So.. I see that last years U14 National Champions, Eclipse Select are now CFJ Gold. Does anyone know anymore information on this? Why did it happen? How many players were on the old Eclipse team and moved over? I see they are in the Showcase division at Disney.. Any predictions for this group?
Not sure how many of the players went over but I know the coach of the national champs went to the Fire and is working with this team so that is likely why the team jumped. Also the Fire Academy is a big draw at the high school age.
That is correct. In addition, many of these players have been to other clubs before they were with Eclipse. The way they were assembled is the way they went away. The coach who put them together took them with him to his new gig. However, I think a few players didn't follow (or maybe were not good enough anymore) and they went to other clubs like FC United and Magic, I think.
My understanding is that this group of players has bounced around a few times over their youth career. Maybe they will stay at the Fire for a while since they have followed their coach and the club has an academy side to feed into.
Who knows how long they will stay there? But don't expect all of them to be fed into the Academy system next year or the year after. I expect some to stay longer, while others will move on again.
I agree. Any Academy team is very hard to make and even though they were national champions, probably only a handful will make the Fire academy squad. Also I have heard the parents for this group can be out of control at times so I would imagine some will take their kids elsewhere if they do not make the Fire academy.
They played at Eclipse East last year. The coach of the team moved to Chicago Fire Juniors so the boys followed him
I just heard that the starting 11 plus 2 subs from last year, for a total of 13 moved over.. They didnt add any to the roster however and will take guest players with them to tournaments, etc.. I heard when they go to Disney they are taking one of the U14 national team players from CFJ U14 team and taking a player from the CFJ U15 team out of Jackson, MS.
Comfortable 3-0 win in their first game at Disney. Did anyone watch the Academy game between Chelsea and Solar on ESPN3? Chelsea won 3-1 but Solar's goalie let in two very questionable goals. Chelsea was better but Solar played pretty well.
http://espn.go.com/espn3/index It is actually ESPN3.com. (Used to be ESPN 360.com) The game is still viewable under the replay section. I believe the goals were in the 10th minute, a couple between 30th-35th minute and then again maybe in the 65th-70th.
surprised to see this team lose 4-1 today. Must have been a very strong team from Penn that they played. Any reports on this Yonko? I was thinking in Illinois they would be the team to beat along with Magic at U-15. Also wonder why so many U-14s on that team. Lemont at U-16 doing well even with injuries and losing best player to Bradenton. They are looking very strong at Disney. Best of luck to the Illinois teams
Thanks for the info. I will check it out. Do I need to pay anything or is it free to watch live games?
ESPN3.com is free. They stream tons of games on there from leagues all over the world plus also a lot of high school and college sports.
I see they also lost to Solar 3-1 and didnt even advance out of bracket. Quite a disappointing showing.
Always tough for a Midwest team to go down and play outsideand play your best soccer. Also the team has had a few changes from the championship run so it will make for an interesting next few months. Now you will see if he is a good coach you have seen your weakness can you improve upon them now
Heard they lost a few key players to injury in the first game, very obvious why results did not go their way if that is the case as the week went along. The center back they lost is a very good player, hopefully for him he is not out a while. He is a bigtime player.
I had time to watch before our games the first game vs Florida Rush and the Solar (TX) game and agree with you about the center back, very nice player . The Fire team has quite a bit to work on to get back in there National Championship form, with that being said I was curiously watching to see what the kid from Mississippi was about as he was linked to having played with this team last year. I want to be the first to comment on this kid, he is a very skilled player with good pace and a great vision, he scored the first goal for them vs Fl. and played very well vs Solar. I overheard the Fire parents saying he was in National pool, but cannot find him listed, can anyone confirm his name? The Solar game was very much divided between 1st and 2nd halves with the Fire controlling the 1st part, they missed several opportunities and Solar took control in the 2nd and finished there chances. I will be very patiently waiting to see how Fire rebounds from this experience.
The kid from Mississippi is Hayden Cochran. He plays for the Chicago Fire Juniors of MS U15 team, they are the 4 times state champions and have some good results (Beat the region II finalist, carmel, last year, and beat the region III finalist, CSA Predators). He made holdover at regional camp but is a real young '95 and hasnt gotten a call up to play for the regional team yet. But like you said this kid is legit. He has very good technique, great vision, and decent pace. I also agree with you about the CFJ Gold team. They werent as good as I thought they were going to be. They just banged the ball and by-passed the midfield 90% of the time. I thought their best players were the center mids, Mike and Hayden, their outside mids, and their center and left back. I honestly thought their forwards were BY FAR the worst players on their team. I thought the golden ball winner from nationals (Lloyd) was a glorified rec player and shouldnt be playing at that level...