Category: Youth Soccer Reporter

The Disney Soccer Showcase under-16 all-stars, chosen from players competing at the 2007 Disney’s Soccer Showcase, are headed to England to play in Chelsea’s inaugural youth cup Aug. 22-25 against seven other youth teams.

It took six games, but the San Diego Surf finally got a win at the 2008 Nike Manchester United Premier Cup in England.

The Houston area has produced a number of young MLS stars in recent years, including Olympian Stuart Holden and Arturo Alvarez. The champion Houston Dynamo’s academy program features a number of promising youngsters, including former U.S. under-17 resident Alex Dixon.

Three U.S. boys national teams — the U-20s, U-18s and U-17s — spent last week abroad. The U-20s finished third at the Milk Cup in Northern Ireland. The U-18s went 1-2 at a youth tournament in Uruguay, while the U-17s tied Panama twice on the first leg of their three-country tour of Central America.

The Chicago Fire got two goals from Matt Eliason to beat the short-handed Toronto Lynx, 2-1, in the men’s division of the Super-20 North American Finals. Triangle FC beat Parsippany, 4-2, in a shootout to win the girls division after the final ended in a 2-2 tie.

Three 2008 U.S. Youth Soccer girls national champions — the U-15 and U-16 Dallas Texans and U-14 San Juan Spirits Blue — will compete in the 2008-09 U.S. Youth Soccer National League, which qualifies the champion and runner-up of each division to the National Championships. For all the entrants …

The 27th annual San Diego Surf Cup included for the first time an academy division for U.S. Soccer Development Academy U-17/18 teams. The host club won all three academy games. On the girls side, the Mustang Soccer Club won two divisions on the second weekend of play. For all the U-16 to U-19 finals and goal scorers …

[SOCCER ON TV] On Saturday, Aug. 9 at 1 p.m. ET, the 2008 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships will be featured on Fox Soccer Channel during the two-hour highlight show.

MEMBERSHIP ALERT: Soccer America will kick off its Olympic coverage with a special edition of SoccerAmericaDaily later today with coverage of Wednesday’s women’s action, including the USA-Norway game in Qinhuangdao. A special edition with U.S. Olympic soccer coverage will appear each day during the Olympics that a U.S. team is playing. For fans not wishing to read our coverage until after they have watched the game, the subject line of these e-letters will be “Special Edition: U.S. Olympic soccer.”

By today’s standards, South Coast Bayern is a small club with just 13 teams — five boys and eight girls teams. But the Huntington Beach, Calif.-based club created waves internationally when its U-17 team pounded Brazilian giant Fluminense and beat top clubs from England and Scotland en route to a date with Manchester United in last Friday’s final of the U-17 Premier Section at the annual Milk Cup in Northern Ireland. For more on South Coast Bayern and the Milk Cup, including video highlights …

Never before has a state association had more than six teams win titles at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, and never before has an individual club won more than two titles in the same year. Those records were shattered at this year’s National Championships in North Little Rock, Ark.

[PLAYER OF THE WEEK] Scoring goals has come naturally to the Colorado Rush Nike’s Danielle Foxhoven since she was a three-year-old playing 4-on-4 soccer in the Denver area. In recent years, Foxhoven, who was the leading scorer at the 2008 U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships, has honed her skills playing soccer tennis with her younger brother, Zach, himself a goalscorer of national acclaim.

[AWARDS] There were four repeat winners of the adidas Golden Boot (MVP) and Glove (best keeper) at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships: Baltimore Casa Mia Bays’ Timothy Peitsch (U-15 boys), Dallas Texans Red’s Brittany Jagger (U-16 girls) and Force FC’s Jill Flietstra and Laura Heyboer (U-19 girls). For all the winners …

Families are traveling up to 200 miles — each way — several times a week so their sons can train at the Kansas City Wizards’ youth academy … English club Sunderland sent scouts to the town of Los Gatos, Calif., seeking out players as young as 12-years-old … Aztecs FC Premier, a Southern California U-15 powerhouse, features a true two-way player: Alejandro Guido, who plays on both U.S. and Mexican youth national teams.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco, the Chicago Fire’s Mexican star, paid for 18 players from his Academia Cuauhtemoc Blanco in Mexico City to travel to Chicago, where it competed in the 2008 World Sport Chicago International Cup.

California’s South Coast Bayern beat County Fermanagh, 3-0, on Monday and then edged Ipswich Town of England, 3-2, the next day to advance to the quarterfinals of the U-17 Premier Section at Northern Ireland’s Milk Cup, one of the world’s most prestigious summer youth tournaments.

All the results and all the goal scorers from the 84 games played at the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships in North Little Rock, Ark.

Buffalo United Soccer Club and Washington’s Federal Way Reign Soccer Club both walked away with two national championships at U.S. Club Soccer’s National Cup VII. On the boys side, four of the five Super Group winners were California teams. For all the teams added to the Doug Hamilton Memorial Cup …

The first week of the 28th annual San Diego Surf Cup concluded with champions crowned in 12 boys and girls age groups. Arsenal FC won two boys and girls titles, while the Surf captured two girls titles and finished second in two other age groups. For all the U-10 to U-15 champions ..

The 10th annual Score Showcase at Greensboro concluded with the boys finals. The Scores tournaments have entered into a 10-year commitment to hold their summer competitions in Greensboro.

D.C. United was one of the first MLS clubs to invest in youth development. Its academy program is loaded with future pro prospects. One of the top academy players is rising senior Chris Hegngi..

[AWARDS] Chris Agorsor of the Baltimore Bays and Soony Saad from Michigan powerhouse Vardar were named the U.S. Soccer Development Academy Players of the Year in the U/17-18 and U-15/16 age groups, respectively. Rafa Moran of U-17/18 runner-up LAFC was named U/17-18 Coach of the Year, while former MLS star Giovanni Savarese captured U-15/16 coaching honors. For all the national and conference awards …

One of the most intriguing U.S. Youth Soccer National Championships kick off Wednesday in North Little Rock, Ark. The finals feature four defending champions, three teams with MLS ties, two Dallas girls powerhouses with a Texas-sized rivalry and a Minnesota boarding school aiming for a unique soccer-ice hockey double.

The former treasurer of a Washington soccer league was arrested on charges of stealing roughly $72,000, according to court documents, and is accused of writing checks to herself and making ATM withdrawals at a casino.