Edge U14 Boys Gain InternationalExperience!
written by Brian McLaren
"Brandon's going to be playing on a team from Brazil!" read the email to Jim Whitfield's U14 boys teams, "Anyone else interested?"
Wanting a little more soccer this summer before high school, Brandon had put his name into the guest player pool for the Schwan's USA Cup tournament in Minneapolis. Before long, he was joined by four others from the U14 Boys Black & White Edge teams- Marcus Holstein and Zac Lindsey were going to join Brandon Ciberay on theFutebol Basee - ECP team from Sao Paulo, Brazil; Casey Quinlisk and MicahMcLaren would be playing on the Colombia Colegios (V) team from Bogota,Colombia.
The boys had a chance to get acquainted with their new teammates in a couple of friendlies on Monday, July 20, then both teams opened pool play in the U14 Boys Silver Division on Tuesday, July 21.
Both teams had strong openers, with Brazil winning over Valley United Strikers from Minnesota 4-2, and Colombia topping NWIFC Galaxy from Iowa by a score of 7-2.
Injuries sustained during their play the previous week in the Disney Cup took their toll on the Brazilian boys, and they dropped their next three games; 0-6 against the Centennial Cougars (Minnesota), 1-4 versus the Electric City Thunderbolts (Montana), and 0-6 to the East Moline Sharks (Illinois), and finally being eliminated by the NWIFC Galaxy (Iowa) team on Friday in a hard-fought 0-1 match.
The Colombian team was the dominant team in the Silver Division, rolling to wins over the Northern Lights Rampage (Minnesota) 4-0, and the MapleBrook Blast (Minnesota) 5-0 in pool play, followed by playoff wins over the Electric City Thunderbolts (Montana) 7-2, and Centennial Cougars (Minnesota) 4-0, before facing the East Moline Sharks (Illinois) in the Championship match on Saturday afternoon.
In their closest match of the tournament, Colombia prevailed by a score of 1-0 to take home the trophy.
All five Edge boys were strong contributors to their respective teams, with Casey and Brandon scoring goals, and Zac, Marcus, and Micah playing significant minutes in each game.The boys are better soccer players for having been exposed to a different style of play and skill level, and better human beings for being part of this cross-cultural experience - they are already making plans to go back next year.