Normally I'd agree - but the consistent refrain of 'CCL' is likely the reason. Given the super-early start of the season and critical first two games, having the Monarchs in would be a bit of a distraction to building the team and rapport of the players on the field.
It's that time of year again: http://grandesports.com/rsl-az-learn-their-dallas-cup-generation-adidas-cup-opponents/ The U18s will be in the Super Group again, and will face Tigres UANL as well as Everton FC and Kyoto Sanga FC. The U16s didn't make it into the Champions Division, but will be in the larger pool of the Premier Division. The initial round of games will be Mar 18-23 Semi-finals will be Mar 24-25 if they make it that far Finals will be Mar 26 or 27. In the past, some of the games have been streamed, with far better streams than the Desert Diamond Cup (pretty low bar)
******** Tigres And how did the 16's not make it? I haven't followed them as closely as I'd like but that seems strange given our success in this tournament
No reason given for not getting into the higher end division, but they do play in the tournament and will be playing 2 mls academies and an international team, so they're still getting some extra exposure to higher end play.
I can't find any information on the U16s, but the U18s won their first game 2-1 over Kyoto Sanga FC. I haven't found a write-up yet. Next game is today at 12:00 (CDT, I think). there may be a stream here: http://www.dallascup.com/home/dallasCupNews/801689.html The start time listed on the stream page looks wrong though, so ???
And the RSL-AZ U18s beat the baby Tigres today 1-0 (according to the dallascup.com results page). Never did see a stream though.
Top of their group with one game remaining. Next/last game is against Everton. A win or a tie gets them to the next round. I'm not sure what happens in the case of Everton and Tigres wins.
http://www.socceramerica.com/articl...ke-and-fc-dallas-still-ali.html?edition=15325 U.S. U-20s, Real Salt Lake and FC Dallas still alive in Dallas Cup Super Group
So, it looks like RSL-AZ has players/alumni in the Mexican, US, and Canadian youth programs. http://sbisoccer.com/2016/03/recent-u-s-u-20-call-up-josh-doughty-joins-canada-u-20s
Here's the Academy write-up of the games (I couldn't find anything about the U16s until this came out) Real Salt Lake- Arizona Academy teams falter at Dallas and Generation Adidas cups
Maikon Orellana gets the game winner in the Monarchs season opener, assisted by Sandoval. Good on the RSL 'Dev'elopment pipeline.
Holness' seizure is being covered pretty well in the Monarchs thread. I thought I'd only mention the Academy related bit here. Good news on Holness is that he was released from the hospital before midnight and appears to be feeling well.
So I wonder what happens to the Arizona project once Real Herriman is done (2018?). It sounds like DLH wants to consolidate.
I imagine rsl will at least maintain some presence there, remember they only lease space at the academy, Casa Grande is its own entity. Rsl will want to keep Arizona as part of its claimed area so they'll have to at least remain active down there in some capacity.
This I wonder if the next big adventure for DLH is to build a big rental complex down there and slowly add his other businesses before ultimately placing a new leg of the academy. That kind of project would take 10+ years to complete, so I wouldn't hold your breath on it happening in the near future
My guess would be that the better prospects move to Utah to be closer to both teams, and the others stay down in AZ.
Glad to see that RSL is not getting recognized much for the role in creating 'great U.S. up-and-comers'. Hope he does well, but too bad that it won't be at RSL... ASN spoke with @LFC attacker @lennon_brooks about his big ambitions for club and country https://t.co/BmXyreJ56e pic.twitter.com/oUccaJ52k7— John Godfrey (@godfreyhjohn) April 20, 2016