MYSA Rules Proposal Deadline

The deadline for suggestions/ideas for rule changes is fast approaching. All rules change proposals are due to MYSA by August 6th at 5:00 PM. Make sure you dot your "i's" and cross your "t's" or is that "cross your eyes" and "grit your teeth?" To quote the topic suggester:

" I smell a bumper crop of bloviated bureaucratic bulls*** coming to an AGM near you this fall..."

Here is a link to the form: http://www.mnyouthsoccer.org/forms/rulessubmittal.pdf

Thank you to the topic suggester, for suggesting the topic! I wasn't sure if "bloviated" was an actual word but I looked it up. According to a free dictionary online it means:

To discourse at length in a pompous or boastful manner: "the rural Babbitt who bloviates about 'progress' and 'growth'" George Rebeck.

Regional Draw

The Regional draws are out. Here is a boys list by age group, a relative strength of group and my opinion of the MN team's chance of getting out of their group. Overall a pretty good draw for MN teams with 2 teams that should win their groups and 2 others that have a reasonable chance if they can overachieve in 1 game.

U13 Boys MN United
* Draw is MO, ND and NE
* Average to weak group
* If they get by MO they should coast out of their group although 13s is a tough age group to predict.

U14 Boys Bangu
* Draw is IL, SD and NE
* Strong only because IL is in the group
* IL will keep Bangu from advancing

U15 Boys PSA
* Draw is MRL2 (MI), OS, ON
* Strong group with with all respectable teams
* If PSA is at the top of their game, they will win the group

U16 Boys Bangu
* Draw is MRL2, SD and KS
* Strong group with MRL2 and a good Bangu 16s team
* MRL2 is not identified yet, so I say 50/50 chance to get out of group

U17 Boys Valley United
* Draw is WI, IL and KS
* Very strong group as IL, WI and Valley are all very good.
* Tough to predict wins over IL and WI, but Valley are a talented side.

U18 Boys Bangu
* Draw is ON, IL and KY
* Very strong group even though it contains a jelly-filled KY team
* Can't envision a scenario were Bangu can beat IL. Will probably hope for tie and look to goal differential for a chance.

U19 Boys Eagan
* Draw is IN2, OS and KY
* Weak to average group and a tough age group to predict
* Could go 3-0 or 0-3...no prediction here

'07 State Cup Finals

It's official. Eagan winners for U19 Boys, Bangu Tsunami Sota winners for U19 Girls. Both 2-0 winners over their opponents.

Bangu with 8 titles. With no other club winning more than one, and the Wings and Eden Prairie winning no titles, it would be tough to argue club supremacy.

Bangu Tsunami FC - B14, B16, B18, G13, G14, G16, G17, G19
Minneapolis United - B13
Plymouth Soccer - B15
Valley United - B17
Eagan - B19
Woodbury SC - G15
St. Croix SC - G18

My picks for teams with the best chances to advance out of group play at Regionals are Bangu 19 Girls, PSA 15 Boys, Bangu 17 Girls, Valley 17 Boys, Bangu 18 Boys, Bangu 16 Girls, and Minneapolis United 13 Boys. Of course, it will all depend on the draw.

Congratulations to all the teams and players that participated in this year's MN State Cup.

Favorite Soccer Memory

Thanks to the parent who suggested a great topic. Please share your favorite soccer memory with the rest of the soccer community. Please, let us hear about the game you watched in South America, or Europe or in Blaine watching your U8 player? Or could it be about a post game party at Pizza Hut? Or a national showcase tournament where your underdog team beat a nationally ranked team? Or a weather delayed game where both teams huddled under a shelter? Or a special coach or parent volunteer who touched your child's life?

Abdus Ibrahim Update

Updates on Abdus Ibrahim from a recent US National Team U17 game. Ibrahim is with MLS' Dallas FC, and a former Richfield HS and Wings SC player. It will be interesting to see if he ends up getting any minutes in the MLS. He is currently listed as a developmental player on the Dallas FC roster.

From Top Drawer Soccer - U17 MNT v. Jamaica
http://www.topdrawersoccer.com/articles.aspx?article=2304

The Star Tribune about MLS draft:
http://www.startribune.com/526/story/932450.html

State Cup 2007

Alas, time to get back to this old blog.

Thought I should post a thread for State Cup chatter. Already there is controversy with schedules changing after the initial publication. Rumors abound of favouritism and unfairness...so what else is new. Most of us realize that 'MN Nice' is not a compliment...it refers to the “I'll be nice to your face, then seek to destroy you behind you back” behaviour (the old Scanda-houvia passive-aggressive thing.)

Good luck to all players, teams, coaches, referees, MYSA officials and parents (in that order.) I hope the competition is as exciting as the blog posts we will see.

Remember if you’re downright nasty, with no point, I will delete your post :>)

Happy Blogging!

Local Tournaments

Here's a place to chat about local tournaments in Minnesota (or even neighboring state). If your team has played any local tournaments over the past couple of years, let us all know about the competition, refing, fields, organization and fun factor.

I know historically, NSC Cup is one of the larger early season tournaments. The "USA Cup Weekend" has grown as many local teams don't want to pay the big bucks or commit to 5-6 days of playing (probably at the expense of the EP tourney.) They also get many of the international and east coast and west coast teams as they come in early to play a warm up tourney before the cup.

Midwest Regional League

I think Midwest Regional League is important enough to have its own posting. For league schedules and game results check out: http://www.midwestregionalleague.com/index.asp

Coach Chatter

Please use this post for your top 10 coaches list. Please try to keep things civil and try to be constructive. Thank you and good luck!