15u - Sparta

La roca S would have been my pick... but coaching changes, and some losses have shown them to be very beatable.

16u - USA wins over la roca s

La roca S relies entirely on their top scorer. If he has an off day, they cant put the ball in the net (look at the last 3 games of the season with him out). USA has more goal scorers and better 1-11 than anyone else at this age.

17u - sparta

18u - la roca DC - not sure they had a close game all season.
19u - storm 02 - ditto.

u15 - agree, Sparta - they look to have the most momentum right now and La Roca seems off since the coaching change

U16 - USA over Sparta

U17 - Sparta. Is there any 04 team that can challenge?

U18 - La Roca DC and Sparta go to PKs

U19 - whoever brings the most college age players? :)

U16 - USA injuries last night change things.. bad showing by roca... sparta takes it imo.

So, 15-18 sparta sweep.. would be pretty cool for their club.

Couple of big upsets last night:

U16 La Roca - C. Santos loses to Surf 1-2
U19 Storm loses to Cobras 1-2

Good news for both is that they can still get out of group in 2nd

Guess i didnt answer the moderation question right... Anyways, yeah, some good upsets. U15/16 brackets is really wide open in comparison to previous years... Could be any of 3-4 teams. Injuries, red cards, etc. really giving teams opportunities that havent been there previously.

After two days here's a bit of a rundown.

U15: 1 day of games, no ties and the top seeds all won. Still looks like a La Roca/Sparta showdown.

U16: 2 days of games for the 4 team brackets and 1 day for the 3 team brackets. Sparta is the only team with two wins. But the B group is the biggest mess after La Roca's loss to Surf and Fire seems to be an unknown and will come in fresh.

U17: 1 day of games, and no ties. Biggest upset (if based on seeding) was the USA loss to Avalanche ECNL. Still feels like a Sparta age bracket.

U18: 1 day of games and and the Sparta tie with Arsenal and La Roca South's loss to Rangers throw the age group into a mess. Both can recover, but the bracketing for the quarters is now thrown for a loop.

U19: 2 days of games for 2 of the groups. Cobras just keeps winning and clinched a spot. As have Arsenal and Sparta. Cobras will stumble next week, and the line up now looks like Sparta and Storm may meet in the quarters (this would be a huge match up and may determine the winner).

Last day of pool play is tonight, but much is already done:

U15 La Roca Santos/Bravo, Avalanche ECNL, Avalanche Black, Sparta, La Roca Acosta, USA and HV united to the quarters. It looks like all #1 seeds will be winning their groups. No real surprises.

U16 Group A is still up for grabs, but likely USA and Impact are through. Same for Group B with Surf and La Roca Santos going through. Sparta, Comba, La Roca Ovalle and Spurs round out the quarters. All #1 seeds through. Where are the Avalanche teams?

U17 Too many to call, but 3 of the 4 #1 seeds are sitting at the top of their groups with 6 points. Quarters determined tonight.

U18 Too many to call, but for the most part the #1 seeds all look to get through. Although Sparta and La Roca Santos may move out in second. The surprise here is Rangers (6th place in P1) likely winning their group without giving up a goal

U19 Cobras, Storm, UDA, Copper Mtn JW (most likely), Sparta, Arsenal, Fire and Avalanche ECNL (most likely) moving out of group. Two #1 seeds don't make it out: Blue Knights and Impact (most likely).

Top two teams knocked out of U15 last night. Roca Metro seems a bit of a surprise, but Danny acosta is a solid coach, but has been all around - forza, liverpool/sevens, and now roca. For Roca S, knocked out so early has to be a stunner... But, they forced a coaching change, so on the surface there seems to be a lot of turmoil. good thing they opted out of ECNL. But they still have National League playoffs in december to look forward to. This might be a wakeup call to change things up there. USA 05, Sparta 04 also heading there in december (covid though....). Didn't expect the USA 06 group to really challenge, but SA is a good coach so they could take it. I expect a few players to try to move from roca South to USA this offseason, making them the top 06 team next season.

La Roca S at U16 concluded their epic late season collapse. Lost their final season game 4-0... then Lost to Surf (a D2 team) in group play. Then lose to spurs handily. I can't imagine many on this team are happy to pay $$ to head to ECNL with this team. They lose a couple key players earlier in the year to Storm 04 Lewis. Then their (and league) top scorer went down, so it seemed inevitable.

Other than that, the U16 bracket is playing out as expected. USA Still strong with a big supporting cast, but losing their top kid to a broken leg early on will likely hurt them in the final.

U17 - sparta still on track. Just too many solid kids. A couple were on trial last year with RSL, but couldnt quite stick. But they're a good group. They played USA 05 at one point in a tournament and iirc won 6-0(1?) and it wasnt that close.

U18, roca v sparta still likely. Sparta had a scare with some good PK drama last night.

u19, i thought Copper JW had a shot, but they went out in PKs. But yeah, storm 02 still on track..

Overall, been some drama, far more than normal years.

Semi finals today... nice weather, cant ask for more... except maybe for great wifi at the RAC and live streams...

Time for semi-final predictions?

U15 This anyone's game and a championship for the taking. USA over La Roca-DA, and La Roca-AO over Avalanche.

U16 USA over La Roca-PO, and Sparta over Spurs.

U17 USA over Storm, and Sparta over Avalanche (last year's finalists in a rematch, but I think Sparta will put them away this time).

U18 Sparta over Arsenal, and La Roca DC over Rangers.

U19 Cobras over Avalanche, and Storm over Fire


This seems like a really odd year, with all the La Roca South teams eliminated and Avalanche not even fielding teams in every age bracket.

Not sure what this says about the ECNL level, but it may be good that ECNL put the boys side in the Mountain division against weaker opposition than the stronger Northwest division the girls play in.

Agreed on all points. ECNL looks to be a mess this year and might make clubs rethink it in the future. USA, and perhaps others, look wise for not jumping in. I was really rooting for ECNL to be really embraced and the utah teams winning the MW at least. Would be nice to see some more opportunities locally at high levels. The dropoff from RSL Academy to club here is massive to say the least. I hope at some point in the future there is a USLA option, an MLS Next affiliated club, etc.

Other than U18/19, not sure the drop off from RSL academy is that great (they seem to be more focused on Phoenix and out of area players). But agree that getting a second MLSNext club would be good (or even three/four). ECNL boys problem is that it became 2nd tier the second the MLSNext formed after the DA collapse and the expense is tough.
.

A day of upsets!

U15: USA loses on PKs to La Roca DA, Avalanche loses to La Roca AO, an all La Roca final.

U16: Two huge upsets. USA loses 1-0 to La Roca PO and Spurs beat Sparta in PKs

U17: Avalanche beats Sparta 4-1 in the biggest upset of the day, and perhaps the tournament. And USA handles Storm.

U18: Arsenal beats Sparta 2-1, and it takes La Roca OT to beat Rangers 6-2 (that's a huge collapse in OT).

U19: Avalanche beats Cobras and Fire beats Storm.

Almost all (except U16 Avalanche) favorites, P1 winners and returning State Champs are out.

I can never seem to get this social distancing question right... i try 6', 6 ft., six feet, six, etc... what is the right answer lol?

Anyways yeah, what a night of upsets. I thought USA 06 could pull it off, but PKs sunk them. Same with Sparta 05 and others.

USA 05 losing their best kid early in the tournament really cost them. Guess neither the coaches nor players have ever learned to play without him.

Sparta 04 being beaten so handily was a big surprise.

Overall, not the end of the world, but looking forward to ECNL, DPL, NL, etc. for these teams, there are some major doubts now about hanging in those tournaments if you cant even get to the finals locally.

As for biggest surprises for me - USA 04... They've always been meh. A couple strong kids, but not really consistently solid and would lose occasionally to their 05 team in scrimmages and tournaments. 05 Spurs though, really shocked they broke through, especially since they are missing one of their top kids to an injury sustained in group play. Both finalists in 05 came from what i would have assumed was the weakest bracket, but shows 2020 throws curve balls everywhere.

Good luck to all the finalists.