The U12 Boys went 3-0-1 in tournament play.

GREAT JOB BOYS!!!

Their overall outdoor record so far in 2009 is 22 wins, 1 loss and 3 ties.  Great Job Boys! 

• U18s 10 a.m. Field #1
• U17s 12:30 p.m. Field #6
• U16s 10 a.m. Field #8
• U15s 12:30 p.m. Field #9
• U14s 3 p.m. Field #10 

The U9 & U10 girls were 4-0 in tournament play.  

 Great Job Girls!  Tournament Results

The U14 were 4-0 in tournament play.  

The U12 Girls won the championship game in a OT

 Great Job Girls!  Tournament Results

Eighteen of the top players in the country set off on a voyage that will include tours through Austria, Germany and Belgium.

Soony Saad, one of the final two players that we’ll spotlight for the event, has had much of the world opened up to him through his enormous talent. Having competed in the likes of England and Italy, Saad has the rare combination of veteran experience and newcomer enthusiasm.

“I’m very excited,” Saad said. “I’ve never played in any of the countries where we’ll be but I know that playing overseas is a lot different than playing here at home. I always try to watch a lot of soccer from the countries I visit so that I pick up a couple tendencies and styles of the way they play.”  

To even the playing field a little, it might be wise for a few of the international teams to brush up on some of Saad’s moves as well.

Soony Saad – Dearborn, Michigan

Saad has been a standout talent since the first day he touched a soccer ball. A natural, Saad is one of the top young strikers in the world, is dynamic with the ball and has a nose for scoring. He seemingly always puts himself in good position to convert chances.

He’s received great experience through the U.S. Soccer U17 Residency Program, and was the 2008 U.S. Soccer Development Academy U16 Player of the Year during his time with Vardar Soccer Club.   CONTINUED...............

Soony Saad and Jose Perez Are Among Many Youth National Team Players to Benefit from Academy System

CHICAGO (Feb. 4, 2009) – The U.S. Soccer Development Academy has to look no further than the Under-17 Men’s National Team to find stories of successful player development and scouting. Members of U.S. Soccer’s Residency Program, former Vardar standout Soony Saad and FC Dallas’ Jose Perez both credit their time in the Academy in providing opportunities with the U-17 MNT. Both are part of a 22-player roster that is currently participating in the La Serena Cup in Chile.

Saad, who at age 15 earned Development Academy Player of the Year honors in the combined U-15/16 age group, is taking full advantage of his time with the U-17 MNT Residency Program in Bradenton, Fla. Since joining the program in the Fall 2008 semester, he has scored three goals in 12 international appearances to date.

Though he was part of the Under-14 National Developmental Program, National Team coaches believe that his time with Vardar, specifically in the inaugural year of the Academy, helped aid his player development immensely. With more training and more consistent games against better competition, Saad began to realize his potential.

“I was part of U-14 and U-15s,” Saad said. “I was probably on the fringe with those teams to be honest, but with the Academy and all of the opportunities that came along with it, I had new incentive to work harder.”

He also reaped the benefits of a growing network of U.S. Soccer scouts, first catching the eye of National Staff Coach Roberto Lopez early in the inaugural Academy season and eventually other members of the scouting network, including Development Academy Director of Scouting Tony Lepore.

“When Vardar started in the full Academy program, Soony was playing up a year in those games,” said Lepore. “He was a U-15 player but was playing in the U-15/16 combined age group. We were able to see him pretty regularly in good games and we had a few different sets of eyes that saw him. He was also scoring a ton of goals for Vardar, so when (U-17 head coach) Wilmer Cabrera held a mini-camp last spring he was one of many Academy players in attendance. During that camp he proved that he belonged.”

Saad was brought into a U-17 MNT training camp in April 2008 alongside other Development Academy players. Cabrera liked what he saw from the Dearborn, Mich. native and continued to keep an eye on him. Eventually, he traveled to Central America with the U-17s and it wasn’t long before Cabrera offered him a place in Residency for the Fall 2008 semester.

“To a certain extent, Residency is set-up similarly to the way we’d been playing with Vardar,” said Saad. “We trained four times a week, which was more than we’d been training before. The level of play wasn’t quite what I have now in Residency, but it was definitely competitive. That made the step I was taking seem a little smaller.”

Perez, one of the Residency Program’s most recent additions, saw immediate rewards from FC Dallas’ first year as part of the Academy. Benefiting from the fall games played by the Texas Division, Perez was noticed early on by U.S. Under-20 assistant coach Dave Dir, the National Team scout assigned to the Dallas area.

Working closely with former Under-17 assistant and now FC Dallas Director of Player Development Oscar Pareja, Dir knew Perez was a player that was worth a second look. Now Perez, after just a few weeks in Residency, is on his first international trip and has appeared in his first international game, coming on in the second half of a 2-0 win against Chile.

“I always wanted to go to Residency,” said Perez, on the phone from Chile. “One of my teammates went there before and I just wanted to get up there with him. I just really wanted it, so I worked really hard to get there and playing with FC Dallas for Chris Hayden and Oscar Pareja really helped me a lot in developing both my skills and fitness level. These are my first international games and there was definitely a different level of play than I’m used to. It’s been fun though.”

Lepore says that Perez, and other youth national team players like him, are signs that the scouting process is starting to work.

“Every week we hold a conference call with a representative from every youth National Team,” said Lepore. “On a typical week we talk about upwards of 40-50 players. It’s really exciting when players come through and have success on a national team and we can remember when they were first talked about on a call and who spotted them first. It’s a sign that the system is beginning to work.”

As the U-17 MNT builds toward the 2009 CONCACAF Under-17 Championship that will qualify four regional teams to the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in October, Saad and Perez are among 21 players from Development Academy clubs currently on the 40-player Residency roster and are vying for a spot on the 21 player World Cup Qualifying roster.

The U.S. Under-17 Men’s National Team will open its CONCACAF Championship campaign against Cuba on April 21 at Estadio Caliente in Tijuana, Mexico. They will play Canada on April 23 and round out Group A play against Honduras on April 25. Should the U.S. advance out of their group, they will cross over to play one of the top two teams from Group B, which is made up of Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago, in the semifinals. Semifinalists will also earn a berth to the 2009 FIFA Under-17 World Cup, slated for Nigeria from Oct. 24-Nov. 16.

Cabrera will be at the helm of his first qualifying tournament, and will attempt to continue the U.S. streak of being the only team to qualify for every FIFA event at this age level, dating back to 1985. At the biennial event in 2007, the U.S. advanced to the Round of 16 in South Korea. The USA's best-ever finish at the event was fourth place in 1999.

MORE INFO:    USSoccer.com       Development Academy - Vardar

January 2009 - Orlando, Fla. – The Vardar U17 boys team won their division at the prestigious Disney's Soccer Showcase presented by the Chelsea Football Club on Dec. 30 at the beautiful Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex.

The showcase is the ultimate place for top clubs to be seen by hundreds of college coaches looking for great soccer talent. It is rated the top youth soccer tournament in the United States in a Soccer America survey. It gives athletes a chance to shine on one of the biggest stages set for youth soccer in this country. 

READ THE FULL STORY AT -- www.studentandathlete.com

MORE INFORMATION:    U17 Boys - 92B - Huff - Team Page & Roster