'22-'23 SoCal and National Forecast and Updates

I’m not putting much stock into San Juan. Winning 2-0 over a bad GSA team and tying VDA. Internationals is over rated and not strong in the 2009 group. MVLA also has losses to both Surf and Koge this Spring.

Anything can happen, which is why we play, but beating PDA is a tall task. If SJ can get the game to PKs, then it can happen.

I’m also curious how Solar bounces back. I think they lost a game last year in group play, regrouped and won the whole thing.
 
If this holds true, as the hearsay holds true, PDA, KOGE, San Juan, and Richmond is one side of bracket. With Surf, Blues, Legends, and Solar on the other side

Official final 8 matchups:

PDA v San Juan;
Koge v Richmond;
Legends v Surf;
Solar v Blues

Any predictions?
 
PDA
Koge
Surf
Hard one - I’ll go with Solar - that’s the toughest matchup - 2 trophy contenders - 1 will be eliminated.
I think PDA and Surf will be the heavy favorites in each of their games. The other 2 games are toss ups. i would take KOGE if it was at a neutral, weather friendly site-it is a tossup-ditto with Blues v Solar

PDA,
Koge,
Surf,
Solar
 
Is there anywhere GA is interesting to anyone other than GA families?

Dash is a favorite to win the U14 GA title this year, but probably wouldnt even be a Champions League team in the Texas ECNL conference (top 3). In other words, they are the probably 4th best team in their own state (behind Solar, DKSC, and maybe FC Dallas), but arguably the best GA team in the country.
I see the elephant walk / circle jerk is complete.
 
I think PDA and Surf will be the heavy favorites in each of their games. The other 2 games are toss ups. i would take KOGE if it was at a neutral, weather friendly site-it is a tossup-ditto with Blues v Solar

PDA,
Koge,
Surf,
Solar
Koge is dangerous, it’s ALMOST a miracle that they made it this far… it’s a scary thing when a team catches lightning, that’s exactly what has happened for this team… uh oh!!
 
Blues up 1-0 at half. Solar missed by less than inches to tie. IMO, Solar's forward needs to play a little less selfish to get at least a tie. Blues looks cohesive. Stream here:

 
Blues lost in Pks, Koge got screwed by the ref badly-Red card 10 min into game; later in game awarded a pk on a dive; didnt award pks the other way when their was a bloody nose in box. -Ecnl should be embarrassed by the non impartial ref in that game-i guess being impartial doesnt exist in today's language in many ways...

I watched the game. Richmond outplayed Koge. First, about your red card....Richmond beat the last player to goal, Koge player tripped from behind right outside the box. That is an immediate red card. To say that was a dive is awful, like awful. It was actually a smart play by the defender though because she saved a goal and nothing came of the free kick. Red card was the correct call, sorry. It's Nationals. You don't get off with a yellow on this level. I was actually happy to see that called as a red for once because too many players do the exact same thing and get off with a foul or a yellow when it should always be red.

Second, Koge was awarded an indirect kick due to a high kick foul in the box. The ball bounced in the box off of a ball played in and the Richmond made a high kick that did hit the Koge player in the face. The Koge player never touched or had possession. By rule, this was the correct call.

Calls were in fact made both ways from what I saw. I actually came out with more respect for Koge as they were more physical against a team that is known for its physicality.

In the end, Richmond outpossessed and finished. Don't blame refs for a 2-0 game especially when those goals were scored during play and not on free kicks.

Anybody can view these replays if they want to check themselves.
 
I watched the game. Richmond outplayed Koge. First, about your red card....Richmond beat the last player to goal, Koge player tripped from behind right outside the box. That is an immediate red card. To say that was a dive is awful, like awful. It was actually a smart play by the defender though because she saved a goal and nothing came of the free kick. Red card was the correct call, sorry. It's Nationals. You don't get off with a yellow on this level. I was actually happy to see that called as a red for once because too many players do the exact same thing and get off with a foul or a yellow when it should always be red.

Second, Koge was awarded an indirect kick due to a high kick foul in the box. The ball bounced in the box off of a ball played in and the Richmond made a high kick that did hit the Koge player in the face. The Koge player never touched or had possession. By rule, this was the correct call.

Calls were in fact made both ways from what I saw. I actually came out with more respect for Koge as they were more physical against a team that is known for its physicality.

In the end, Richmond outpossessed and finished. Don't blame refs for a 2-0 game especially when those goals were scored during play and not on free kicks.

Anybody can view these replays if they want to check themselves.
How were the other games Mars?
 
How were the other games Mars?
So Legends and Surf was a really good game. Surf got up 2-0 but Legends did everything they could to claw back in. Another physical game.

I think Blues outplayed Solar in 1st half, Solar absolutely turned it around the second half and drew a foul in the box to tie it up. And then PKs. Another great game that could have gone either way.

PDA and San Juan not so much. PDA dominated most of the game and San Juan had a few chances. If PDA did a better job at finishing by the goal, it could have been a 6-0 game. I am going to chalk San Juan’s performance up to playing a team like PDA rather than say they didn’t look good.

Richmond and PDA played at Jeff Cup earlier this Spring with PDA winning 1-0. I like PDA again, maybe by more.

Going to take Surf over Solar. Surf seems bigger and more physical than Blues but in reality this is a toss up again.
 
Here is some additional insight although it pains me to say. I also watched the 2009 GA Nationals and have somewhat of a comparison albeit a very small sample size…

I think 6 of the 8 final ECNL teams would likely win over the GA Champion and GA Finalist. There is one team in the final 8 that would be tossups with those GA teams. The other team I actually believe would lose to the GA teams.
 
Surf destroyed Solar. Solar fortunate they have a chance with WC as the game could’ve been real ugly.
Surf went thru Solar like a sharp knife to butter again. Congrats! Watching the game, SW Sonoran division is a beast, would this solar team even qualify for the playoffs in that conference? Just a thought...Also, is this Solar coach staying or leaving? His yelling is unprecedent...
 
I
Surf went thru Solar like a sharp knife to butter again. Congrats! Watching the game, SW Sonoran division is a beast, would this solar team even qualify for the playoffs in that conference? Just a thought...Also, is this Solar coach staying or leaving? His yelling is unprecedent...

I was more surprised about San Juan putting up 4 goals on Koge. 1-0 wins isn’t exactly a sharp knife through butter though. More like a bread knife through bread. A tough battle with the bread eventually winning. Two wins in the end though leaves little doubt.
 
I


I was more surprised about San Juan putting up 4 goals on Koge. 1-0 wins isn’t exactly a sharp knife through butter though. More like a bread knife through bread. A tough battle with the bread eventually winning. Two wins in the end though leaves little doubt.
Surf hit many posts-- as for the San Juan game, if you knew the koge players they had multiple players playing different positions that normally dont. Appeared to treat it like a scrimmage.
 
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