03 Classic D1 - Is it Spring Yet?

Can't believe our league takes a 5 month break, but at least it's almost over.  With Dallas Cup as the major milestone between now and the league starting back up, I thought I'd take a look at what the teams have been up to since the fall.  Records shown are in W-D-L format, and Form is shown as a +, a 0, or a - based on up/down arrows in YouthSoccerRankings.com (i.e., if a team played 5 games and has 2 down arrows and 3 up arrows, they get a + since they have outperformed their expected results on a per-game basis).  Teams listed in current league standings order.

FCD Premier
Tournaments Played: FCD College Showcase, FCD Michael Brown, SRPL
Record: 6-1-2
Record against CL Teams: 0-1-0 (FCD Che West)
Form: - (3 up, 2 neutral, 4 down)
Last Activity: March 2018 (In Dallas Cup as well)

Texans Craft
Tournaments Played: DT Fall Festival, LV Mayors Cup
Record: 3-1-3
Record against CL Teams: 0-0-0
Form: - (1 up, 1 neutral, 5 down)
Last Activity: February 2018

FC Premier
Tournaments Played: SRPL
Record: 3-0-0
Record against CL Teams: 0-0-0
Form: + (3 up)
Last Activity: December 2017

FCD Waters Central
Tournaments Played: SRPL, U90C Spring Kickoff, LV Mayors Cup
Record: 4-2-4
Record against CL Teams: 0-0-0
Form: - (1 up, 6 neutral, 3 down)
Last Activity: February 2018 (In Dallas Cup as well)

Solar DeLeon
Tournaments Played: DT Fall Festival, SRPL, FCD College Showcase
Record: 5-1-3
Record against CL Teams: 0-0-0
Form: 0 (3 up, 3 neutral, 3 down)
Last Activity: March 2018

FCD Borgarello
Tournaments Played: DT Fall Festival
Record: 1-1-1
Record against CL Teams: 0-0-0
Form: 0 (1 up, 1 neutral, 1 down)
Last Activity: November 2017

FCD Che West
Tournaments Played: Tulsa Friendship Cup, Tottenham Texas Cup, FCD Michael Brown, LV Mayors Cup
Record: 10-3-2
Record against CL Teams: 0-1-0 (FCD Premier)
Form: + (7 up, 6 neutral, 2 down)
Last Activity: February 2018 (In Dallas Cup as well)

Solar Cates (Now DeLeon 2?)
Tournaments Played: DT Fall Festival
Record: 1-0-2
Record against CL Teams: 0-0-0
Form: 0 (3 neutral)
Last Activity: November 2017

FCD Che Blue
Tournaments Played: FCD Bobby Rhine, FCD Michael Brown, LV Mayors Cup
Record: 4-3-5
Record against CL Teams: 1-0-0 (Solar Sawyer)
Form: - (2 up, 6 neutral, 4 down)
Last Activity: February 2018

Solar Sawyer
Tournaments Played: FCD Bobby Rhine
Record: 1-0-2
Record against CL Teams: 0-1-0 (FCD Che Blue)
Form: - (1 up, 0 neutral, 2 down)
Last Activity: November 2017

And for good measure, here are the YSR ratings as of today (I'm thinking it's a good idea to exclude Dallas Cup given potential guest players and unpredictability of results).  This says less than 2 goals difference from FCD Premier to FCD Che Blue.  

Rank Team                                   Score
1 FC DALLAS YOUTH PREMIER                  38.44
2 FC PREMIER                                         38.27
3 SOLAR SC DELEON                               37.68
4 REAL GP RODRIGUEZ                            37.54
5 FC DALLAS YOUTH CENTRAL               37.32
6 CITY FC SPORTS CLUB CARROLLTON       37.32
7 SOLAR SC CATES                                 37.31
8 FC DALLAS YOUTH WEST                      37.26
9 FC PREMIER RED FALLS TOWN FC          37.22
10 DALLAS TEXANS                                   37.20
11 FC DALLAS YOUTH                                37.04
12 SPORTING UNITED SC VIDELA               36.97
13 COLLEYVILLE SA EVOLUTION GREEN      36.89
14 TEXAS SPURS FC                                  36.87
15 SOLAR SC SAWYER                               36.85
16 FC DALLAS WTX GABE                           36.73
17 FC DALLAS YOUTH BLUE                       36.60

What does any of this tell us?  Who knows, thought I'd put it all in one place for your viewing pleasure. Here's hoping for a cracker of a 4-week spring season!

Crickets for 2 weeks.  League starts back in 2 days - no one has anything to say?  Well, I'll put my completely inaccurate predictions on the table for Gameday 13:

Solar Sawyer 0-1 FCD Central Waters
Clock continues to tick against a good Sawyer team that just can't get the needed results in the league.

Texans 2-2 FCD Premier
Rough Dallas Cup for the Dane boys carries over with a sister kisser where they don't finish their chances.

FCD Borgarello 1-2 Solar DeLeon
Tight one to pick but DeLeon has been more active so give them the nod.

FCD West Che 0-1 FC Premier
FCP rights the ship from the late fall and starts on a winning note.

FCD Blue Che 2-1 FCD Cates/DeLeon
Che boys show they still have a pulse, will go down fighting.

I day until Spring Opening Day and still no responses...is this still North Texas?  Where have all the passionate parents gone?

One more factoid as we head into the spring - I happened to find an old snapshot of youthsoccerrankings.com on 6/14/17 and thought it would be interesting to see how the ratings have evolved.

Teams Ordered by Biggest Increase in YSR Rating since 6/14/17:

FCD Che West         +1.42
FCD Borgarello        +1.11
Texans Craft           +0.99
FCD Premier            +0.99
Solar Cates/DeLeon +0.98
FC Premier              +0.62
Solar DeLeon           +0.57
Solar Sawyer           +0.39
FCD Central Waters  +0.25
FCD Che Blue           +0.12

Also, the average national rank has gone from 366 to 213, so North Texas is doing something right per these rankings.

Best of luck to all teams tomorrow!

Looks like I'm going to have to carry the 03 chat board this spring.

I went 3-2 on predictions, but self congrats on calling the DT-FCDP draw. Sawyer and former Cates/now DeLeon came up big and tightened the table up. May end up getting very interesting in the 7th/8th/9th slots. And boy, not a great week for the FCD half of the league - a little 5-month break hangover maybe?

Sources tell me that there has been some player movement between the Che teams, but not between the DeLeon teams (or maybe I'm a parent on one of these teams - cliffhanger!). Regardless, I wonder what other coaches think about this - "Johnny, I'm giving you a full release per North Texas rules, just as long as you immediately sign with my other team". I'm sure it wouldn't be as simple for Sawyer to grab a good player wanting more playing time from DeLeon or Waters/Borgarello to do the same with Dane. And FC Premier and Texans don't even have that option. If it affects the standings in some way, I'm sure we'll hear more about it.

I must admit, I’m enjoying your relentless enthusiasm here.

Regarding the Che teams, I have to admit, I would think it would be hard for a coach to carry two teams in the same division. It is very tempting to move players to one of the teams to try and create a "Super" team. In the 02 age group, I know that DT Faber had two teams in D2. One is really good and one, as of this year is no longer around.

How is Che able to move players since they are both in D1?

Just what I said above I guess- unconditional release and sign with new team, just happens to be same coach.

I’ll chime back in....

First things first-Dallas Cup

Che West looked like they had a different line-up compared to last season this past Wednesday. And no telling how they stacked that team for DC, which two draws isn’t bad-but only resulted in 1 goal for and 2 allowed in 3 games.

FCD Waters came up solid and pulled out a win in the last match and came just short of pulling a win out in their second match of group play. They are one or two offensive players away from being extremely dominate.

FC Dallas Premier had 3 losses. They obviously have a nice team by holding 1st place currently in Classic D1, but do they get that boost during league play by playing dual roster players in the big matches? Maybe those players weren’t available for DC? Will be interesting to see how they finish the rest of the Spring season.

FC Premier finished with 2 close losses and a draw. Not bad for finding out they were playing in Dallas Cup around 10:30am on opening day of the tourney. Played Monday and were 8 minutes away from beating the juggernaut that is FCD Academy. A bad call and an unfortunate own goal lost the game. Based on Wednesday’s results, they are over some injuries from the Fall, will get some players back after having to sit out with red cards from last game in the fall..so they look pretty solid leading into the final push in the Spring.

Wednesday Games

Both Solar DeLeon teams looked solid and in control and with DeLeon coaching both teams, I wonder if they have combined sessions and/or overlap and that’s good for short term success IMO.

Sawyer grabbed a much needed win against Waters. I agree that 7-8-9th place is anyone’s ball game right now.

FCD Premier and Texans result doesn’t surprise me. Texans seem pesky enough and FCD Premier just doesn’t seem as dominate as a “Premier” team should. All great individual players, but the makeup of the team doesn’t seem as consistent as the Che teams, Waters, or even Borgarello. Just confused on the strategy there, especially on the 03 group. I see more “dominance” and “consistency” from the other age groups. Not here.

FC Premier dominated Che West. With some roster tweaking/club player passes, Che West can finish strong and possibly Top 4. FC Premier looks out to prove a point and finish strong.

Too Early To Tell Year End Results:

1. FC Premier
2. FC Dallas Waters
3. FCD Premier
4. Dallas Texans
5. Solar DeLeon (original)
6. Solar DeLeon (formally Cates)
7. FCD Borgarello
8. Solar Sawyer
9. FCD Che West
10. FCD Che Blue


Boom...feel free to change my mind.

Great to have the chatter going again. Going to be a full weekend with what I expect to be some movement on the board. muc03b, bold predictions! I'm not ready to go that far, but I just don't see FCD Premier dropping out of 1st. Not because of their recent results, but the lead they have on the field makes only Craft having a realistic shot. FCDP had a horrible DC, but they had some injuries, a couple of players in the dog house and players in positions I had not seen them play before. FC Premier played outstanding for such short notice and those 2 loses where heartbreaking. Did not get to see Waters, but glad Dallas boys showed some spunk.

As for the season to come, I think craft is going to charge hard as long as everyone is healthy. Premier has a chance to run the tables and make a big splash, but they seem to always overlook the team they should beat. And this weekend should tell us where FCD PREMIER will end. If they sweep, it's over IMO.

Good luck to all the boys this weekend. Going to be a great finish.

This weekend should be a good idea to see how things will play out. The top 4 team have some deciding games this weekend
Saturday
FCDP vs Solar Deleon PL. last time they played. Solar led until the last 2 min when FCDP got the equalizer. Ended 1-1. Both teams need the win. It will be a beautiful played game since both teams play possession style.
FC Premier vs. FCD Waters- last time. FCD Waters won 2-0. Do they have FC Premiers number ?
Dallas Texans Craft vs FCD Borgello. Should not been a hard game for DT Craft and will get the easy W

Sunday
Solar Deleon PL vs. FCD West. - Solar will need to go all out this game. Last time FCD West won 1-0. I doubt it will be the same result but it will be a close game.
FCDP vs FCD West blue. First vs last place... enough said
Dallas Texas vs FC Premier. — this will be a good game which is a must win for both teams. I see this ending in a tie.

What an active weekend. Some big games. Big comebacks. And some big surprises. Where to start.

Sawyer must have gotten the memo that the bottom 2 drop because they are on fire. With the way the remaining schedule plays out, looks like they will be staying D1. I feel for any team that faces them down the stretch.

FCD Premier also seemed to get the wakeup call, walking away with 2 Ws this weekend and maintaining their lead with strong defense.

The big FC Premier vs Craft game was not as great as expected. Premier showed up huge and put up a gaudy final number. Anyone know what happen to Craft?

Waters also hit a hard weekend. Luckily for them there are teams below them as they look to stay middle of the pack, unless they can make a move on 3rd place this coming weekend.

The real drama will be who will finish 9th. 4 teams legitimately in the running. I still stand by FCD Premier finishing on top, but this Saturday against FC Premier should be fun to watch.

Some great games since the HS break will be an interesting last two weeks. 1/3 of the season jammed into one month.

FC Premier - look back to their winning ways when they are on they are real good.

FC Dallas - had a fight with Deleon but are still the strongest team in D1

Craft -is onto boys ECNL not sure they care anymore about classic league.

Deleon 1st team - looks strong hard loss to Premier will be more than ok. Rumor has it Sawyer/Deleon merging.

Che -looks like he has given up hope for the second team and is all out with the 1st team.

Waters- Will always find a way to stay up has some athletes.

Borgerello - Looks to be on the ropes after this past weekend.

Deleon 2 - seems to have hit a rough patch with Deleon coaching will find a way to stay up.

Sawyer - Had many injuries first half of season back healthy and shows. People forget last year semis in state lost on pks to FC Premier. 

Let the last few games begin.

FCDP got away with a win vs Solar Deleon on a questionable PK. Solar dominates possession and had FCDP chasing the ball. Solar had chances to win the game but failed to capitalize when it counted. Much credit to FCDP for fighting till the end. They were down 1-0 most of the game.

FC Premier are on a roll and I have to say they are the strongest team in D1.

FCD West looks good. They played well this weekend and have shown they are a top team.

FCD Waters - where did their man-Child come from? They fought hard to come back and tie the game vs Solar on Sunday. They were just outmatched in Saturday vs FC Premier.

Solar Sawyer - the coach has them in place to fight back to stay in D1. They should stay in D1 next season leaving Solar 3 -D1 spots. With no 03 DA next year will the DA team take their spot ?

Unless Che Blue has a late season renaissance, their remaining results could impact the identity of the other relegated team.  Sawyer and Waters play them, and are those 2 teams' best odds of getting 3 more points. Not saying their only chance for points, just statistically best chance to get 3 and stay above relegation spots.

Maybe more importantly, Borgarello and Cates/DeLeon play this coming weekend, then both teams have FCD Premier and FC Premier to finish.  Winner of Borg/Cates may punch their D1 ticket, while the other may not be able to hold off Sawyer.  Cates/DeLeon benefits if they draw since they are 1 point up at current.

Plan is to have the Solar u15 DA team play up next year with the 02s as a combination of Stricker/Castro will make up the u16/17 DA team next year leaving a spot open for Solar in 02 Classic D1.  Texans u16 DA team did the same this past year.

Not all the U15s will move up to the 02s. Either due to size or just unable to compete with the 02s. Most of the U15 will have to go hunting for a team

Ant_Knee wrote:Plan is to have the Solar u15 DA team play up next year with the 02s as a combination of Stricker/Castro will make up the u16/17 DA team next year leaving a spot open for Solar in 02 Classic D1.  Texans u16 DA team did the same this past year.

That's actually Adrian's exact words and what is planned for that team. He wants to keep the team together and treat them as a DA squad for training, etc. The thought of moving them to 02s is to have a different challenge for the group.

Thoughts on thos weekend games? Seems like the biggest will be Saturday's FCD Premier vs Premier. If FCD wins, they lock the title. It would also mean both teams may not be as aggressive vs Cates and Borg, opening up the possibility for them both to survive the cut. Fun weekend ahead.

Interesting story lines today. Top of the table still up for grabs, and no less than 5 teams could mathematically still join FCD Che Blue in the drop zone. Big wins today for FC Premier (to keep in the championship Chase), Solar Sawyer (to complete their amazing rise out of the drop zone), and FCD Borgarello (to keep their D1 hopes very much alive). Solar Cates/DeLeon has work to do against motivated 1st and 2nd place teams, and FCD Waters badly needs a win as well.

At the start of the season I figured 20 points would be needed for safety, and that may not end up being enough.

And no disrespect to Solar DeLeon’s win today - they’ve secured D1 football next year and are playing for SRPL still, so good on those boys.

Great 3-0 win today for FC Premier to show that they are the best team in the league. Unfortunately the way the rest of the schedule is, it appears FCDP will secure 1st place with the next game.

FCD west and Dallas Texans game was a tight one with both of them each taking a point.

Solar Deleon needed the 3 points today against FCD Waters 1-0 to regain 4th place but it will come down to the next two games. It’s still a fight

Solar Cates with games against FC Premier and FCDP looks like they will join FCD West Blue for the bottom two spots. Solar Cates is a lot better team than they have shown these last 3 games.

Another box of chocolates this weekend - now FC Premier look like favorites to take the league after beating FCD Premier and Borgarello piling on the pain.

At the other end of the table it’s down to 3 - Sawyer, Waters, and Cates/DeLeon leaving it to the last game day to decide who will go to D2. Waters has Che Blue, Sawyer has Che West, and Cates/DeLeon has FCD Premier.

FCD Premier will have to outperform FC Premier by 4 goals to finish 1st and Che West is playing for an SRPL slot, so theoretically Waters may have the best path to safety. But that’s why they play the games - one more exciting game day to go!

Must win games next week for most of the teams. Every team is playing for something.
FC Premier aiming to win Classic D1 league.
FCDP must win and pray for a loss by FC Premier to win the league.
FCD west playing for a SRPL spot.
Solar Deleon must win to stay in SRPL.
Solar Cates must win and have FCD Waters tie or loose to stay in D1
FCD Water must win to stay in D1.

Next weekend will be a fight for sure !

I refrained to post anything until prior to the final weekend. Talk about some surprising results throughout the Spring season. Current standings..

1. FC Premier 35pts
2. FCD Premier 35pts
3. Dallas Texans 29pts
4. Che West 26pts
5. Solar Deleon 25pts
6. FCD Borgarello 23pts
7. Solar Sawyer 21pts
8. FCD Waters 19pts
9. Solar Deleon (Cates) 18pts
10. Che Blue 8pts

Every team has a reason to show up and play lights out this weekend...

FC Premier vs Borgarello-FCP needs a win and a decent number of goals to claim the Classic League title. Borgarello with a win, a Che West loss and Deleon loss and they grab 4th and an SRPL spot.

Solar Deleon vs Dallas Texans- Texans need a win to secure 3rd place. Deleon needs a win and a Che West loss or tie and they grab 4th and keep their SRPL spot.

FCD Premier vs Solar Deleon (Cates)-If FCD Premier can find a miraculous touch and get out of their scoring drought, they can win and possibly win the league depending on the FC Premier result. Solar fighting to avoid regelation. They need a win and a FCD Central loss or tie to stay in D1.

Che West vs Solar Sawyer-Che West needs a win and they secure 4th place with an SRPL spot. Based on GF, win or lose, Solar Sawyer will stay in D1. They have enough points and scored enough to stay put.

FCD Waters vs FCD Che Blue-Based on current standings and looking at it on paper alone, Waters was given a gift. A win for Waters and they avoid relegation and hopefully can regroup in time for State Cup. Che Blue can play spoiler, but I just don't see a FCD cohort wanting a Solar team to stay in.

Final predictions

FC Premier 3 FCD Borgarello 0
FCD Premier 1 Solar Deleon (Cates) 1
Solar Deleon 2 Texans 1
Che West 2 Solar Sawyer 2
FCD Waters 2 Che Blue 0

Final Standings

1. FC Premier
2. FCD Premier
3. Dallas Texans
4. Solar Deleon
5. Che West
6. FCD Borgarello
7. Solar Sawyer
8 FCD Waters
9. Solar Deleon (Cates)
10. FCD Che Blue