Here is a special message from our coach Marcos Correa reflecting on the experience, plus some great photos from the weekend!
“We had the opportunity to enter Gem State for the first time with our U14/15 ReAl Middleton CF Napoli team.
We had a strong group where any team was very capable of winning the group. Coach Josh and myself knew the games would be evenly matched and the deciding factor would be who wanted it more and who was willing to push harder and leave it all out on the field every single game. We started off with a 1-1 draw against Albion who we are very familiar with. Tight game that was exciting and fast pace. The team left that game feeling that we had opportunities to capture a win that we weren’t able to capitalize on.
Game two we played Jackson Hole a team we knew nothing about, but we had a lot of grit coming into after a draw in game one. We started off HOT, taking an early 2-0 lead and having ball in their half for most of the first half. At the half we knew we could not let off as the most dangerous lead in soccer is the 2-0 lead. We made a few errors and lost focus for a period of time where Jackson were able to regain the lead finding ourselves down 2-3.. the team not wanting to accept defeat pushed hard sending attack after attack. We had a breakthrough with only minutes left off of a corner kick. Jeremiah scored directly from the corner to get us back level 3-3. The game went on a few more minutes with us having three more dangerous opportunities almost taking the lead. We finished with another draw.
Game three we knew we controlled our own destiny. We needed a win to advance to the final. The team was ready we could see that in them in our warm up. Everyone was focused and fired up and ready to punch their ticket to our first ever final. The team played their best game of the entire 5 seasons I’ve been with them. Everything you could ask for as a coach was playing out in front of our eyes. The group was shifting properly as a unit. Our press was layered leaving little to no open spaces, communication and off ball movement was on point. Again we took a 2-0 lead. We continued our high intensity press and didn’t allow sun valley to have time on the ball. The game finished 2-1 and we realized we had done it, we made our first final as a small town team from Middleton. With a group made up of 8 new faces it has been incredible to see them all learn to play off of each other so well in so little time. Final we faced the Boise Timbers. Another team we are familiar with. Game kicked off with the teams being fairly even which led to a 0-0 halftime. We knew the quality they had in all areas of the field would require us to keep a tight shape and keep a high level of communication. The Timbers began to move the ball efficiently and began to wear us down and open up lanes through midfield. They found 3 goals from open play and a well placed free kick. Our team kept fighting and were able to find a goal late in the game. Had another close shot from outside of the box. Game ended 4-1 for the Timbers.
I am extremely proud and impressed with the level the team elevated to this past weekend. We will work to continue at this level through the rest of our fall season and continue to close the gaps between us and future opponents. I would like to give a big thank you to the Timbers coaches and staff for the praise and encouragement, we enjoy testing ourselves against Coach Prokops team!”
A Huge Thank You to Our Coaches and Players! Thank you for being part of the Real Soccer Club family!
Complete Results for Real Middleton CF U15 Napoli here.
Other Real SC teams participating:
Vamos Real!
