Why is Toronto FC not in the Super Cup Division of the Dallas Cup Mar 28-Apr 4 2010

[kaiimes]

TFC Academy is full time, and they now have younger TFC teams beyond U-16 and U-18 (ie: U-14, U-12 and younger). Its also much more difficult for MLS teams to qualify for the Super Group, cause they need to be a final 4 team in the MLS U-17 SUM Cup.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe the Whitecaps are required to have a continental qualifier to play in the Super Group. They are simply invited. MLS places restrictions through the SUM Cup, its a way of giving the MLS SUM Cup some legitimacy.

Just based on the 4-nil and 5 nil score lines in the group TFC U-16 is drawn into, proves that TFC is playing in a torny way below the level they play at. Last year, the TFC Academy made it to the Dallas Cup and did pretty well from what I remember.

That's right. Whitecaps would get the invite because they had a good run last year. That's the criterea for the Dallas Cup people. Prove yourself and you are in. Next year, maybe they will not get the invite because of poor results this time around but who really knows. I think this so called qualifying is a lot of nonsense. Just there to make the Dallas Cup look better than it is really. It's getting tired and needs to go to sleep and start something new. Same old. Same old. All about making money. Countless teams from Mexico, most of them good. Massive numbers of teams from the good old USA. A handful from Canada. The opponents of the Toronto team in Dallas so far not very good. I heard from a reliable source there is trouble attracting better teams to the event these days. The tough games start after the quarter finals for this team. Also, with the Super Cup going up by 4 teams, this means this has potentially weakened the under 19 division, assuming these teams would have played in the Under 19 division which they probably wouldn't - so, as I said, everything to play for and may the last team standing win.

[jpg75]

Bent isn't coaching this team. This is a young team making lots of mistakes but quite skilled. In retrospect, I think they are in the right division - they would not fare well at all in the super cup section in my view. Still, everything to play for tomorrow and maybe we'll see a parade on Yonge Street in April (only kidding) from this bunch of talented soccer players as there is no other MLSE team capable of winning anything judging by their performances in the NHL and NBA all year. Maybe the big team TFC can do better.

Bent is the coach and this team is loaded with 18 year olds, even have soon to be 19 year old Ashtone Morgan with the team.

http://www.torontofc.ca/news/2010/04/academy-through-quarterfinals

TFC opened the scoring in the 11th minute when Ashtone Morgan delivered an accurate cross to Allando Matheson who headed in from eight yards.

"Today was certainly a tale of two halves,” said TFC Academy coach Jason Bent. “In the first half we failed to bring the energy and tempo that has become a staple of our play. Tactically we made some changes at half time and the boys came out with a renewed determination and played the second half with much more urgency and purpose.”

http://www.torontofc.ca/news/2010/03/academy-wins-again-dallas

"We played with a good tempo today and our pace hurt them in the attacking third," said Jason Bent, Academy Senior Team Head Coach. "Today we got quite a few goals from set pieces and that is an area of our game that we work really hard on. Anthony Capotosto, my assistant, has put in a tremendous amount of work in making sure the boys all know their roles and responsibilities and it definitely paid off today. We move forward trying to maintain good spirits in the camp and always strive to improve our performance levels."

http://www.torontofc.ca/news/2010/03/academy-win-big-dallas

"I was very pleased with the enthusiasm, team spirit and quality of our football," said TFC Academy Senior Team Head Coach Jason Bent. "It was a very lively pitch and the windy conditions certainly did not play in our favor as we consider ourselves a good passing team."

[jpg75]

TFC lose 1-0 to Chorrillo FC of Panama in the QF's.

[kaiimes]

There is no doubt it is Bent with this team although Neely is listed as the coach in the official programme.

I had just completed a long review of yesterday's games but somehow I lost it when tried to post it on the site. Don't have time right now to do it all over again but will get something done later. Erin Mills in the semi-final of the U17 beating 10 man Brujas team from Costa Rica on PK's. Cruzeiro of Brazil beat Tottenham 3-1. and Monterry beat Mexico 91-92 national squad 3-1 to both qualify for the final of the Super. Yes, Toronto lost 1-0 to Panana team Chorrillo but Toronto had a player ejected mere minutes into the game and a coach near the end for screaming at the referee. Hard to win a cup-tie with 10 players against a good team in blustery weather. Self discipline is very important.

[kaiimes]

Semi-final results I have from this morning (Saturday).

Under 17. Tigres (of Monterrey, Mexico) 7, Erin Mills 0. HT 5-0. Erin Mills coach ejected in first half.

Under 17. Monterrey (Mexico) 2, Dallas Texans 0

Under 19. Chorrillas FC (of Panama City, Panama) 3, Solar U18 Academy (of Dallas, Texas) 0.

Under 19. Shattuck St Mary's (of Fairibauklt, Minnesota, USA) 1, LAFC Black (of Pasadena, California) 0

These are the scores I could get and were almost at full time. From a distance, I could see that the eventual winners were as shown above.

Chorrillas FC put on a sparkling performance in warm bright weather and almost no gusts of wind. Weather was quite a contrast from the day before against Troonto where they had a much tougher game and could have been described as fortunate winners. They made no mistake today, played really well and watched by a couple of hundred fans on pitch 12. Quite a lot of Panana support from fellow countrymen (now US residents). This team is capable of winning this division but the Minnesota team are big, tough, and have some good players. We'll see if technical ability and style overcome physical strength. I think it will. Erin Mills just couldn't handle this Tigres team, even from the kick off. It was 1-0 in 2 minutes, 2-0 in 6 minutes, 3-0 in less than 15 minutes and so on until half time. What a wonderful team this is with every player highly skilled. Even their warm up was something to behold.

The older division finals are on tomorrow inside the Stadium. The 13, 14 and 15 divisions playing this afternoon. US National U17 Women playing Brazil National Women U17 tonight in an exhibition game.

Well, all the teams from Canada are gone unfortunately. Just like 150 or so others from various lands. The more I see these wonderful foreign teams playing and of all ages, it shows to me the Dallas Cup is the best event in North America. No matter what one might think about the commercialisation of the event, there is certainly no doubt the players all enjoy playing here. The look of abject disappointment in the faces of the Tottenham Hotspur team which lost 3-1 to the brilliant Brazilians of Curuzeiro tells the whole story. They all want to win this event so much it hurts.

In the other Super Cup semi final played last night, Monterrey beat Mexico National team (boys born 1991-92) 3-1 so they will face off against Cruzeiro at 6.00 p.m. The referees are all doing a fantastic job and this too keeps this event at the top of the charts for soccer at this high level. Some teams are overpowered but, on the whole, it is very competitive. My favourite team here is Archbishop Tutu's Ikapa United from Cape Town South Africa. Usually the Archbishops teams don't do that well but this team won 2 of 3 games in the Under 19 division. With a little early adjustment to a 4-4-2 formation in a particilar game, I think they could have qualified. These players were gentlemen on and off the pitch and their prematch antics were worth listening to and watching all over again. Yes, I think the Dallas Cup is Super and retract what I said earlier about it being the same old thing each year. I spent a whole day in bed sick with something I ate for breakfast (some scone with some type of gravy) and I don't want to describe the vomit load either. Feeling much better now so clearer in thought.

[Admin]

There is no doubt it is Bent with this team although Neely is listed as the coach in the official programme.

I had just completed a long review of yesterday's games but somehow I lost it when tried to post it on the site. Don't have time right now to do it all over again but will get something done later. Erin Mills in the semi-final of the U17 beating 10 man Brujas team from Costa Rica on PK's. Cruzeiro of Brazil beat Tottenham 3-1. and Monterry beat Mexico 91-92 national squad 3-1 to both qualify for the final of the Super. Yes, Toronto lost 1-0 to Panana team Chorrillo but Toronto had a player ejected mere minutes into the game and a coach near the end for screaming at the referee. Hard to win a cup-tie with 10 players against a good team in blustery weather. Self discipline is very important.

Out of curiousity, did you hit the "Reply to Thread" button and lose what you typed? I have done that several times. I think it should be disabled if you are already typing in a reply so that doesn't happen.

[kaiimes]

Yes that's what I did and I agree with you, it's tough to rewrite a whole message verbatim so I really passed on Friday's games information in detail. When I did the additional messages today, I copied my message just in case it happened again. It did happen twice more but I just pasted my comments again. Thanks.

By the way, I updated todays scores on page 3 of this thread. Erin Mills lost 7-0 in the end and Chorrillo won 3-0 with a late goal adding to the two earlier ones scored. Also I added Under 17 semi-final result, Monterrey (Mexico) 2, Dallas Texans 0.

Not much local interest in tomorrow's finals. I wonder what the attendances will be throughout the day. My guess - poor. Looking forward to another fine day of excellent football despite the vastness of the anticipated near empty Pizza Hut Park Stadium.

[kaiimes]

Chorrillo FC won the Under 19 division 3-1 over Shattuck of Minnesota. The Panama goalkeeper was ejected after maybe 35 minutues of the game for pulling down an opponent outside the box but 10 man Corrillo put on a smashing performance and won rather easily in the end. The effortless change of bringing in their second goalkeeper was very reassuring to them. In front of maybe 200-300 spectators (at the most I would think), Chorrillo FC put on a cliniic and left the American team looking very ordinary and deflated. Shattuck scored a consolation goal a few minutes from the end but Corrillo FC were never in danger, even down to 10 men. Chorrillo coach very smart, got on all his subs so not to wear out his players. Several good players on the Chorrillo team but I have to mention forward # 54, Rene Campbell. What a good player he is. There were other very sound performances by Chorrillo but this was truly a team effort. I liked # 21 (program not listing players by numbers so don't know who he is. Only for names when players were substituted.) Played like a veteran at the back and kept everything cool, calm and collected. Toronto could say they lost to the eventual winners - but several other teams could say the same thing. The Panama players were billetted by local families. Realy nice for them and I have to say that, at the final whistle, the Chorrillo staff and players were very happy indeed. It took a long time for the Chorrillo players to leave the field but they owned the pitch this night.

Under 17 final was won by Monterrey on PKs 4-2 over Tigres after 0-0 in regular and OT. Two Mexican teams who knew each other so well. Brilliant skills but it was check-mate throughout and was destined to go to penalties. The Tigres team, who made Erin Mills feel their pace and technical skill, just could not buy a goal in the final. Too bad, I still thought they were the best Under 17 team there.

The Under 16 final was won 2-1 by Houston Dynamo over Santa Clara Sporting from California. A really good game played with skill, drive, energy and total enthusiasm by both sides.

Super Cup Final. I'll let the following copied report speak for itself re the goalscoring and serious trouble late in the game and which was abandoned with 2 minutes to go.

"For 60 minutes the Super Group final at Dallas Cup XXXI was just a good soccer match. Cruzeiro of Brazil had a comfortable 2-0 lead and looked like they were coasting to the championship. A wonderful free kick opened the scoring and an early 2nd half goal gave the Brazilians the 2-0 lead.

Then things spiralled into craziness. The Cruzeiro coach took off their top striker and the #10 attacking center mid as the Brazilians began to drop deeper and deeper inviting CF Monterrey into the attack. The Mexico side scored and the match was back on as they poured forward.

Soon after CF Monterrey earned a freekick from about 30 yards out. Roger Llergo stepped up and fired the ball into the lower right of the net and the score was now 2-2. CF Monterrey celebrated wildly. Meanwhile, Cruzeiro lined up for the kickoff. The whistle blew and one touch later the ball was flying 60 yards towards the Monterrey goal. Everyone was taken by surprise....the Monterrey keeper, the linesman and the center referee. The CF Monterrey keeper retreated quickly and pinned the ball to the underside of the crossbar before fumbling it about and catching it. The problem was nobody was in position to call a goal or not. The linesman raced back to try to see but he ran into the still celebrating CF Monterrey substitues along the sideline. When all was done, play continues with no goal awarded.

At 2-2 most inside the stadium felt CF Monterrey had the winning goal in them. Instead, it was Cruzeiro who broke on a counterattack. the Brazilian struck a low shot from about 20 yards out that the CF Monterrey keeper seemed to have covered easily. Instead he went down, bobbled the ball and allowed it to squirt out right to the onrushing Cruzeiro player who tucked it home. Cruzeiro 3-2.

As the clock wound down Cruzeiro broke again and scored in the 90th minute to put the game away. The Brazilians went wild as players from the bench raced onto the field to celebrate the 4th goal. Even the coach raced onto the field. The CF Monterrey players did not appreciate the wild celebration and when one of the Cruzeiro players jogged back through the center circle dancing in front of the Monterrey players the fight was on.

Players from both teams met in the center circle with the normal pushing and shoving. The referee was right in the middle of it trying to break it up. It looked like a huge brawl might be averted, but then the CF Monterrey substitutes who had been warming up behind the goal arrived. Chaos erupted and a solid five minute fight ensued that spilled across the field. At one point the Cruzeiro coach was on the ground being kicked by three CF Monterrey players. Finally enough police made it down to the field to get things under control.

Then things spread into the stands where the CF Monterrey U17s were. They had won the Under 17 title earlier in the day and ready to help defend their older brothers. Five more minutes of pushing and shoving between the U17s and Brazilian fans in the stands then ensued before the CF Monterrey kids were escorted out by security and police.

The fans made their feelings well known as the Monterrey squad was booed off the field for their actions in the brawl. It was quite an unfortunate ending to what was for the most part a very good final. Cruzeiro 4 CF Monterrey 2..."