Dallas Cup: How to Play Soccer

my2cents wrote: You need to slow your role a bit. U15/16 academy plays in U17 since it is birth year. In the U16 division 2 of the 4 semi=finalists are california teams

10:00 am SF1 FC Golden State 3:1 Fram Premier FC Dallas Park Field #16
1698 10:00 am SF2 FC Phoenix Academy 0:1 OBGC Rangers FC Dallas Park Field #17
Sun, April 8, 2012

No don't need to slow down. But I may need to explain further so you can understand it better. The Academy teams are made up of U15/U16's. The Non Academy teams in the U17 bracket are made up of U16/U17's. Therefore all Academy and Pre-Academy teams are playing up a year (except for the U19 bracket). Or lets look at it another way. If this was an Academy Showcase event the Non Academy U17 teams would have to be playing up in the U17/U18 bracket and would be playing the Solar U17/U18 team instead of the Solar U15/U16 team. Comprende?

soccergrinder wrote:

The Boss wrote:cool so why didnt solar academy play in the supergroup like FCD academy and the Texans?
how did the U14 Solar academy due? what about the U15's and U16's? Im guessing at this because im no expert like you coach but seeing that it is 2 cali teams n the U13 finals and there is a cali team in the finals of U14,U15 and U16 and with them having so many more teams advancing over what 3 solar academy teams and 1 FCD sure doesnt make me oh it was the refs!

Wow. You are just cruising for a bruising. I'll take these one at a time.

Question: "cool so why didnt solar academy play in the supergroup like FCD academy and the Texans?"
Answer: I guess the same reason Southern Cal teams weren't in the Supergroup. They weren't invited. 4th place Texans got an automatic bid. Oh, I'm sorry Santa Clara Sporting (CA-N) was invited into the Supergroup. So how well did they do you might ask. They didn't win a game. Wow, so much for Southern Cal domination.

Question: "how did the U14 Solar academy due"
Answer: Solar doesn't have a U14 Academy team.

Question: "what about the U15's and U16's?"
Answer: The Solar U15/16 Academy team had beat the Blues (CA-N) in bracket play and won their bracket. They then beat Arsenal FC USSF U15/16 Academy(Southern Cal) in Quarter Finals on their way to Semi-Finals. So how many California teams made it to the Semi's you might ask. Can you say NONE.

Statement: "with them (Cal) having so many more teams advancing over what 3 solar academy teams"
Answer: Check your math. Solar only has two Academy teams (U15/16, U17/18). U15/16 made it to Semi's before being knocked out (No Cal teams in Semi's) And the U17/18's are in the Finals after drumming Central California Blues in bracket play 4 to 1 and then totally destroying Pateadores 5 to 2 in Quarter Finals.

So your California dominance theory really doesn't hold much water when it really matters, in the upper age groups.

I don't want to be Captain Obvious here...but Santa Clara is not in southern California so you likely accidentally made the point you were trying to refute. Santa Clara is in Norther California. Southern California has competitive soccer on a scale much bigger than NTX.

10soccer01 wrote:

finish1 wrote:United FC grabbed the U13 DC trophy and Champions jacket today and are headed back to Cali. Cheers to them. They earned it.

For NTX, this is the mystery of the quotient, upon us all a little rain must fall.

Proper attribution required: see Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Houses of the Holy, 1973.

Soccer life is rock mantra and Seinfeld episodes. Thanks for playing the game.

soccergrinder wrote:

my2cents wrote: You need to slow your role a bit. U15/16 academy plays in U17 since it is birth year. In the U16 division 2 of the 4 semi=finalists are california teams

10:00 am SF1 FC Golden State 3:1 Fram Premier FC Dallas Park Field #16
1698 10:00 am SF2 FC Phoenix Academy 0:1 OBGC Rangers FC Dallas Park Field #17
Sun, April 8, 2012

No don't need to slow down. But I may need to explain further so you can understand it better. The Academy teams are made up of U15/U16's. The Non Academy teams in the U17 bracket are made up of U16/U17's. Therefore all Academy and Pre-Academy teams are playing up a year (except for the U19 bracket). Or lets look at it another way. If this was an Academy Showcase event the Non Academy U17 teams would have to be playing up in the U17/U18 bracket and would be playing the Solar U17/U18 team instead of the Solar U15/U16 team. Comprende?

Yeah got the divisions ages and academy ages mixed on which teams/brackets you were referencing.
The U15-16 academy teams are mostly 95 birth year players which means the median age is 6/95. The U17 club player is born between 8/1/94 and 7/31/95. The median birthdate is 2/95. The continual reference to them playing "up a year "is misleading. The age difference at that level is not very significant.

Barbanegra wrote:

plantit wrote:

Barbanegra wrote:Pretty comical to see the likes of Finish1, Omega, etc. cry about the NTX system. Why don't you both move to California and see if you make a decent team out there.........that would save you from moving around from team to team here, or do you think you would play more in a system where the ball stays on the ground and you have to move well without the ball?

Look at the makeup of these California teams would ya.

The Make up ?? Do the have 3 feet , 6 eyes What is it ??

If they are Human then it's all about talent recognition and training ..

WHO they choose to train and the way they are trained ..

Why don't you go ask the kids on United, Tigres, Pateadores, Nomads, etc., if they like to play football or basketball or baseball or lacrosse, etc. etc. The great majority have a passion for one sport and the desire to train 24/7 and when they are not training they are playing pickup on the street at the park etc. etc. Much easier for coaches to train/develop/correct kids with that desire that already have the touch, moves, etc. Much easier to train a pitbull to fight and lock it's jaw than say an American labrador. It's already in it's dna.

I believe FC Dallas has done this for the past several years and has taken very harsh criticism from lots of commenters on this board for it (committing completely to the Academy). Well, we can all agree that they're training future professionals, but the commitment to the program and the system is what it's all about. the showed well against ManU on Sunday, dominated Tigres and Santa Clara in game 2 & 3 even though the scores don't reflect it (they don't always in soccer, ya know), and were very close to making the semis in what would've been a repeat of last year's Dallas Cup. They've played for the National Title in DA 2 years in a row and have only lost one game this year in league play. I'd say they've got it figured out much the same as the CA teams we're speaking of here and I find it funny that people o nthis board have been beating them down for not allowing HS soccer but are uplifting the CA teams for having players that are "committed" to one sport. kinda ironic, huh?

the other FCD teams acquitted themselves well also the U16 team dominated the 1st half in the QFs against Germany before just running out of gas. the 97s barely missed the playoffs in a very strong group.

Solar did very well this tournament and they played possession-style soccer with the physical/North Texas style blended in. I believe the U18 DA team for Solar was in the U19 group because of their position in league. DTX is automatically going into the Super Group and FCD earned it's way in by being in 1st place in Texas division or previously being in the National Championship game last summer or by being the #1 ranked club in the DA....pick one. (Pateodores lost alot of players from last year's team against 10-man FCD). Solar could've very well been in the Super Group and could've gotten bumped up like Santa Clara but that would've put 2 DFW teams in the same group. Not sure DC committee wanted to do that....

Everyone seems to think the "Barcelona style of play" is what we should emulate. I'm all for keeping the ball and attacking with numbers. But the reality is that you have to have 'athletes' that can control and pass the ball effectively with a minimum number of touches.

Barcelona is successful for a number of reasons...not just because of their style of play. They happen to have a group of world class technical and tactical players that have come up through the same system. That alone is probably their greatest asset. (Plus, they don't get "beat up" playing in a highly physical, fast paced league week in and week out...like the EPL, Bundesliga and Ligue 1 teams do.)

But look at their backline. These guys are exceptional athletes. The difference is that their defenders are also technically gifted. And again, a lot to be said for team chemistry.

At youth level, there's no priority given to teaching players the importance of control/first touch and 1 and 2 touch play. Our youth teams tend to be built around 2 or 3 key players. (central mid, a striker and maybe a big, strong centerback.) Everyone else is a role player.

Which is why fewer players are actually being 'developed' to play at the next level.

High stakes, promotion/relegation league play (especially at u11/12) only exacerbates the problem.

This is the main reason we end up with 2 player types. The chronic dribbler (with no tactical insight/vision) and the "athletic defender/center forward" that was never taught proper control or how to combine with teammates.

Interesting observations!

Yesterday's games were fantastic soccer!

Certainly were some BIG, athletic players playing on those Cali teams everyone was impressed with...Yea, they could play a little soccer, too, but a couple of those defenders were bigger than grown men in the U13 games! Hmmm, does that sound familiar?

Cold, but fun day at Dallas Cup yesterday. My three boys were three of the six kids asked to walk out with the Solar Chelsea team. Youngest bb keeps saying that he held Coach Partain's son's hand. I told him that the coach was Kevin Smith, but anyway, it was funny to see my kids out there for the photo line-up:lol: After Solar won and walked around the stadium with their championship jacket, the coach's son approached youngest bb and said hi to him. Made his day, that the dude remembered his name! He was grinning ear to ear. Congrats to Solar Chelsea!

Ibystander wrote:Cold, but fun day at Dallas Cup yesterday. My three boys were three of the six kids asked to walk out with the Solar Chelsea team. Youngest bb keeps saying that he held Coach Partain's son's hand. I told him that the coach was Kevin Smith, but anyway, it was funny to see my kids out there for the photo line-up:lol: After Solar won and walked around the stadium with their championship jacket, the coach's son approached youngest bb and said hi to him. Made his day, that the dude remembered his name! He was grinning ear to ear. Congrats to Solar Chelsea!

Did they just grab random kids? I was surprised that they didn't have one of the younger Solar teams walk them out.

scrdad wrote:

Ibystander wrote:Cold, but fun day at Dallas Cup yesterday. My three boys were three of the six kids asked to walk out with the Solar Chelsea team. Youngest bb keeps saying that he held Coach Partain's son's hand. I told him that the coach was Kevin Smith, but anyway, it was funny to see my kids out there for the photo line-up:lol: After Solar won and walked around the stadium with their championship jacket, the coach's son approached youngest bb and said hi to him. Made his day, that the dude remembered his name! He was grinning ear to ear. Congrats to Solar Chelsea!

Did they just grab random kids? I was surprised that they didn't have one of the younger Solar teams walk them out.

My kids aren't random!!! But, yeah, I guess none of the kids wanted to get rained on, so some of the die-hard soccer players volunteered last minute, hence the mismatched clothing. They loved it, so that's all that counts. Great incentive for them to make it there one day:)

Ibystander wrote:

scrdad wrote:

Ibystander wrote:Cold, but fun day at Dallas Cup yesterday. My three boys were three of the six kids asked to walk out with the Solar Chelsea team. Youngest bb keeps saying that he held Coach Partain's son's hand. I told him that the coach was Kevin Smith, but anyway, it was funny to see my kids out there for the photo line-up:lol: After Solar won and walked around the stadium with their championship jacket, the coach's son approached youngest bb and said hi to him. Made his day, that the dude remembered his name! He was grinning ear to ear. Congrats to Solar Chelsea!

Did they just grab random kids? I was surprised that they didn't have one of the younger Solar teams walk them out.

My kids aren't random!!! But, yeah, I guess none of the kids wanted to get rained on, so some of the die-hard soccer players volunteered last minute, hence the mismatched clothing. They loved it, so that's all that counts. Great incentive for them to make it there one day:)

lol. random in the sense of "not organized prior to showing up at FCD Stadium"!