Qualifying

As league play comes to a close for the spring and we enter the tournament season and qualifying, who makes CL D1 and D2? Who's falling off? Who's coming on?

And what teams have needs - might as well help the team hopping get started and give those aggressive parents a guide on where to look for junior to step up.

D1
1. DT Densk
2. DT South
3. Solar Red
4. FCD
5. Andro Red (assuming still in existence)
6. FWFC
7. Vitesse
8. TFC Angell
9-10. Lots of teams in the mix for the last 2 spots, including:
FCD #2 [mix of Waters, Snell #2, others]
DT Densk #2/DT Wolf [assume there will be some combo here]
Liverpool [assume there will be some combo here]
Solar #2 (Partain?)
Odyssey

Dropping from current "D1" are Boca, FCD Waters, OC Wizards, and Olympians.

From what I understand, only DT Densk of the 3 DT teams listed above has a goalie. Of course, once June gets here, the scramble will be on and who knows what team will end up need what!

D1 is actually 20 teams at U11

off_the_woodwork wrote:D1 is actually 20 teams at U11

Learn something new every day! Heck, then pretty much everyone with a team is in D1. So what is the purpose of the qualifying tournament in July/August then? Is it really for the bottom 20 or so teams to fight over the spots 18-20 in D1?

scrdad wrote:

off_the_woodwork wrote:D1 is actually 20 teams at U11

Learn something new every day! Heck, then pretty much everyone with a team is in D1. So what is the purpose of the qualifying tournament in July/August then? Is it really for the bottom 20 or so teams to fight over the spots 18-20 in D1?

In the past few years there have been in the range of 45 - 55 teams in the QT if memory serves, only 30 go into Classic and 20 of those in D1, so QT is important. There will be 2 - 3 teams which won't make Classic at all which everyone thought was a shoe-in (FCD Gold is a good example from last season). Make sure the parents know well in advance when the tournament is (both weekends) - U11 parents aren't generally knowledgable about how this all works, and there are always teams missing starters for the QT. If you don't make Classic in the QT it is a tough road to hoe to get there at all in the future. QT is very important.

How about teams like Manchester United Red Devlis? Although they're not in SDL, they do great in every tournament they enter. There are a few other smaller club teams that aren't getting exposure yet that might surprise as well.

FYI: CCSAI website says that the QT this year is August 6th thru 14th.

scrdad wrote:

off_the_woodwork wrote:D1 is actually 20 teams at U11

Learn something new every day! Heck, then pretty much everyone with a team is in D1. So what is the purpose of the qualifying tournament in July/August then? Is it really for the bottom 20 or so teams to fight over the spots 18-20 in D1?

Most good teams will make D1 or D2. But somebody always ends up in a bad group and gets screwed each year. Last year's victim (I thought) was Liverpool Liddel. They were the best Liverpool team (based on head to head against the other Liverpool team that actually made D1). Before the QT they were probably ranking in the 17-22 range which meant they seemed a sure bet to make at least D2 - but because of their draw in the first weekend, not only didn't make D1, but didn't even make D2 - had to play Plano Premier this last year.

bb_01_keepers_dad wrote:How about teams like Manchester United Red Devlis? Although they're not in SDL, they do great in every tournament they enter. There are a few other smaller club teams that aren't getting exposure yet that might surprise as well.

Sure. Watch out for teams exclusively playing CAL, EAL, PAL, Primetime, and other leagues out there.

scrdad wrote:

off_the_woodwork wrote:D1 is actually 20 teams at U11

Learn something new every day! Heck, then pretty much everyone with a team is in D1. So what is the purpose of the qualifying tournament in July/August then? Is it really for the bottom 20 or so teams to fight over the spots 18-20 in D1?

There will be between 40 - 50 team to try to qualify for the 30 spots in the classic league so only half are in D1 the first year.

Thanks for the info. Had not focused on teams from the other leagues now joining in the race. This just gets funner and funner!

Teams 1 - 20 are considered D1
Teams 21 - 30 are considered D2
Teams 31 - 40 are considered D3


There's gonna be 20 teams that qualify for D1 and you want to get a top 10 QT rank.

Classic League helps out the top 10 teams. They are given an easier schedule and get the face a lot more 11 - 20 ranked teams. This process allows the top 10 teams to really "gel".

During the spring season, the top 10 teams pretty much face each other.

After the season is over, only the top 10 will be in D1 and 11 - 20 are D2 and so on.

Durty-Tackle wrote:Teams 1 - 20 are considered D1
Teams 21 - 30 are considered D2
Teams 31 - 40 are considered D3


There's gonna be 20 teams that qualify for D1 and you want to get a top 10 QT rank.

Classic League helps out the top 10 teams. They are given an easier schedule and get the face a lot more 11 - 20 ranked teams. This process allows the top 10 teams to really "gel".

During the spring season, the top 10 teams pretty much face each other.

After the season is over, only the top 10 will be in D1 and 11 - 20 are D2 and so on.

Not sure what you are saying, however. 1 - 20 are D1, 21 - 30 are D2, there is not D3 for U11. The rest of the teams go to Plano or Arlington.

Durty-Tackle wrote:Teams 1 - 20 are considered D1
Teams 21 - 30 are considered D2
Teams 31 - 40 are considered D3


There's gonna be 20 teams that qualify for D1 and you want to get a top 10 QT rank.

Classic League helps out the top 10 teams. They are given an easier schedule and get the face a lot more 11 - 20 ranked teams. This process allows the top 10 teams to really "gel".

During the spring season, the top 10 teams pretty much face each other.

After the season is over, only the top 10 will be in D1 and 11 - 20 are D2 and so on.

To clarify (its always 30 teams total per age group in Classic):
At U11 - D1 has the top 20 teams
D2 has 10 teams

THEN - at U12 - D1 has 10 teams
D2 has 10 teams
D3 has 10 teams

Majortom wrote:

bb_01_keepers_dad wrote:How about teams like Manchester United Red Devlis? Although they're not in SDL, they do great in every tournament they enter. There are a few other smaller club teams that aren't getting exposure yet that might surprise as well.

Sure. Watch out for teams exclusively playing CAL, EAL, PAL, Primetime, and other leagues out there.

You should also know that the Classic League this year will be using the CAL results to seed the teams who enter the QT. There is going to be a lot crying from "top" SDL teams who decided not to play CAL as they may end up seeded behind teams who did play CAL that may not be as good as theirs. SDL results will NOT directly play a role in their seedings, but CAL results will.

What they will most likely do is start by giving the top 4 seeds to the top teams from Texans, FCD, Solar, & Andromeda. Then they will probably give the next 3 seeds to the top teams from their CAL league. From there they will look at tournament results from the Memorial Day, King Tut & Puma Cup and round off the top 10 seeds from that.

Seeds 11 to whatever will be based on results available on Got Soccer and coaches input.

Last year there were 3 teams who made Classic who no one had in their radar (Chivas, Mitlan, & Kernow Storm).

You will have the same story this year where 3 or 4 teams that are not on the radar will make Classic League.

There will also be top teams who will fold like last year (Tyler Azzuri & FCD Figo).

As a parent that went through it last year, all I can tell you is don't cry about seedings, don't underestimate any team, have your bb's ready to play & enjoy the ride!

Durty-Tackle wrote:Teams 1 - 20 are considered D1
Teams 21 - 30 are considered D2
Teams 31 - 40 are considered D3


There's gonna be 20 teams that qualify for D1 and you want to get a top 10 QT rank.

Classic League helps out the top 10 teams. They are given an easier schedule and get the face a lot more 11 - 20 ranked teams. This process allows the top 10 teams to really "gel".

During the spring season, the top 10 teams pretty much face each other.

After the season is over, only the top 10 will be in D1 and 11 - 20 are D2 and so on.

R1 and frank are correct, there are only 30 teams that will be invited to join the CL for each age division.

Obviously it depends on how many teams enter the QT but as an example of how it actually works I will use last year with the 00 boys since I was part of that and know the most about it. In years prior there have been more teams enter the QT so the set up may have been different and maybe someone else can chime in on that.

The CL board will seed all of the teams that enter. Last year that total was 40 teams. I will defer to indy on the methodology used for seeding, I believe he has an inside track on that and you should listen to him regarding those matters. After the teams were seeded 1-40 they were placed in 10 groups of 4 teams each for the first weekend of the QT. The groups were set up as follows, "zigzagging" up and down from 1-40:

Group 1

Seed 1
Seed 20
Seed 21
Seed 40

Group 2

Seed 2
Seed 19
Seed 22
Seed 39

Group 3

Seed 3
Seed 18
Seed 23
Seed 38

etc.

During the first weekend of the QT you played 3 games against the other 3 teams in your Group. After 3 games the following occurred:

Group winners - automatically qualified for U-11 Division 1 and were not required to return to play the second weekend of the QT (this applied to 10 teams)
Group second place and third place - qualified for CL - division 1 or division 2 to be determined by play during the second weekend of the QT (this applied to 20 teams)
Group last place - did not qualify for CL and were not invited to return for the second weekend of the QT. most, maybe all, of these teams went on to join the leagues in Plano and Arlington (this applied to 10 teams)

Second Weekend of QT

Teams were re-seeded. I think. It was hard to tell but I do think that the Board to the first weekend of play into consideration. Maybe indy can shed some light on that.

Again teams were placed in groups of 4 using the "zigzagging" method. This time there were only 20 teams remaining so 5 groups of 4:

Group 1

Seed 1
Seed 10
Seed 11
Seed 20

etc.

During the second weekend of the QT you played 3 more games against the teams in your group.

Group winners and second place - qualified for CL Division 1 (this applied to 10 teams bringing the total number of D1 teams to 20 - 10 winners from week 1 plus the 10 1st and 2nd place teams from week 2)
Group third place and fourth place - qualified for CL Division 2 (this applied to 10 teams)

And just to round things out, this is what happens over the course of the season. D1 teams play 19 games, one against each other team in D1. D2 teams play 18 games, playing everyone in D2 twice (once in the fall and once in the spring)

At the end of the spring the following divisions are made:

D1 - teams 1-10 in the table are the 10 D1 teams for the U12 season
D1 - teams 11-18 in the table are 8 of the 10 D2 teams for the U12 season
D1 - teams 19-20 in the table are 2 of the 10 D3 teams for the U12 season

D2 - teams 1-2 are the remaining 2 of the 10 D2 teams for the U12 season
D2 - teams 3-8 are 6 of the D3 teams for the U12 season
D2 - teams 9-10 are required to play in the challenge matches over the Memorial Day weekend against the top 2 teams from Arlington and the top 2 teams from Plano. after the challenge matches the 2 teams that come out on top become the final 2 teams in D3 for the U12 season.

Every year thereafter:

D1 - teams 1-8 remain in D1
D1- teams 9-10 are relegated to D2
D2 - teams 1-2 are promoted to D1
D2 - teams 3-8 remain in D2
D2 - teams 9-10 are relegated to D3
D3 - teams 1-2 are promoted to D2
D3 - teams 3-8 are remain in D3
D3 - teams 9-10 are required to play in the challenge match to retain their D3 position

Hope all of that helps!

Have fun. Bring your umbrella to hide from the sun and your should probably start hydrating yourself and your son sometime within the next week or so. It is brutal.

indyfc wrote:

Majortom wrote:

bb_01_keepers_dad wrote:How about teams like Manchester United Red Devlis? Although they're not in SDL, they do great in every tournament they enter. There are a few other smaller club teams that aren't getting exposure yet that might surprise as well.

Sure. Watch out for teams exclusively playing CAL, EAL, PAL, Primetime, and other leagues out there.

You should also know that the Classic League this year will be using the CAL results to seed the teams who enter the QT. There is going to be a lot crying from "top" SDL teams who decided not to play CAL as they may end up seeded behind teams who did play CAL that may not be as good as theirs. SDL results will NOT directly play a role in their seedings, but CAL results will.

What they will most likely do is start by giving the top 4 seeds to the top teams from Texans, FCD, Solar, & Andromeda. Then they will probably give the next 3 seeds to the top teams from their CAL league. From there they will look at tournament results from the Memorial Day, King Tut & Puma Cup and round off the top 10 seeds from that.

Seeds 11 to whatever will be based on results available on Got Soccer and coaches input.

Last year there were 3 teams who made Classic who no one had in their radar (Chivas, Mitlan, & Kernow Storm).

You will have the same story this year where 3 or 4 teams that are not on the radar will make Classic League.

There will also be top teams who will fold like last year (Tyler Azzuri & FCD Figo).

As a parent that went through it last year, all I can tell you is don't cry about seedings, don't underestimate any team, have your bb's ready to play & enjoy the ride!

Lots of inaccuracies in this post regarding the seeding methodology. For example...the top seeds don't always go to the 4 teams you mentioned. Why people try to figure this out is beyond me.
Bottom line is that the league has been remarkably accurate for years in seeding 10 year olds!

[quote="happyfeet] Lots of inaccuracies in this post regarding the seeding methodology. For example...the top seeds don't always go to the 4 teams you mentioned. Why people try to figure this out is beyond me.
Bottom line is that the league has been remarkably accurate for years in seeding 10 year olds![/quote]With a few exceptions.

happyfeet wrote:

indyfc wrote:

Majortom wrote:

bb_01_keepers_dad wrote:How about teams like Manchester United Red Devlis? Although they're not in SDL, they do great in every tournament they enter. There are a few other smaller club teams that aren't getting exposure yet that might surprise as well.

Sure. Watch out for teams exclusively playing CAL, EAL, PAL, Primetime, and other leagues out there.

You should also know that the Classic League this year will be using the CAL results to seed the teams who enter the QT. There is going to be a lot crying from "top" SDL teams who decided not to play CAL as they may end up seeded behind teams who did play CAL that may not be as good as theirs. SDL results will NOT directly play a role in their seedings, but CAL results will.

What they will most likely do is start by giving the top 4 seeds to the top teams from Texans, FCD, Solar, & Andromeda. Then they will probably give the next 3 seeds to the top teams from their CAL league. From there they will look at tournament results from the Memorial Day, King Tut & Puma Cup and round off the top 10 seeds from that.

Seeds 11 to whatever will be based on results available on Got Soccer and coaches input.

Last year there were 3 teams who made Classic who no one had in their radar (Chivas, Mitlan, & Kernow Storm).

You will have the same story this year where 3 or 4 teams that are not on the radar will make Classic League.

There will also be top teams who will fold like last year (Tyler Azzuri & FCD Figo).

As a parent that went through it last year, all I can tell you is don't cry about seedings, don't underestimate any team, have your bb's ready to play & enjoy the ride!

Lots of inaccuracies in this post regarding the seeding methodology. For example...the top seeds don't always go to the 4 teams you mentioned. Why people try to figure this out is beyond me.
Bottom line is that the league has been remarkably accurate for years in seeding 10 year olds!

Agreed Happy, I haven't been around it that long (couple of years) but from what I've seen so far the seeding system works. Everything works itself out in the end.

The German wrote:[quote="happyfeet] Lots of inaccuracies in this post regarding the seeding methodology. For example...the top seeds don't always go to the 4 teams you mentioned. Why people try to figure this out is beyond me.
Bottom line is that the league has been remarkably accurate for years in seeding 10 year olds!

With a few exceptions.[/quote]

What 01 CAL teams would you consider the top teams?

Offside wrote:What 01 CAL teams would you consider the top teams?

The best team right now in CAL is the Boca Juniors which is really the Manchester United Red Devils that we've all seen in tournaments doing really well. Not sure if they'll go select, but if they do (and they keep most of their dual roster kids on their team) they're right up there with any of the SDL top teams.

slampg wrote:

Offside wrote:What 01 CAL teams would you consider the top teams?

The best team right now in CAL is the Boca Juniors which is really the Manchester United Red Devils that we've all seen in tournaments doing really well. Not sure if they'll go select, but if they do (and they keep most of their dual roster kids on their team) they're right up there with any of the SDL top teams.

Is this different than the Boca Juniors that plays in SDL?

scrdad wrote:

slampg wrote:

Offside wrote:What 01 CAL teams would you consider the top teams?

The best team right now in CAL is the Boca Juniors which is really the Manchester United Red Devils that we've all seen in tournaments doing really well. Not sure if they'll go select, but if they do (and they keep most of their dual roster kids on their team) they're right up there with any of the SDL top teams.

Is this different than the Boca Juniors that plays in SDL?

Haven't seen the SDL version play but they have the same coach so maybe. However, the CAL version has kids on their CAL roster playing for another SDL top team so at minimum a slightly different configuration. Any Boca parents on the site?

So anyway now that this all is clear as mud...
Who gets the top seeds based on SDL, tourneys, coaches point of view, CAL, and any other variances? Cause honestly unless teams completely fall off the earth. How much does a 2-3 seeded team fall out of top 10?

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