The last time our U10 development team were at the Coast was in November at the Richmond Thanksgiving Tournament. Playing a year up, we had a very difficult weekend in Richmond and suffered some big defeats in the pouring rain. Last weekend in Surrey we were able to show how far we have come in a short space of time. The U10s produced some excellent, stylish soccer, scored some great goals, and recorded some very good results against difficult opposition.
The first game we played was against Albion Cosmos. The Soccaskool players were excited for this event and could not wait to get started. From the opening whistle we dominated possession and created chance after chance with our slick passing moves. Our players relished the chance to play on a big artificial turf field, and Albion were hardly able to get a touch of the ball in the opening exchanges. In fact, the pattern of the match did not change throughout, and our opponents were somewhat mesmerized by the speed and quality of the play on show. Goals came from Liam, Charlie, Luka, Sophia and Sam, who got the game MVP, in a very comfortable 5-0 win.
The second game saw us up against Vancouver Athletic, a big team with some good players. Our team still had their tails up from the morning game and raced into a 4-1 lead with some more excellent passing and combination play. Goals came from Charlie (2) and Luka (2) and the game looked like turning into a lopsided affair. However, our players lost concentration and began to make bad decisions with a bit of ‘showboating’ creeping into their game as well. Vancouver took their chance to get back into the game and scored a couple of quick goals to pull it back to 4-3, which is how it ended. Soccaskool were comfortably the superior team here, but nearly managed to throw the game away. Narrow 4-3 win, Sam got his second MVP of the day.
Sundays opener was against the host team, Central City Breakers, and gave us a chance to play on grass for the first time this year. In similar fashion to the early game on Saturday, Soccaskool were really in the mood. We played some beautiful soccer on the grass and dominated the match from start to finish. Final score was 5-1 with goals from Sophia (2), Chase, Luka and Sam. Sophia deserved her MVP award in this game for a fine performance.
We went into the final game against Ladner Eagles looking for an impressive tournament sweep. However, for the second time, we lost concentration a little at the start of the game and handed our opponent an advantage. Ladner were the strongest team we played this weekend and they had enough quality to take the early goals that we gave them and put themselves 2-0 up at half time. Soccaskool came out second half like a different team, and really started to play. Our players realised that we were going to need to work very hard to put ourselves back in the game, and began to throw everything at Ladner. It turned into a great game to watch. Despite the intense pressure put on them by Soccaskool, Ladner had enough quality at the back and were able to keep us out, with the help of some great saves by their keeper. Final score was 3-0 as Ladner scored on a break with the last kick of the game.
All in all, a great tournament from our U10s with some moments of real quality and a huge improvement from our last trip to the Coast. A lesson learned by our players was that we need to fully focus on what we are doing in every game, but that being said, our U10 team is turning into a top quality academy team who entertain the fans by playing great soccer at a fast pace. Tournament MVP went to Sophia. Well done Sophia !