THE WINTER "BREAK"

Happy New Year everyone!
We wanted to bring up the topic of the winter "break", which turns out to not be much of a break? Our young men seem to get even busier year round as they get older, we should not be surprised. Here are a few topics of discussion.

HIGH SCHOOL SOCCER
Is your young man playing? How much of your team is playing HS. What are they getting out of it? Does his HS coach understand/care about your son's Club soccer career? Or, does your club team or coach have a policy against it? These are all valid questions- so put your player agent hat on and take a good hard look in the mirror.

CLASSIC SCHEDULE
There are a couple of games coming up for Texans Rangel, Texans Faber and Chelsea East to get everyone in D1 to 12 games before the home stretch later the Spring. The Fall scheduling was a real head scratcher and who knows whatever happened to the Dallas Cup invite?

MLK/VEGAS
Big shout out to FALLS TOWN FC for representing and getting into the Silver semi final, losing 3-2 to the eventual winner Seattle United. FT had a very strong performance in group play with a 10/1 GD. Excellent!

A shout out also to FC PREMIERE GREEN who had a tough going in the Gold bracket going 0-3, but losing three 1 goal games vs. Utah's #5 team, Nevada's #4 team AND Nevada's #1 team Downtown LV SC who is ranked Nationally #21. It was a 3-2 loss. Hello? Anybody?? Does this imply anything about the rising quality of play in N. Texas???

DISNEY SHOWCASE
Championship bracket- FC PREMIERE FORZI finished a respectable 1-1-1 and SOLAR EAST HEDGES finished 2-1 which gave them Semi- finalist points. Great job to both!

The stand-out performer was DALLAS KICKS who played in the USYS bracket:
Won 2-0 vs. #38 National, Bethesda SC
Won 4-3 vs #2 Missouri, Gober Sporting
Lost 1-2 vs #62 National, VHSC Steamers who are the #1 team from Alabama and who were a Region III winner last year and played in the national tournament last Summer. Any comments from the Kicks fan base appreciated.

CONGRATULATIONS to all of these traveling teams, coaches and their families!

MICHAEL BROWN WINTER CLASSIC
Very minimal participation from N. Texas top teams. Is this, again an effect of HS soccer? Many out of towners will be playing other out of towners. Only one FC Dallas team participating in U-15 says something? It's up to SOLAR HEDGES and the FCP DYNAMOS to defend the house!!

Looking forward to your feedback.

TEXAS WINTER CLASSIC/AYSES
Let me get this straight? So now we're shutting down tournaments for not ideal JANUARY weather? You do realize it's JANUARY? There was wind, but no hard freeze. Don't get us wrong. Who would want to be out on the airfield last weekend but c'mon? Let me guess, only partial refund?

MICHAEL BROWN WINTER CLASSIC

KCSG 2 - 0 RGV TOROS
Not the same Toros squad now that they're DA?

Nothing of any real significance occurred at the MICHAEL BROWN tournament.

The previously mentioned RGV Toros have had their way for the last few years vs North Texas teams so a shout out to SOLAR HEDGES for topping them 1-0. Obviously the (MB 0-4) Toros have suffered some significant turnover and are nowhere near the same caliber team. Unconfirmed but if memory serves correct, the Toros have an invitation to the Dallas Cup for winning a local tournament? Be careful what you wish for "selection committee"?

Last entry on this post. Digging through the schedules getting ready for Classic to resume it turns out that Chelsea East hit the road and not only participated in the Las Vegas Players Showcase, but they won their bracket. And in impressive fashion:
1-1 vs. Iowa ODP
0-0 vs. Players Elite - Nevada #4, #91 National
7-0 vs. Pateadores RSM
2-0 vs. Placer United - Nor Cal #12, #71 National
2-1 vs. Players N. Elite - Nevada #3, #70 National

That's a 12/2 goal differential, or taking out the blowout a 5/2 goal differential which is impressive in a showcase level event.

Chelsea East gets a nice bump to their Gotsoccer ranking as they are now #27 Nationally.

Two takeaways;
1) How will this team react now that more than ever have the bullseye placed squarely upon them? Will they stay in the top 4 in Classic earning a bid to the Frontier League?
2) Now that North Texas has a highly natonally ranked team how does that benefit the rest of N. Texas?

It will be interesting to see Chelsea East in the DALLAS CUP as we believe Classic League now has a formidable representative. In the past 2 years some DAs made good runs, but now Classic is sending a highly NATIONALLY ranked team to represent the Classic League and North Texas.

The point behind the point is that WE don't have what could be considered a strong national presence. WE have underwhelmed at Regionals. Forget that Frisco tournament in July... How will we attract increased attention by bigger colleges if we don't have strong rankings? It's in everyone's interest to have any of our teams enjoy high rankings!

The saying applies- A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL BOATS.

Overall we are very pleased with the collective strong performance by all of our North Texas teams in their tournament performances during the winter break!

Have a safe Spring.