Pateadores/South Bay Force U-17/U-18 team wins national U.S. Soccer Development Academy championship
It's quite an accomplishment for the club, which is based in Orange County, but joined forces with the South Bay Force last summer so that all but a couple of players on the team are from the South Bay.
The team was seeded 31st out of 32 teams who made the playoffs after having a 16 point deduction for fielding two ineligible players earlier in the season. The club also needed to score two goals in the final three minutes of regulation in their previous game to qualify for the final on goal difference.
"It was reminiscent of the Women's World Cup game Sunday except they needed two goals, not just one," said Greg Yorke, president of the Force. "They went from being out of it to going to the final in that short a time.
"It's certainly an exciting season for them, an exciting run," he added, in something of an understatement.
Read the game story.
Jose Villareal, who had the two goals, attends Leuzinger High and Yorke said he was a late replacement on the U-18 National Team today for a prestigious tournament in Northern Ireland. It's unclear whether Villareal even knew he made the national team, since Coach Todd Saldaña only learned of his inclusion early today and may not have informed the player ahead of the game.
Teammate Javan Torre also made the national team squad.
Saldaña must be out celebrating with his team; he hasn't yet returned a couple of calls I made seeking comment.
I'll update the blog post if I hear from him.
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About 100 Percent Soccer
Sportswriter Nick Green has written the 100 Percent Soccer column since 2005 for the Daily News, Daily Breeze and other Los Angeles area newspapers. The blog of the same name began in 2007. A native of England, he began writing about soccer in the mid-1980s and in 2000 permanently exchanged a seat in the stands for one in the press box. He lives six miles from Carson's Home Depot Center, home of the Los Angeles Galaxy, Chivas USA and the training headquarters for U.S. Soccer and is married to a long-suffering soccer widow. Join Nick on FaceBook and follow him on Twitter.
well played game by both sides for the most part with excellent second goal by Villareal. I just don't understand the wisdom behind playing 4 games in a week. The developement academy keeps harking the emphasis on training and more meaningful competition but their own tournaments are no better than others that cram a bunch of games in a short span of time and prove/improve nothing.
Interesting that ESPN's Alan Hopkins and Thomas WRONGen spend most of the telecast defending the Federation's wonderful efforts in discovering and developing the Latin talent in an obvious reaction to the scathingly insightful article by Paul Gardner in Soccer America recently.