FC Dallas Juniors Set to Play for National Championship
July, 9, 2010
7/09/10
12:11
AM CT
As the first team prepares to hop on a flight to Seattle for Sunday night’s game, the FC Dallas Juniors U18 US Soccer Development Academy team is heading to the Home Depot Center in Carson, CA for Finals Week. The under-18’s, who began their season nearly nine months ago, are one of just eight out of over 75 Development Academy teams to qualify for the final week of the season where the national champions are crowned.
Coached by former FC Dallas and Dallas Burn Colombian star Oscar Pareja, the Juniors are enjoying the best season in their short, 2-year history finishing at the top of the ultra-competitive Texas Division of the Development Academy which features local powerhouses like Dallas Texans, Andromeda and Solar as well as the Academy side of their MLS rival Houston Dynamo.
By finishing at the top of their division, FCD earned a national seeding for the Development Academy playoffs held in Greensboro, NC over the last week of June. The Juniors successfully navigated through their group with wins over Clearwater Chargers of Florida, FC Greater Boston and a do-or-die 3-2 victory over the LA Galaxy Academy side on an 84th minute game-winning goal from star forward Ruben Luna to find themselves in California for the championship week.
The format of Finals Week is similar to the World Cup in that there are two groups of four teams with round robin play deciding the two group winners who will play for the championship on Saturday, July 17. FC Dallas, the only MLS Academy team to qualify for the U18 top division of Finals Week, opens up group play against Crossfire Premier, an unheralded side from Seattle, at 830p on Sunday the 11th. They’ll face their toughest challenge of the group stage in their next game at 3p on Tuesday against a Derby County Wolves team with the kids who won the U16 national championship last season before finishing the group stage against CASL Chelsea Academy from Raleigh, NC.
Stay with 3rddegree, now on ESPNDallas.com, as we will keep you updated on how our young guys do as they play for the honor of being named the best youth team in the country at the US Soccer Development Academy Finals Week.
Coached by former FC Dallas and Dallas Burn Colombian star Oscar Pareja, the Juniors are enjoying the best season in their short, 2-year history finishing at the top of the ultra-competitive Texas Division of the Development Academy which features local powerhouses like Dallas Texans, Andromeda and Solar as well as the Academy side of their MLS rival Houston Dynamo.
By finishing at the top of their division, FCD earned a national seeding for the Development Academy playoffs held in Greensboro, NC over the last week of June. The Juniors successfully navigated through their group with wins over Clearwater Chargers of Florida, FC Greater Boston and a do-or-die 3-2 victory over the LA Galaxy Academy side on an 84th minute game-winning goal from star forward Ruben Luna to find themselves in California for the championship week.
The format of Finals Week is similar to the World Cup in that there are two groups of four teams with round robin play deciding the two group winners who will play for the championship on Saturday, July 17. FC Dallas, the only MLS Academy team to qualify for the U18 top division of Finals Week, opens up group play against Crossfire Premier, an unheralded side from Seattle, at 830p on Sunday the 11th. They’ll face their toughest challenge of the group stage in their next game at 3p on Tuesday against a Derby County Wolves team with the kids who won the U16 national championship last season before finishing the group stage against CASL Chelsea Academy from Raleigh, NC.
Stay with 3rddegree, now on ESPNDallas.com, as we will keep you updated on how our young guys do as they play for the honor of being named the best youth team in the country at the US Soccer Development Academy Finals Week.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Buzz Carrick
Buzz Carrick has been the owner and publisher of 3rd Degree since it was founded in 1997. A graduate of Texas A&M and Boston University, Carrick has been in television production since 1992, primarily in the field of live sports. For two years Carrick was the co-host of Inside Soccer with Brad Sham. While 3rd Degree is mostly focused on FC Dallas, Carrick has also written MLS SuperDraft Rankings for ESPN Soccernet.
You must be signed in to post a comment