent, due to sheer numbers, to put together two even better D1 teams.  

My BB played for a short time with a LP team prior to going select, so I know that they have always stated that they "put the kid first" over the team, and frowned on the "funnel" structure of a FCD to create a Premier team in favor of more local teams.  So maybe there will be some internal resistance to building two better LP teams.

That being said, however, what will happen with LP's Elite team?  (odd to tell parents that they don't build elite teams, then name one Elite, but I digress)  I know the OP hasn't finished his review, but I thought LP Elite was probably the biggest disappointment this season in D1 ,at least in the win-loss column, if not their actual play.  D2 was not what was probably expected from the group.  There's a lot of good individual talent there.   I wonder how many of those kids (umm.. parents) will be eyeing Toshack and Rush to stay in D1...

Again, look at Elite. They added a handful of kids and they didn't keep D1. Of course they could be better than the record suggests. I'm sure they are waiting their turn to practice with the top two teams but hopefully they just take D2 and fight their way back. When my BB played Toshack, they had guest played one of the boys that started the season with Elite. No change in the quality of the team from that addition for that day. Just another sub and for that team the subs usually came in full of fire chasing down balls -- did love the shorter of the forwards who was pressuring the crap out of our defense. That team is what it is, athletic and play with good spirit but are going to give up goals. The player you are talking about from Hunt to Trevino is special. Will positively effect every game he plays in because he distributes the ball nonstop. Should still be playing for Castro but likely is too much like the two key players there to really fit in.

LP will meddle into those team's business. Kid first would be great though. Still think its going to be the Solars and Texans that show even more improvement. Same soccer same practices as said by gabada