As is often the case around holidays, there was little rest for the club’s Player Development department over the Thanksgiving weekend, as the Fire U14 Youth Academy won the 2011 Disney Junior Soccer Showcase held in Orlando, FL.
Avenging a championship loss by last year’s U14 side (now U15s) at the same event, the 2011 U14 Youth Academy came up against tough competition in group play, downing FC American (FL) 2-1 Friday before leaving it late the next two games. Two wingers rescued the Fire Academy late as Adam Helf scored about 10 minutes from time in a 1-0 victory over AFC Lightning (GA) Saturday morning while Michael Sathen did the same in a 2-1 win vs. the Dallas Texans that afternoon.
According to head coach Marc McElligott, the final two group matches served as the toughest tests of the competition.
“In the second match, the Lightning proved very difficult to break down,” McElligott said. “The Dallas game, we were very good in the first half leading 1-0, they came back at us in the second and got it to 1-1, at that point it would have been enough for them to knock us out on goal difference. They were certainly very strong in the second half but we managed to weather that storm and scored a goal relatively late on to win.”
The victory pushed the side to the semifinals where they eased past Florida-based Clearwater Chargers 2-0 Sunday morning before downing the Houston Texans in the final that afternoon, where center back and team captain Cristian Sanchez tallied both goals in the 2-0 win.
McElligott credits the chemistry in his side in propelling the team to a 5-0-0 record, scoring nine goals while only conceding two.
“It was an overall collective team effort because it was more about the structure we had – we were very disciplined and took our chances well, make leads stand up. If I’m pointing to an individual player, Cristian was definitely head and shoulders the best player from any team in the tournament. He’s a center back that set the tone and was completely dominant all week long.”
Returning to Chicago, the U14 boys Academy has moved indoors for winter training before they return to their season in U.S. Club Soccer’s National Premier League. The team sits 4-1-0 in the league’s Midwest Division and will return to league play on Sunday, March 18 vs. St. Louis Scott Gallagher-Metro.
The Chicago Fire Juniors-West U12 Red Eleven joined the U14 Youth Academy as Coppa Division champions at the U12 age group.
More Florida Success
The Chicago Fire Juniors-Florida U14s also had success at the Disney Showcase, winning the Coppa Division over the weekend.
Coached by Mark Prizant, the Naples-based side outscored their opponents 17-5, going on to match the U14 Youth Academy’s 5-0-0 record before downing Weston FC (FL) 2-1 in extra time during Sunday’s final.
“This team is the nucleus of the one that won the U12 Showcase event at last year’s tournament,” Prizant said. “It’s a solid base of kids who showed very well this weekend against teams that were a year older. We expect a lot more success from the group in the future.”
For more information on the Chicago Fire Juniors-Florida, visit them at www.chicagofirejuniorsflorida.com.
There’s little rest for the Player Development Department again starting this week as they head back to Florida. The Fire U13 Youth Academy will participate in the USL Super-Y League North American Finals in Tampa, while the club’s U16 and U18 Developmental Academy sides will take part in U.S. Soccer’s Winter Showcase a little further south in Sarasota.
Jeff Crandall is the Team Writer for the Chicago Fire. Follow him on Twitter @JefeCrandall.
