U-11 Classic D2 Predictions

I also agree 100% on the importance of development, however and unfortunately Classic League is not the venue for development and I think to some degree we all understand that...maybe.  It's the venue for showcasing that development.  Otherwise why would this league keep score and have promotions and relegations from one division to the next.  It 100% promotes the actions of winning or winning at all cost.  I'm not saying that is right.  I'm just saying that's how it is set up for this age in this league.

We could look at the DA model which promotes more practice time and less games with the focus on development during practice, development during the first year or so during games with no scores published at u12, and no standings published until u15.  However the number one complaint from parents about DA...not enough games or game time for my kid to develop.  It's like we want this for our kids, or maybe like others have said for ourselves.

Until we change the venue or have a desire to change the venue it will remain the same.  However, I really don't think it's much different around the world, even at this age.  If you look at the youth teams that come here to play you can see where the difference is between our youth and their youth.  We lack a true soccer culture.  Our bigger problem in this country is the lack of a soccer culture that our kids can learn from each other vs. just from their coach and in league games.  Our kids don't get home from practice or school and go play soccer in the streets for hours learning things that can't be taught by a parent or a coach or sibling because we just don't know them yet.  Much like other countries look to the US for the sports culture of football, baseball, and basketball, we do our best to emulate others and their soccer culture.  Even just watching games of my boys playing against teams from other countries, those kids know how to win...at all cost, and we can't be naive to think that they should all come out and play pretty touch touch soccer.

The pro/rel system isn’t designed to promote winning at all costs. It’s designed to promote development by putting the top teams in a situation to play each other week after week. It’s the same “more meaningful games” argument that the DA is now pitching. Once you get to just 10 teams in D1 it actiually works better, but by then (at least now) a lot of the top talent has moved on to DA. Not to mention the urban sprawl of the metroplex has dramatically decentralized the talent pool. It’s not just Classic. Everywhere you play around here winning has become important. It’s our “futbal...heritage”.

Changing the venue wont change anything, what we need is more capable coaches. For example, take a club like FC Dallas, they maybe have 1-2 qualified coaches that can lead the top talent. Only one I would say is actually qualified is Peter Lucin. Until we have more coaches at his level we're not going to see the changes we all desperately are seeking.

Looks to be a great finish to the D2 season with lots of teams a few points away. With 2 losses this weekend from Triumph, another loss from Solar Volkan and a tie from Legends it is making for a fun end of the season. In two weeks Liverpool Carragher plays Legends so that will be a good game as well as the Solar Martinez vs Rayos FC game. If Rayos loses this could push them out of the top 4 consideration. If Martinez loses they will need to win out to have a chance. Liverpool loses to Legends this could push them out of the top 4 and have Rayos move in. Either way will be a lot of fun to see how it plays out. This push to make D1 by the top 4 teams makes for an exciting time of the year for those teams.

Just saw the standings... It looks like there is clear separation between top 5 teams and everyone else in D2.

ZERO chance for any other team other than the top 5 to qualify to D1. It looks like Rush is a lock.
Legends play Liverpool Carragher and Rayos play Solar Martinez.

If I had to guess, I would say Carragher will be the one team left out of the TOP 4 when it is all said and done.

Either way, the Million Dollar question is : Are these 5 teams better than the bottom 5 currently at D1?

FC Dallas Youth West
Fever Moreno
Liverpool St John
Garland Tigres
Dalals Texans South

Team Name	MP	W	L	D	GF	GA	Pts
1) DALLAS RUSH FC	16	13	2	1	86	18	40
2) FC LEGENDS UTD	16	11	1	4	75	33	37
3) SOLAR 07B MARTINEZ	16	11	1	4	63	31	37
4) LIVERPOOL CARRAGHER	16	12	4	0	43	22	36
5) RAYOS FC	15	11	2	2	56	25	35
6) SOLAR 07B VOLKAN	15	9	4	2	50	24	29
7) DALLAS TNT SC	16	9	5	2	41	41	29
8 TRIUMPH FC	16	9	6	1	50	34	28
9) SOLAR 07B MCKINNEY/LANIER	16	9	7	0	40	25	27
10) DI STARS FC	15	8	5	2	56	35	26

Short answer...yes

I mean when considered as 2 complete groups of 5.

Congrats to RUSH, LEGENDS and SOLAR MARTINEZ. All 3 are moving up to D1. Rayos will likely be the 4th team unless they mess up....then Volkan still has shot. Carragher had a bad weekend...

Carragher losing to Liverpool Heighway was the upset of the week. Rayos still has 2 games left while everyone else in the top 5 only has one game left. The two games left for Rayos are games they should win, but weird things can happen. Solar Volkan still has two games left also against Liverpool Heighway and Sporting United. It is looking more like Rayos will finish out the top 4, but they have to win out. Tough end to the season especially how Volkan losing out on D1 was considered an upset now it looks like they will lose out on D1 again.