How’s the 2024-2025 season going?
- Thread starter TeamDadJokes
- Start date
That happened a while ago like January/ February this year?
Futbol Dad
BRONZE
Only 2 ECNL teams
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
I don't think it's that out of line for the most part. In Lime, there is a strong team in each bracket, then a 2nd such team, then the rest are filled in. It's likely going to be City GA or So Cal Blues Harrison taking the final. In Blue, it's pretty similar with a strong team in each bracket, then the rest. The one outlier is that they put So Cal Blues ECNL 2011G in this lower bracket, and even though it is one year younger, it's currently the #1 team in state, and the highest rated team in the entire tournament. I know there is plenty of drama shared publicly here about Blues, but it is still weird for them to put what has been up until this point the #1 team in state in a theoretically lower bracket.
Agreed, that Rebels ECRL team doesn't have a chance, being more than 5 goals off the top team in bracket. They should really be placed in the Blue section instead.
Agreed, that Rebels ECRL team doesn't have a chance, being more than 5 goals off the top team in bracket. They should really be placed in the Blue section instead.
There’s 3 levels of Blues in Lime. Blues Cup sure isn’t what it used to be for 2010’s. I guess thats a byproduct of being an Older.
It's a byproduct of closed leagues.
Socal ECNL has nothing to gain and everything to lose playing playing clubs outside of ECNL.
Honestly, lots of NL and RL teams played very minimal tournaments this summer in particular. I’m guessing it has to do with being olders, costs, roster changes, and having playoffs in July.
A good number of teams did a memorial tournament and surf cup and then just scrimmaging.
I think some of us are used to our kids being Youngers and doing tournaments every other weekend, myself included.
I didn't mean anything negative saying that there's nothing to gain playing in local tournaments. Once players hit u14 the likelihood of injuries goes up year after year. If scouts aren't attending tournaments but they are attending ECNL events it doesn't make much sense to participate in tournaments. There's only so much $$$ parents can spend.
Personally I prefer local tournaments because you don't have to fly out of SoCal to play teams.
I think 2 tournaments a year is more than enough now. I say if you want more you do another showcase as it might benefit the girls with college scouts. That's for sure not going to happen at a Blues Cup for example.
They could/should have made 3-4 flights out of this. I guess they didn't want to spend a few more $$ on trophies.
They prob dont want 11NL and 10NL in the final. This way they can win Lime and Blue.
I agree with 11NL vs 10NL statement. With lower-level teams, players (and parents) like to play the top-level teams to see where they stand, and they see this as an opportunity to "show-up" and hope to get recognized.
Depending on how the semi's are seeded there's a real possibility that their NPL team plays the 11s in the final in the lower flight.
They could have engineered it so that their NPL team won some plastic hardware too if they split them up into more flights.
I get that. Then they almost invevitably get shelled and either complain about being flighted too high or other teams sandbagging and playing down.
RandomSoccerFan
GOLD
I think you may be misremembering, either that or it changed several years ago. Here is Blues Cup 2023. Here is Blues Cup 2022. In '23 they have 1 age group with 3 levels, rest with 2. In '22, they were all at 2 (or 1).
yeah I looked back too. I'm definitely wrong. Looks like they always try to keep it at 2 levels. I guess it is then hard for that 4th, 5th and 6th level blues team in age group to ever win a blues cup though!
What I found funny was that it was cross bracket play in the “Blue” bracket meaning bracket A plays bracket B and Bracket C plays Bracket D.
They have the Legends RL team matched up against the 2011 Blues NL team in pool play who are both the highest ranked teams in the 2nd division.
And then in the top bracket, they have a bunch of really low ranked teams as cannon fodder for their other teams to make it out of pool play while avoiding the heavy hitters.
They have the Legends RL team matched up against the 2011 Blues NL team in pool play who are both the highest ranked teams in the 2nd division.
And then in the top bracket, they have a bunch of really low ranked teams as cannon fodder for their other teams to make it out of pool play while avoiding the heavy hitters.
NewbieMama
BRONZE
I'm a newbie parent but Blues Cup just doesn't seem quite worth it to play especially with pretty watered-down competition (very few Slammers/Beach/Pats teams to name a few) . It's on Labor Day wkd and they released the schedule super late. Fall league starts next week so a break after summer tournaments seems logical. I mean I'm sure if there are parents willing to play/pay then they'll hold the tournament :-/
Bracketing is hard to get right but even Surf Cup had some questionable top flight teams in some age groups. If you're one of the best teams in your age group then you should play top flight the age group above. Playing flight 2 the year up is not even competition most of the time.
Bracketing is hard to get right but even Surf Cup had some questionable top flight teams in some age groups. If you're one of the best teams in your age group then you should play top flight the age group above. Playing flight 2 the year up is not even competition most of the time.