D1 Midseason Observations

I thought I'd throw out my assessment of the soccer year (so far). You'd think I'd have something better to do on a Friday afternoon. No $ for xmas shopping…can someone say Happy Hour?

As a side note I wish our group would get a little more active. It's disappointing to see how we've just sort of dried-up. Hell, even creating a new username to take a shot at somebody is better than total silence. Come to life people!


Sting – rolling along as expected but did show some vulnerability…just not against Feet! What can be said about them that I haven't already? Hopefully, for the rest of us, they take comfort in having already qualified for Regionals by winning Premier League and will let up a bit. Wishful thinking…don't expect that will happen. They have definitely become the benchmark team of our age group.

Texans – validated their State Cup showing was no fluke. GF/GA for the fall very impressive and a huge improvement over last year. Something is definitely working. So….are Texans potential Grand Champions or are they more in line with teams 2-6 but had a good stretch and pulled out some key wins? Not sure I'm ready to make that call. But, their fall was good enough to make the "contender" claim.

Solar – pending the outcome of their games vs FCD and Rev, did about as I expected. Only real surprise to me was their 4-0 loss to Texans. Did manage a tie vs Sting but have to be disappointed in giving up 2 goal lead. Wins against FCD and Rev puts them in great shape to tie down a top 4 finish and secure PL spot for next year. Already tied-down trip to Regionals by virtue of 2nd place finish (tiebreaker over Feet) in Premier League.

Solar Red – also about where I expected they'd be….competing for 4th PL spot. Win over Texans and late goal to tie Feet keeps them in good shape for a top 4 finish. Absent their 6 goal game vs Spirit, SR did not score more than 1 goal in any of their other LH games. Much like Feet, they will have to score more to have any real success. SR did have a great win vs Lonestars in PL but I'm sure they'd hoped to finish higher than 6th in the standings.

D'Feeters – disappointing fall. Started season by winning games against the teams we felt we should beat (even so Rev and Mustangs were very close games) but didn't fare well against the rest. Record against top 5 teams….0 wins, 2 losses, 3 ties. That ain't gonna cut it. Did have a good PL season…gave up heart-breaking PK to Lonestars in final game (match ended in tie) which proved to be Feet's undoing. The win would have secured 2nd place and trip to Regionals. Historically, Feet has played well in the spring…they'll need to continue that trend in order to have a chance at top 4.

FC Dallas – I think many were surprised with their relative success this fall. They competed very strongly against all the top teams which I don't think was generally expected. A win against Solar on Sat will move FCD into 4th place ahead of Feet and Solar (pending Solar's game vs Rev). They definitely are capable of snatching some wins and contending for top 4. It will be interesting to see if they can convert some of those ties into wins in the spring. Player rumors already starting though…what is it with this team?

Mustangs – very key win vs Revolution. They played competitively much of the time but I haven't seen enough offense for them to be a threat to the top 6. It will come down to their game with Rev in the spring. I don't get the sense that they take this as seriously as Rev does and I think it may cost them.

Revolution – very competitive in all but 1 game. Definitely not outclassed by D1 competition but also hasn't shown quite enough to get the wins. I think we can expect some tough games and continued improvement from them….IMO more so than with Mustangs. Based on the standings it looks like a fight with Mustangs for the other relegation spot (or is it a playoff with other D1 team and D2 team?).

Spirit – I wish there were some positives to take from their season. They definitely earned their way into D1 and I was hopeful things would work out better for them. At this point, I'm sure it's frustrating for all involved. D2 is loaded with a lot of good, very competitive teams and that's probably the best place for them. While it's certainly possible (mathematically) to remain in D1 I have to imagine it would be much more rewarding to be in a division where you have a chance to win every week and compete to win the division.

You must be really bored.

Old Yeller wrote:You must be really bored.

Nice midseason observation.

socrocks wrote:

Old Yeller wrote:You must be really bored.

Nice midseason observation.

If you're still Bored. There is a game today.

Location
#349 2:45 PM FC DALLAS 96 SOLAR 96 (PL) Railroad Complex #2

turftoe9 wrote:

socrocks wrote:

Old Yeller wrote:You must be really bored.

Nice midseason observation.

If you're still Bored. There is a game today.

Location
#349 2:45 PM FC DALLAS 96 SOLAR 96 (PL) Railroad Complex #2

and the winner is......

0-0 tie

Pretty good summary socrocks.

Sting should win GC fairly easily.

2-6 are a toss up week in and week out and none have proved they can consistently play to the level of Sting.

Mustangs being ahead of Revolution is surprising to me. I expect Mustangs and Spirit to go down in the Spring, but the Mustangs win over Revolution in the Fall might just be the difference.

Solar Blue looks to have overcome their early season hiccups, and should find their way back to D1 next year.

I hope I'm wrong, but I really can't see anyone from the area (or the State for that matter) getting passed regionals. I can't recall the last time (if ever) a local team went outside of Texas and won a tournament (or had a moderate amount of success for that matter). From what I've seen so far this year, I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Back in the academy days most of us were raving about the fact that the top teams (I think it was around 6 or 7) were fairly even. The claims were made that it's developmentally beneficial for for the kids to play competitive games as much as they could (vs a couple dominant teams). Looking back, do we feel the same way? Has it helped or hampered the group and/or the individual players? How, if at all, has it affected the NTX team's ability to compete outside of NTX?

It's especially interesting to me becaue I have another daughter who's age group would seem to be about the same as the '96s were at U10, and I've yet to decide whether I think it's good or bad.

(I'm trying stir up the forum socrocks)

Gunners wrote:
I hope I'm wrong, but I really can't see anyone from the area (or the State for that matter) getting passed regionals. I can't recall the last time (if ever) a local team went outside of Texas and won a tournament (or had a moderate amount of success for that matter). From what I've seen so far this year, I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Re: Regionals
I think Sting has a good chance (if they can be consistent). IMO there are a few of us that could advance. I honestly can't say that any of the group should advance.

Re: Future Success
Speaking for Feet...with the exception of 2-3 games played in major tourneys over a few years we've had a legitimate chance to win almost every one of them. Some games we were certainly outplayed but by no means out of our league. When you have 12-16 strong teams at a tourney like Surf Cup, WAGS or Disney, one slip and you're history...escpecially with no quarterfinals. Texans and Solar had good success in bracket play at Disney, I know NTX wasn't outclassed. It's not a stretch that either of those games could have gone the other way. Feet's semifinal game at WAGS was very winnable...one slip up (and 2 goals called back). I guess I'm still cautiously optimistic.

Gunners wrote:Back in the academy days most of us were raving about the fact that the top teams (I think it was around 6 or 7) were fairly even. The claims were made that it's developmentally beneficial for for the kids to play competitive games as much as they could (vs a couple dominant teams). Looking back, do we feel the same way? Has it helped or hampered the group and/or the individual players? How, if at all, has it affected the NTX team's ability to compete outside of NTX?

It's especially interesting to me becaue I have another daughter who's age group would seem to be about the same as the '96s were at U10, and I've yet to decide whether I think it's good or bad.

(I'm trying stir up the forum socrocks)

Looks like no takers....Guns. We might as well PM.

I still feel the same as I did 3-4 years ago. From a developmental standpoint I think playing 90% of your league games against nearly even competition is good. It teaches the kids to play hard, take nothing for granted and compete every week. Bear in mind, that also means our commonly played local tournaments will produce a very competitive field. Meaning no overwhelming favorites going in.

I'm not even so sure that condensing the top level talent into 1 or 2 'elite' teams would benefit those teams on a week-in, week-out basis. First thought would be that they would compete better on the national scene….I'd probably concede that. But, are those elite teams really at the top of their game if they're waltzing through their local schedule? Are they really learning to compete? I've heard a number of parents from good teams (out of our area) state that they wished they could play a schedule like ours. Look at their league standings and you see a 10-0 record…GF 38, GA 4. I don't think that helps anyone.

Set the 'developmental' aspect aside for a moment. Isn't the primary reason our kids are doing this is to have fun? I think for the kids (and parents) it's much more fun going into every week knowing you've got about a 50-50 chance of winning. I certainly prefer that to being on either end of a drubbing.

I still contend we've got a great thing going here.

I feel the 96 talent is still spread out amongst many teams (including D2 and D3) and until the various teams/clubs move to bring the talent together; North Texas teams will not dominate regionals or nationals.

Even NTX ODP did a sham job in taking a look at 96 talent with that process their so-called "tryout". What a joke.

One month to go. I hope we are ready when the time comes. I am definitely ready to watch some games. Bball has given me a good distraction though to root for the dd in something.