Only nine teams won their first two games at the Snickers Cup, U.S. Youth Soccer's national finals, at the Maryland Soccerplex in Germantown, Md.
A trio of Midwest boys teams were 2-0: U-19 Chicago Sockers, U-18 Michigan Wolves and U-14 Vardar of Michigan.
Arizona's Serena Golden Eagles have three teams at the national finals, and all three were unbeaten, led by the U-17 girls, who were 2-0.
Tsunami Sota, the Minnesota club that finished second in its age group last year, is 2-0 in the U-18 girls division. Elk Grove (Calif.) United clinched a spot in the U-19 girls finals with a pair of wins. The PDA Wildcats of New Jersey won both games in the under-14 girls competition. FC Delco Fusion of Pennsylvania and the Newport Beach (Calif.) Slammers dominated U-14 girls action with two victories apiece.
The game of the day on Thursday was the under-15 boys clash between Lou Fusz SC of St. Louis and the Dallas Texans Red. Fusz, coached by long-time Yugoslav coach Don Popovic, won, 6-4, thanks to four goals from Matthew Spiess. Jonathan Villanueva had three goals for the Texans.
Round-robin play in 12 divisions wraps up Friday. The top two teams in each group advance to Sunday's finals.