(June 1, 2010) Crossfire Premier was well represented over Memorial Day Weekend at a tournament many refer to as the most prestigious in the country in youth soccer - THE MANCHESTER UNITED PREMIER CUP US FINALS, held at Nike World Headquarters. Crossfire’s Man U Cup Team, under the direction of Head Coach Seth Spidahl and Assistant Coach Joe Morris, played teams from all over the country, starting off with an early morning duel against Scott Gallagher (St. Louis), a defensive battle that resulted in a 0-0 draw.
Friday evening brought a nail biter against the defending Man U Cup champions, Arsenal FC (Cal-South). After a 40 minute fight to the finish, Crossfire was delivered a 1-0 loss, but to a team that would later advance to become back to back MUPC Champions. As the Arsenal team would later tell our players at the hotel where both teams stayed, no other team would give Arsenal such a close game.
Saturday brought two more pool play matches, the first against New Jersey PDA and a 1-0 heartbreaker which knocked Crossfire out of bracket advancement. This did not deter the boys from returning with all cylinders firing for our Saturday evening game versus Cal Odyssey (Cal-North), and a 1-0 win. After the game, the boys were fired up and wanted to keep playing. They unanimously voted to add as many extra “friendlies” to our tournament as the officials would allow.
CROSSFIRE BOYS was a force to be reckoned with during our first friendly match on Sunday, as the boys delivered a 3-0 pounding to Team Ohio FC. CROSSFIRE BOYS rounded out the weekend with a Monday morning match and a 1-1 tie against Chicago Sockers FC. All in all, Crossfire ended up with a tournament scorecard of 2 wins-2 losses-and 2 ties with analysts placing us as high as 9th or 10th. Not bad considering the hundreds of applications to enter the tournament, and only the top 20 teams in the United States gaining entrance.
Congratulations CROSSFIRE BOYS and Coaches on a most memorable weekend of great soccer.
