Last weekend, our B1 USA teams converged to North Collier Park in Naples, Florida to participate in the second tournament of the season.
On September 19 and 20, 6 teams of the B1 Soccer Academy USA had the opportunity to defend the colors in a tournament with other really competitive teams from all over Florida.
Some teams saw it as an opportunity to put in practice what they worked on during the training sessions following the first tournament in Fort Myers they participated in.
We start by congratulating all the players who gave their all and performed at their maximum during this tournament.
The Girls teams at the Naples Kick Off
On the 19th September, the U10 girls had a huge performance against a big team of Miami, the MST Lady Sharks. Unfortunately, they lost 1-0 but the team showed defensive strengths and organized movement, which is encouraging news.
The girls have been working really hard during the week before the tournament and we were able to see it. The decision making during the game was much more efficient than the last tournament in Fort Myers.
The same day the Girls played against one of the top teams in the state, the West Pines United FC. The team left everything on the field, up 1-0 to down 1-2 at half time.
“We could feel a bit of fatigue appearing making it a hard game for our girls. We were defensively well organized and the rivals had trouble passing through so they started shooting outside the box. “
Our Girls ended up losing the game (6-2) but we were really proud of their efforts.
The next day, the B1 Girls were hungry to win their next game and they made it happen. They played against another team of West Pines United and were able to beat them 4-1 in a stunning and dominating win.
For the U12 girls, it was also a challenge, during the first day of the tournament, they played against Sunrise Sting in the first game (2-1 loss) and then faced the Miami Shores Soccer in the second game (7-0 loss) and called it a day.
The second day, the U12 confronted the Azzurri Storm Girls (3-2 loss) in a nail-biting game where the girls made us really proud, giving their hearts out and fighting until the last seconds.
The Boys teams at the Naples Kick Off
The U10 boy’s fist played against Rise Elite FC and had problems with 3 free fatal free kicks from the opposite team. They ended up losing the first game of the tournament (5-1).
The next rival was the Davie Sharks and it was much more of a close game. The boys showed more focus and were defensively much more organised.
The only goal scored by the rivals was an unfortunate own goal on a corner play, which despite the loss, was an encouraging result for our boys.
The second day, the U10 boys tied with the number 1 team of the bracket, the Azzurri Storm, who ended up winning the tournament!
“We are extremely proud of them, with an 8 player roster in a 7 vs 7 tournaments, we can say they worked really hard and it paid off in the end.”
On the other hand, the U11 Boys have been working really hard even though the tournament was complicated for them, playing against big teams.
In addition to this, they are starting to adjust themselves to a bigger field and to more diverse positioning that comes with it. No doubt that the boys gave their all and never gave up, which makes us really proud!
The U11 boys played the first day against FFC FCL Soccer Stars and Miami Shores Soccer who were two complete and strong teams and thus hard games for our players. The third game on the second day was against Miami Springs Soccer.
We continue to prepare the B1 Teams
Furthermore, it was a wonderful start of Naples Kick-Off Classic tournament for the U12 boys as they were able to find a win against Boca United 3-1.
Their second game was more complicated as they played against the finalist team Azzurri Storm , which had more possibilities than us and ended up winning the game. Anyways, our boys battled and learned from their mistakes, which is only positive!
Furthermore, they were able to play the semi-finals against CSSCP San Carlos Park Scorpion. Our boys showed proper spacing, good support, dangerous attacking when having the possession but the game ended up 5-2 in favor of the rivals.
We are sure that if they keep on improving these areas and building on this style of playing, the U12 boys will end up soon shining soon!
The U19 boys played their first game against Immokalee Cobras. They faced this team in the pre-season losing 4-0 and but this time our boys performed better but it was unfortunately not enough, leaving the score at 3-1.
The second game was against a big team considered a 2nd division academy in Europe, Miami FC .The rival team showed good possession and good individual players, but it did not scare our players who fought bravely till the end, holding them to 1-0 until 5 minutes left of the game, but our boys ended up conceding another one leaving the score at 2-0.
The last game was against Coral Springs ranked 28 in Florida being a really competitive team. It was a hard game as the rivals held possession and moved the ball quickly.
Our boys fought and gave everything they had left but started to feel tired and ended up losing focus, letting the game slip away in a 0-3 loss.
“The team gained confidence and showed a clear improvement in the last weeks. B1 took a bunch of individual players and placed them in a competitive team in a very short time so the players have to get used to their teammates which is a normal process.”
We are looking forward to the next tournament coming this week. Keep it up and keep working hard and results will follow!
