Is anyone going to this year's surf cup in San Diego? Maybe even someone in the boys U17 group? Hopefully it will be as good as last year's tournament.
Crossfire who won the boys 16 Super Group last year is heading back. I don't expect them to win it again though. Although it is possible.
Surf Cup is loaded with quality top to bottom. Some club team from states that play high school in the FAll season don't go though.
Posted this in another forum, but just returned from Surf Cup, watched a few games in Boys U13 group. Monarcas beat VUSC Blast 3-0 in regular time. Sons friend is on Monarcas, so traveled to watch them and a few others. Strong group, in that Surf(Region 4 champs), didn't make it past quarterfinals in their own tournament.Lost to Juventus Monarcas from northern california. When we went to watch the awards ceremonies, I came across the girls final teams for U14 I believe, Crossfire/Rush. Two out of state teams who had a great showing, think Rush won the title.
Chicago Wind sent 2 outstanding teams to the Final U12 and U14B. Both teams will be on a serious upswing as they have each added 3-5 new important players. Every single one of the teams they sent reached at least the QF stage.
Hopefully other teams outside the west coast can succeed as well, like us for instance (Wind 17's), and do as well as the younger wind teams at the tournament. There are so many strong clubs like Arsenal, Barcelona, Surf, Crossfire, and many more at this year's older age group tournament next weekend. Does anyone have a report of how the weather, all around tournament atmosphere, and fields were at the tournament?
Surf BU13 was not particularly competitive as you really only had 8 strong teams: Surf, Wind, Blast, Necaxa, Texans Red, Monarcas, Italia & Juventas Monarcas. Of those eight Texans Red didn’t make it out of the pool and Wind lost to Italia in quarterfinals. Compare the to Cerritos where you had the 6 California teams : Surf, Blast, Necaxa, Monarcas, Italia, Juventas Monarcas plus Barcelona (CS - lost in final to Monarcas 3-2 in OT); AV Storm (CS – Tied Surf); Burlingame Juventas (CN - lost 1-0 to surf & beat AV Storm); Notts Forest (CS – Tied Italia; Lost 2-1 to Barcelona); Valley United Red (CS -which lost to Monarcas 3-1 and tied Juventas Monarcas). My guess is that NHB will be strong still as Samba will probably be entered which is why Gotsoccer actually rates NHB as a stronger tournament than Surf (which attracts some very quality teams at the older ages).
Weather was excellent last weekend - mid 70's near the ocean and I'd guess about 80 on the field. Although the sky seemed hazy the sun was a factor - most of the California teams wisely had brought canopies etc. There was a constant West to East wind that was a factor as well. Tournament atmosphere and fields were both excellent. Best of luck.
All the Wind teams more than held their own. The Midwest Wings sent a U12 boys team that also made it to the QF stage. Great overall showing for IL soccer.
I thought it was pretty competitive as it was also the group I was focused on. I wouldn't really count Necaxa as one of the top teams even though they were invited on their Nationals showing. The top Boys13 teams out here are Monarcas,VUSC Blast, Surf, Italia(always do well good in tournaments, even though poor finish in league last year) and Force(who were not invited, I would guess for their poor showing in Nationals. Force had just beaten Blast in a tournament semi a few weeks ago. I was impressed with Juventus Monarcas from Cal north. Notts Forest I have seen a few times all against Italia and they lost everytime against Italia. No doubt they are a good team but not the top for me. Guess we just disagree. I can't wait for NHB as my sons teams will be in that tourney, might not get bracketed in the top flight.
My friend is on the U17B team from Cal North that won State Cup. He's in the regional pool as well. The team he plays for is California Odyssey. I used to practice with them, a couple of words: they were just too good, and I'm no slouch by any means. I went to the final 4 in state cup this year with my U18B team. Back on topic, they will be at Surf, expect them to win or at least reach quarters. From then on it will be a battle between Nomads, Samba, Odyssey, NHB, Surf, and Ruckus. As for Odyssey, they went to regionals after winning state, beating Washington, then California South-Samba on penalties, then Alaska, reaching the finals and losing to Colorado in Colorado 1-0 while dominating the game. They should've gone to nationals. It was a disappointment.
I just checked out the Surf site. Actually one of the only teams from California in the Premier flight of U17 surf cup is Odyssey with all the other teams being from outside the state. I guess that's the Gold division. For the second division, that's where all the other Cali teams are located such as Ruckus. It will be interesting to see how Odyssey fares up, especially if they play Chicago.
Super Group is the top group and there are more Cali teams in it. If it's 16 or above look at Super for the top teams, although gold is great too.
How does that work? Odyssey wins state, goes to the final of the western regional and they're in the 2nd divison of the tournament. I don't think so. If true that's ridicoulous.
I don't think Necaxa or Notts are quite in the class of the better Gold teams like Monarcas or Blast, but I think they are in the class of Wind of and Texas Red. NHB will likely have Samba, Force, Barca and maybe Red Titans. Samba made the final of Pats last week. Barca made the final at Cerritos and Force has been near the top of gold for the past several years. How so you think your son's team compares to some of the less successful teams at Surf? At younger ages, Surf is just an expensive way to play some good out of town teams. Its over rated in terms of competition. The reason why I think Italia does better in tournaments than League is because they probably add some good guest players while other teams do not. For example my son plays keeper and one year he guest played for a team and they happened to win two tournaments while he was in goal in part because he was a much stronger keeper than their usual starter. However, when the regular season came, he's back on his team and the other team is not quite as strong. Good luck at NHB.
Just got back from the the Surf Cup this weekend. I can't say enough about how great of an experience it was for us (Wind U17) to play in this tournament again and accomplish so much more than last year and more than what most probably expected out of us. Last year the group stages didn't go so well and we did not advance to the quarterfinals. This year, we finished 2-1 in the group stages and played Crossfire, last year's champs in the quarters. They were a strong team and we got a late goal to advance to the semis. Playing Arsenal in the semis was also a great experience playing the team just off winning nationals a week earlier. Well, two own goals in the first 10 minutes didn't help and we ended up losing 5-1 and Arsenal went on to win 5-0 in the final. But, all in all it was a great experience with very respectable teams and we will be there again next year.
I just got back from filming the Surf Cup for Soccer Video Magazine (www.soccervm.com), and yes, was amazing competition. The U17 Arsenal team is easily the best team I have ever seen in the age group - I would bet more than half the team will develop into professional players.
Actually my friends team is Clovis Odyssey U19. But the U17 Odyssey still won the Gold group like it seemed easy. I have some friends on that team. As for the U19 they're the state champions as well as regional finalists. I couldn't get the final results but saw they progressed to the quarterfinals in the Super group. I wonder how they did... Well I'll probably call my friend, their center forward. It should be intersting. Well from what I hear Arsenal is very good, the best one from what I hear. I have one question for you who know South Cal: How much are they better than Samba, Nomads, or even the U19 Odyssey Red team?
They are incredible , aren't they? I have watched them in the last two Region IV regionals. I am not from California so there's no ulterior motive here - just appreciation of a fabulous youth team.