State Cup

State Cup really makes you think. What I heard was that many teams practice on turf, but Ryan Park was uneven, pockmarked and generally pretty bad and I'm sure most teams played a somewhat different type of soccer than they train to on turf. What I was most impressed with is how teams improvised when their plan didn't work. Just my person impression, but those teams that rely on formula for success ran in to trouble when faced with a difficult opponent in a tough game. Some of the referee decisions were just out of this world bad. Would any 10-year-old boy seriously put his hand out to stop a goal deliberately? I saw numerous spot kicks given for inadvertent hand balls. It was astounding.
 
I agree the fields at Ryan Park were awful especially if your team practices on turf. I saw a ref call a header when a kid got kicked in the back of the head with the ball and a lot of questionable offsides.
 
3leches said:
I agree the fields at Ryan Park were awful especially if your team practices on turf. I saw a ref call a header when a kid got kicked in the back of the head with the ball and a lot of questionable offsides.
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Yes, Fields were less than desirable. Some good hard fought games, some teams getting farther than expected. Saturday had two games with good comebacks almost as good as superbowl. Two games back to back, team down by 3 goals in games where you thought the outcome was obvious and momentum shifted and both ended up loses one 4-3 the other tied 5-5 going into 2nd overtime end at 6-5.

Any Predictions for Semi & Final?
 
The LAUFA vs. LAGSD comeback from 2-0 to 3-2 was equally as incredible.
 
I am a neutral who was just interested in seeing TFA play after seeing them at Surf Cup(?) and being impressed.

One team on Saturday played a 4-2-2 against TFA that basically became a 6-2 with no midfield. Outcome inevitable.

The Sunday morning I saw a better match with Arsenal pre-academy(?) v. TFA. Still a gulf in class but more competitive. Highlight was a very nice bit of play leading to a perfectly weighted through ball to a first time finish. Here's a video of the goal.

The lowlight was the Arsenal coach calling his players over to the sideline after they were scored upon and proceeding to curse out his ten and eleven year olds. I was right above them on the hillside by field one and heard it clearly.
 
seesnake said:
I am a neutral who was just interested in seeing TFA play after seeing them at Surf Cup(?) and being impressed.
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Wait, you showed up at two 8 am games to take video of a team you're not affiliated with, and then you edited and posted them?

You, sir, have my respect.

How would you describe the way Arsenal played?

For everyone else, he's got more videos up than the one he linked to. Awesome.
 
Bubbles said:
Wait, you showed up at two 8 am games to take video of a team you're not affiliated with, and then you edited and posted them?

You, sir, have my respect.

How would you describe the way Arsenal played?

For everyone else, he's got more videos up than the one he linked to. Awesome.
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I am a fan of the game who coaches, has a son at the same age group, a surfer and dad who gets up early every day, and on a specific mission to improve/alter style of play for one/many of my teams, thus the video. But honestly, I would've just enjoyed watching the matches nonetheless:) I live close to lots of quality tournaments so I go and watch a few games if they interest me... and lots do:) My favorite of the last year was a Nomads match at Surf Cup at the u14(?) level. Very, very intense and well played match.

No editing done, posted to help some other coaches refer to at a later date.

Arsenal played like they expected to compete for the first twenty minutes but fell apart with lots of individual mistakes after the first TFA goal. They got caught ball-watching and kids were trying to do too much instead of just making sure they connected a few passes to build some rhythm. Coach didn't help by going slightly unhinged. All the players just got nervous and shut down, from my vantage.
 
Arsenal pre academy is a great team
The team as a whole has been together for only 9 months. We have outplayed many teams that have been together for a long time. This team was a finalist at Dallas Cup this past june and Finalist at Disney Cup in Orlando last November. This weekend were short one key player to injury. In my opinion we had a good first half, second half TFA dominated but we played toe to toe, the whole game I hear teams park the bus on TFA and they still get 3,4 or 5 goals against. It's
a shame how the brackets were placed .
I don't think there are many teams that will give them a battle like we did.
Good luck TFA parents were also classy this weekend
 
66 GTO said:
Arsenal pre academy is a great team
The team as a whole has been together for only 9 months. We have outplayed many teams that have been together for a long time. This team was a finalist at Dallas Cup this past june and Finalist at Disney Cup in Orlando last November. This weekend were short one key player to injury. In my opinion we had a good first half, second half TFA dominated but we played toe to toe, the whole game I hear teams park the bus on TFA and they still get 3,4 or 5 goals against. It's
a shame how the brackets were placed .
I don't think there are many teams that will give them a battle like we did.
Good luck TFA parents were also classy this weekend
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Have to agree. I thought the Arsenal kids played really well, just got a bit deflated once the first goal went in. Here's 18 minutes of the first half.
 
66 GTO said:
Arsenal pre academy is a great team
The team as a whole has been together for only 9 months. We have outplayed many teams that have been together for a long time. This team was a finalist at Dallas Cup this past june and Finalist at Disney Cup in Orlando last November. This weekend were short one key player to injury. In my opinion we had a good first half, second half TFA dominated but we played toe to toe, the whole game I hear teams park the bus on TFA and they still get 3,4 or 5 goals against. It's
a shame how the brackets were placed .
I don't think there are many teams that will give them a battle like we did.
Good luck TFA parents were also classy this weekend
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Going into the game, TFA knew they were in for a battle. Early games are not kind to TFA, as it usually takes a bit for them to warm up which was the first concern secondly, the majority of the team watched Arsenal's Saturday game and noticed the teams size and speed. Usually, teams don't park the bus on TFA until they've played prior and want to slow down their attack or, have seen them play before. Most of the teams, including TFA are relatively new teams because of calendar birth year implementation they just got extremely lucky putting these boys together. The chemistry is unbelievable.
 
66 GTO said:
Arsenal pre academy is a great team
The team as a whole has been together for only 9 months. We have outplayed many teams that have been together for a long time. This team was a finalist at Dallas Cup this past june and Finalist at Disney Cup in Orlando last November. This weekend were short one key player to injury. In my opinion we had a good first half, second half TFA dominated but we played toe to toe, the whole game I hear teams park the bus on TFA and they still get 3,4 or 5 goals against. It's
a shame how the brackets were placed .
I don't think there are many teams that will give them a battle like we did.
Good luck TFA parents were also classy this weekend
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Didn't you guys have borrowed player's for those tournaments in Dallas and Orlando:rolleyes:
 
Babas15 said:
Didn't you guys have borrowed player's for those tournaments in Dallas and Orlando:rolleyes:
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Dont know about Dallas as we weren't on the team yet, but for Orlando no borrowed players and we didn't have our full squad either..
What's your point?
 
66 GTO said:
Dont know about Dallas as we weren't on the team yet, but for Orlando no borrowed players and we didn't have our full squad either..
What's your point?
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I believe everyone just would like to know if the info they are hearing is correct or what they see on the field is what to expect. I know during the tournament months a lot of teams were borrowing players or trying them out for their squads so not until rosters were frozen did anyone really know who was playing where, so of course Dallas was in question. Disney might have just been a probe of sorts since it was Thanksgiving weekend and the freeze had been lifted. Thanks for the info. Were you only missing your striker this weekend? Just wondering where he was after seeing him put in a late goal last weekend in Temecula for a victory.
 
Legit_play said:
I believe everyone just would like to know if the info they are hearing is correct or what they see on the field is what to expect. I know during the tournament months a lot of teams were borrowing players or trying them out for their squads so not until rosters were frozen did anyone really know who was playing where, so of course Dallas was in question. Disney might have just been a probe of sorts since it was Thanksgiving weekend and the freeze had been lifted. Thanks for the info. Were you only missing your striker this weekend? Just wondering where he was after seeing him put in a late goal last weekend in Temecula for a victory.
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