2005 Copa Coca Cola National Championships

The team has been flown out and installed at the Radisson Hotel in Los Angeles, California, along with the other nine regional champions, in order to dispute the coveted 2005 Copa Coca Cola National Championship. Day 1 has the team settling in and visiting the site of the proposed event – the newly completed Home Depot Center in Los Angeles. The complex is simply spectacular, with more than a dozen fields that look like carpets and are of huge length and width, something which unquestionably will benefit our team.

Day 2 the team departs to the field where it is to meet the champion team of the New York Regional. FUTSOC USA ENIGMA takes a quick 1-0 lead on very crafty one touch ball movement and great technical abilities in the finish…a resulting goal by striker Daniel Lovera. The opponent takes an errant pass on a counter attack, which leads to a tie game. Minutes later, we receive the ball at midfield and a quick pass from Pablo Punyed to Gonazlo De Mujica establishes a 2-1 lead, one that we would not relinquish the rest of the match on our way to a convincing 6-1 victory. Other goals scored were made by Garret Ewald, Daniel Lovera, Pablo Punyed, and Lucas Di Croce. Game 2 was played against the CHicago regional Champion, who we tied 2-2 in a match which showed the tiredness of both teams after such a long flight the night before and the morning match. The result was fair and we were able to rest some of our front line players, and give opportunity to a few exceptional development players we brought along. The third game we played against the Washington area champions, who we dominated thoroughly by a score of 4-2. In this match we were able to play a wide spread match, playing on one of the larger fields, and we had excellent play from the defense and strong control by the midfield, which dictated play throughout, and set up two excellent goals to Daniel Lovera and Garret Ewald and two goals from Gonzalo De Mujica and Pablo Punyed. Throughout the first round matches, the goal keeper play from Sean Duble is impeccable, and the defense is sound along all lanes, and thwarts off potentially strong scoring opportunities from the various opponents. We were thrilled to learn that we had won the group and that we had qualified for the semi-finals later in the afternoon.

The next morning, we meet the tournament favorites, the nationally top ranked Celtic Harps team from Los Angeles. This is a team that is averaging six goals a game effortlessly, and has been able to easily contain its opponents from Dallas, Denver, and Houston. The powerful team has multiple region I and state ODP players, as well as national team players on its roster. It is a challenge unlike any other in our short history, but we are prepared for the exceptional challenge and hopeful of a strong, organized match, where the opponent will have to beat us to obtain the favorable result…it hopefully will not happen on any forced or unforced errors on our part! The game is challenged fiercely by us, and then moved to the next day, in recognition of time limits imposed by FIFA for youth play. All players are exhausted by this time, and the resulting break, allows us the chance t recover and set to play at 8:00am the next morning.

The game is nothing short of advertised, and the match plays out very strategically and cautiously, as both teams test the opposing defenses. The opening score comes from Celtic Harps, who opens the score on a long field pass on our left flank, with a cross to a fast moving player who meticulously taps it in for the 1-0 lead. The team is concerned, but confident in slowing the tempo and attempting to control the midfield. However, a pass through wedged between our center midfielder and the front stopper results in a 2-0 lead, which holds through until halftime. Modifications and adjustments to our offensive transition and our tactical formation, move us into a more aggressive mode of attack, resulting in striker Garrett Ewald bringing us to within one goal, with a fast run down the center and an impressive finish low to the corner. The score is 2-1 with 15 minutes remaining, as we begin to penetrate more openly down all lanes, and reaching dangerously close to tying the match on three distinct occasions, only to be thwarted by extraordinary goalkeeping. With about five minutes remaining we obtain or last chance on a steal at midfield and a pass through to our attacking midfielder, who was called offside in a the single most debated call of the tournament. In the end, the result was 2-1 in favor of this great team - Celtic Harps, but we walked off the field in the midst of great disappointment, with a sense that we had accomplished something very special…especially for a team, as young as we were. We placed third (3rd) of over 650 teams, which contended for this great cup challenge! We had now grown up, and were very confident and able to play at the very highest levels of the youth game in America!

Upon completion of the finals, which were held at the Home Depot Stadium field, Celtic Harps defeated the San Diego contingent – FC Bayern, in overtime and penalty kicks (2-2) 4-3, in a classic match witnessed by thousands of spectators. Celtic Harps was the National Champion, and thus earned the right to dispute the World Cup Championships in Lisboa, Portugal, during the Euro Cup Semis and finals. They represented the U.S. like the great champions they are, losing in the final, to the team from Turkey 0-0 (3-2) after seven rounds of penalty kicks. In short, we had lost to the No. 2 team in the world for Coca Cola Championships!! This was a great memory, a fantastic trip, and a great opportunity to meet new friends, and to learn of the superb level of soccer evident all over the U.S. At the awards ceremony held at ESPN, accolades abounded for our team from the victors and other competitor squads, something that made us especially proud, honored and most humbled!

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