03B Classic League

So let’s get the chatter going! 2-3 years left of this super competitive group, with the older 03s phasing out in 2021. Good luck to FCD Premier this week in Nationals. Any big changes to rosters? Teams that revamped? Teams that won the offseason? Teams that lost the offseason?

This is an interesting year for the DA clubs since the 03s are now the dominant year of the U16/17 DA age bracket and will cause player movement, including those moving back to full-time DA and therefore ineligible to come play in CL.

Too early to say with much confidence, but I'm expecting the top 4 to repeat (maybe in slightly different order - need to see the revamped teams first). Beyond that, I'm expecting a wild ride - I don't see a clear and obvious 5th or a clear and obvious 10th.  

Assuming no massive quality changes in the other teams, it's really hard for me to see a lot of daylight between FCD Central, FCD Borgarello, Solar Donnelly, and Falls Town.  I haven't seen enough of Atletico FW to say if they're right there too - only thing that gives me pause is the 32 GA last year.  If you're giving up almost 2 goals a game in D2, that could get ugly in D1.  Since age pure, 6 teams have come up, and the next worst behind Atletico was Texans West with 20, and they gave up 50 in first year in D1.

Biggest question for me remains the Texans.  They used ECNL players to stay safe last year, as opposed to FCD Premier and DeLeon leading the league without reinforcements.  All 3 will experience the DA-driven shuffle, but how the Texans will populate a DA team, restock an ECNL team, and have enough left over for a quality CL D1 team, in an environment where I haven't heard of mass defections going to the Texans, is going to be interesting.

DT West lost player to complete the ECNL team. They will definitely struggle this year and will be fighting with Atlético for 10/9 place

4th-8th place will be up for toss. Will FCD Che find a replacement for their big Fwd after he leaves to DA? Which of the other teams up graded players to make a move upward.

1st-3rd will be a dog fight between the top 3. I foresee FCD premier equally replacing the 4-5 players the players that went back to DA. They have shown to be the best team in NT by winning regional and already 2-0 in nationals. 2nd place will be up for toss. Can the the two FCD premier players added by Solar Deleon be enough to take over first ? Can FC Premier return and prove that last year was just a fluke after winning classic league the previous two years. The odds are in favor for FC premier

Ate lunch today with someone who had some small FCD updates.  Sounds like West/Che lost a few attackers, and Central/Waters and Borgarello turned over about half of their teams.  A handful across those three teams went to FCD Premier to backfill their departures, which included a few kids to FCD DA and a couple to DeLeon.  Che/Waters/Borgarello all reloaded, didn't sound like any were in a panic after signing day.  Will look forward to seeing how these changes shake out and impact these teams' standing in the table this Fall.

First two rounds of CL games have posted.  

For Round 1, two matches jump out at me:
FCD Central Waters v FCD Borgarello - two mid-table teams last year that had some roster turnover.  Will it be a learn-nothing 1-1 draw or will we see a big step forward from one of these teams?

FCD Che West v Falls Town - Always interesting to see how a dominant D2 champ does once in D1.  Falls Town has done well against D1 teams in tournaments in the past, but as Solar Donnelly found out after similar success, it's a whole different situation to have to do it week-in, week-out.  Che will offer a very interesting test right out of the gates.

For Round 2, we get the Frontier League 6-pointers.  Will be interesting to not only see some heavyweight matches, but also see how the Top 4 have handled roster changes and rounded into early season form.

One last point - anyone know why Falls Town has been slotted as the 7 seed in the league (look at Results tab)?  I thought D2 champ was slotted as 9 and D2 2nd place as 10 unless teams blew up and other considerations were needed to populate the 10 team league.  Not clear why Donnelly and Texans moved down - Donnelly due to club change, Texans due to coach change?  Doesn't make sense to me.

Can we all agree that 7am games are stupid?

I do, but we had a spirited discussion about it on last year’s thread and some thought I was wrong.

Agree on the 7am game...great for weather but gosh that's early for these players to wake up so early on their last weekend of summer break...and the parents of course!

Anyone get official word on National League acceptance yet?

7am was ALWAYS the worst time during the Summer .... it's already 90 degrees out .... Richland used to water their fields at like 4am .... so you're essentially dew-sweeping that first match

I remember one Ref passing out during the old Classic Qualifying Tourney on Field 7, ringing out the water from your jersey at half-time, and parents flat out refusing to sit in the stands of the "Sauna" game so early in the AM haha!!!!

Although the DT Summer Festival got cancelled, there were some preliminary round games featuring some of these CL teams.

Looks like D1 FCD Borgorello tied D2 Titans (formerly LP Fowler) who actually beat D1 FCD Waters.  So FCD Borg may have an edge on FCD Waters if this was any indication.

In the other U17 bracket he new D1 Atletico lost to a 2nd FCD Waters team, who it appears is from Plano Premier league.  So perhaps early thoughts on Atletico are correct, it might get ugly.  The 2nd FCD Waters team lost to a D2 Dallas Roma team, who also beat Atletico in CL.

The 2nd FCD Waters team it appears narrowly lost to D1 FCD Che in the recent King Tut Tournament in the finals, but defeated D1 Titans (formerly LP Fowler) in the recent Kyle Owen.  Does anyone know the situation with the 2nd FCD Waters team?  Looks like they are ranked pretty high. Maybe has players that will be CP's to D1 team?

Another interesting thing about DT Summer Festival - no DT teams entered in 03 bracket.  Would have thought Stavrou or Stark team would have been entered.  Still very interested to see what the D1 DT team looks like this year.

Looks like DT West Stark played in the AYSES Texas Summer Classic U17 Gold bracket. Went 0-3 and didn't get to play their 4th group play game today against Real GP, who would have ultimately won the bracket.

FC Premier 03B played in a combined U18/U19 bracket at the AYSES Texas Summer Classic and put up a respectable showing losing to AYSES 02 Gold 3-2, tied FCD ETX Premier 02 1-1 and beating Real GP 3-0. Didn't get to play the only 01 team that entered the tourney today.

Should definitely be an interesting season.

The reason no DT 03 teams entered their own tournament? Obviously they knew it was going to rained out. Any conspiracy theories?

That said, the one DT that did play looks like they will be taking the down elevator. Probably should go direct to D3. The Real GP team looks pretty solid and could probably compete well with bottom half of D1 and top half of D2. (Teams 5 - 15). Judging from what Ive seen, I don't think there is much disparity between these teams, except Id probably not include the current teams 9 & 10 within this group of 11. Instead Id add teams 21 & 22 (the top D3 teams) to the mix. Teams 1 - 4 should really be the only D1 teams IMO. Thoughts?

Wink, you may be on to something - DT is the king of the rainouts.  Regarding your thoughts on tiering, luckily we get to start seeing some competition this coming weekend. Forecast looks dry, so hopefully we don't have to wait much longer.

With that said, it's time for the Longview Probably-Wrong View for this week's matches:

Solar DeLeon  3-0  Dallas Texans (Stavrou)
I'm skeptical of this year's DT depth with kids moving to DA from ECNL and ECNL getting restocked before CL.  DeLeon added a couple of attackers from FCD Premier that will make a strong team even stronger. DT attempt to park the bus to no avail.

FC Premier E'too (Opoku)  2-1  Solar Donnelly
Slightly new name and completely new name respectively, but I expect both teams to be more or less what they were last year. That gives the edge to FCP, but it's Week 1 - who will come out ready to go?

FCD Central (Waters) 0-0 FCD Borgarello
Rain kept them from meeting in the DTSF, so neither got the opportunity to see and correct for the other's strengths.  This has 0-0 or 1-1 written all over it, so of course it will be 7-6 with 12 red cards and a Bigfoot sighting.

FCD Premier (Oancea)  4-1  Atletico FW (Gonzalez)
FCDP loses some talent to DA but reloads.  That Atletico defense gets tested right out of the gate, but they take advantage of a late-game breakdown to avoid the shutout.

FCD West (Che)  2-2  Falls Town (Smith)
Mild upset special for Week 1.  Falls Town comes out motivated and surprises Che early, who fights back to split the honors.

No injuries, good weather, and competent/engaged referees for all - let the games begin!

Longview - from what I know of the teams historically, I think your view is "Probably Right".

The problem is there is very little "new" information available. I can only comment with any confidence on the Borg/Waters matchup having seen and/or played them both in the last couple months. Not impressed with either and they'll stay middle of the road D1, and if either participates in the PLD and faces an upper level D2, 50% chance of winning. Borg will have the edge this weekend.

I think I'll also pick Che over Falls Town, just to differentiate my view a little:)

Any predications on who comes out swinging in D2? D3?

My predictions-

Deleon over DT
FC Premier over Solar Donnelly
Borg over Waters
FCD Premier over Atletico
Che over Falls Town

I'll say Real GP would be the top team in D2. I spoke with their coach over the weekend and he said they are ready for the promotion and have a very strong squad. Maybe even Titans in that #2 slot. I heard Sporting lost some key players so that may hurt them.

Looks like your predictions mirror mine. Long - do you still think both Borg and Che will tie their games?

Re: Real GP, I agree that they will be one of the ones coming out swinging. It seems to happen more often than not that a D3 goes straight to the top of D2, then they get promoted to D1 only to be relegated back down to D2 where they die a miserable death:) Never does a top D2 go all the way to top D1, and it seems that often the mid D2's are stable, and fare well against mid D1's outside of league.

The Titans are solid, but if they take the #2 and get promoted (or any D2 that gets promoted at this age) does it matter how they do as U18's? Their time is almost up anyway, and their imminent death is more natural for all teams at that age, right?

I’m sticking with the draws - rolling the dice.

Re: D2, I hadn’t heard about Sporting losing anyone - as packaged, I expected them to challenge for the D2 title this year.  Real GP has definitely gotten some good early results, and I agree they’ll be in the promotion discussion.  Other than those 2, keeping my eye on Titans and Roma.

Re: D3, don’t sleep on Dallas Kicks, City Futsal, and FCD Central White.  Solar East and FCD East TX seeded 1-2, but those 3 right behind them have a good chance to be in the promotion mix.

I'll take the double play on Falls Town topping Che and finishing in the top four with FCD P, Deleon, and FC Premier (who got their big striker back from Sporting United).

I see Sporting taking D2. They may have lost a player or two, but they're deep, well coached, and know how to grind. Spurs and GP both have the coaching and talent to promote. We'll see who keeps composure and stays consistent the entire season. Titans can challenge if they can keep their entire roster in town each week.

As we enter Week 1 of CL, thought I'd post the YSR ratings for all involved teams.  For the uninitiated, the higher rated team should beat the lower rated team by X goals, where X is the difference between the two ratings. Bracketed number is national rank. Will be interesting to look back and see how right or wrong these were.

D1 = Bold Black
D2 = Bold Blue
D3 = Bold Red

Rank Team Score
1 SOLAR CHELSEA ECNL [1] 41.72
2 FC DALLAS PREMIER [2] 41.53
3 SOLAR CHELSEA DE LEON [44] 40.29
4 FC PREMIER OPOKU [48] 40.24
5 SPORTING UNITED SC VIDELA [87] 39.93
6 DALLAS TEXANS ECNL [115] 39.73
7 FC DALLAS YOUTH WEST [125] 39.64
8 FALLS TOWN FC [147] 39.53
9 CITY FC MARIEL [184] 39.33
10 FC DALLAS YOUTH [266] 38.99
11 REAL GP RODRIGUEZ [291] 38.91
12 BVB INTERNATIONAL ACADEMY TEXAS B NPL [308] 38.85
13 FC DALLAS ETX MEDINA [387] 38.54
14 FC DALLAS WTX LUBBOCK [409] 38.48
15 TITANS FC MEREDITH [416] 38.46
16 SOLAR CHELSEA WEST DONNELLY [425] 38.44
17 FC DALLAS YOUTH CENTRAL [427] 38.44
18 FC DALLAS YOUTH CENTRAL WHITE [470] 38.30
19 DALLAS KICKS NORTH VENOM [486] 38.26
20 MCKINNEY SOCCER UNITED [497] 38.21
21 ATLETICO FW [506] 38.18
22 DALLAS TEXANS [548] 38.08
23 SOLAR CHELSEA MWILLIAMS P AWYER [572] 38.05
24 TEXAS SPURS FC [656] 37.86
25 DALLAS ROMA FC ALPHA [691] 37.78
26 TEKK FC [708] 37.75
27 KERNOW STORM FC MEDINA [754] 37.66
28 MANSFIELD REVOLUTION SC STUPP [780] 37.60
29 DALLAS TIGRES ACADEMY [822] 37.52
30 AZZURRI FC [843] 37.48
31 FC DALLAS YOUTH BLUE [873] 37.43
32 UNITED STRIKERS FC [921] 37.33
33 FARM OF PROFESSIONAL SOCCER FPS FC [931] 37.30
34 NORTH FW ALIANCE SA RAYOS [953] 37.26
35 HOUSTON DYNAMO YOUTH BEAUMONT PA [988] 37.20
36 JUVENTUS PREMIER FC FRMLY ARSENAL MENDEZ [1012] 37.16
37 INTER FC [1032] 37.12
38 LIVERPOOL DALGLISH [1039] 37.10
39 FC WARRYORS NAVA [1060] 37.06
40 SAN ANGELO FC WALLACE [1065] 37.04
41 NTX CELTIC FC NAUENBURG [1091] 37.00
42 EVOLUTION FC [1118] 36.96
43 SOLAR CHELSEA EAST NPL MELANCON [1122] 36.95
44 DALLAS TEXANS WEST [1126] 36.94
45 RED BULLS [1128] 36.94
46 FC ROYALS [1142] 36.91
47 UNITED TEXAS SOCCER [1146] 36.90
48 DALLAS RAYADOS [1157] 36.88
49 DALLAS UNITED FC ORANGE [1181] 36.84
50 BVB B PUMA [1185] 36.81
51 DALLAS TEXANS SOUTH HERNANDEZ [1254] 36.68
52 INFINITY FC [1331] 36.53
53 DALLAS KICKS NORTH PREDATOR [1375] 36.45
54 COSMOS FC RICARDO A [1384] 36.44
55 ELITE UNITED FC REYES [1386] 36.43
56 FC JUAREZ DALLAS BRAVOS PREMIER [1392] 36.42
57 REAL MANSFIELD SOUTH [1399] 36.40
58 JACKSONVILLE SA AMERICA TXN [1402] 36.39
59 FC JUAREZ DALLAS BRAVOS BRAVOS [1403] 36.39
60 ARLINGTON FC [1479] 36.26
61 FC DALLAS YOUTH SILVER [1503] 36.21
62 AMERICAN ACADEMY OF SOCCER BECKERMAN [1504] 36.21
63 FC DALLAS YOUTH NORTH GOLD [1505] 36.21
64 FC DALLAS YOUTH NORTH BLACK [1555] 36.13
65 FC Dribble E$$ [1565] 36.12
66 ENNIS SA TIGRES [1581] 36.09
67 FC PREMIER MILLA [1599] 36.06
68 CITY FC MEDINA [1609] 36.05
69 SOLAR CHELSEA DE LEON P CATES [1638] 35.98
70 FC DALLAS ETX SCHUBERT [1639] 35.98

Prior to the first game what is the prediction for the end of year finishing order:

1. Solar Deleon
2. FCD Premiere
3. FC Premiere
4. FCD Che
5. Falls Town
6. FCD Borg
7. Solar Donnelly
8. FCD waters
9. Dallas Texans
10. Athletico

Interesting that LHGCL teams are rated above an ECNL (including a second division team) and an intermixing of D1, D2 and D3 teams.

sprint wrote:Prior to the first game what is the prediction for the end of year finishing order:

1. Solar Deleon
2. FCD Premiere
3. FC Premiere
4. FCD Che
5. Falls Town
6. FCD Borg
7. Solar Donnelly
8. FCD waters
9. Dallas Texans
10. Athletico

That’s a pretty solid guess.  Still not sure about exact order of 1-4, but those are the 4 I’d put there.  Same deal with 5-8, order is the question.  9-10 is what I’m leaning toward as well, but will be good to see everyone in action.

I agree Sprint's top 10 fro D1 looks pretty solid, but Longview, WOW! Now thats ambitious. Everybody knows GotSoccer ratings suck. Perhaps your list will at the very least help us all see just how far off they are. So thanks for putting that together. Let the games begin.

I believe you are correct in the top 3. Just unsure of the order. With the new additions to the teams. I would would put FC premier following closely or tied by Solar Deleon. Then FCD Premier in 3rd. By mid season I am sure FCD will begin to move some of their bench DA players to help FCD premier in all of their leagues that they are playing in.

4–8 you can inner mix any of those teams and you can probably be right.

9-10 I believe everyone will pick those two teams at the bottom.

sprint wrote:Prior to the first game what is the prediction for the end of year finishing order:

1. Solar Deleon
2. FCD Premiere
3. FC Premiere
4. FCD Che
5. Falls Town
6. FCD Borg
7. Solar Donnelly
8. FCD waters
9. Dallas Texans
10. Athletico