Girls U17 & U14 Win Inaugural Continental Cup
Lodi, Ohio - Monday, July 17, 2006
Local, national, and international premier teams traveled from different corners of the World to battle it out during the Inaugural Continental Cup held July 10-14, 2006 at the Lodi Soccer Complex.
Male and female teams ranging from U10 to U19 participated in the Continental Cup. In addition to clubs from the USA, a U-19 boys team from Mexico, a U-17 girls team from India and six boys teams from Guatemala attended the event. More international teams were slated to participate but were held up due to problems with Visas.
The Internationals Girls teams competed with a combination of U13 and U14 players in the U14 division and a combination of U15, U16, U17 players in the U17 division.
In the preliminary games the Internationals U14s defeated the Bethesda Riptide (Maryland) 7-4, lost a hard-fought battle to the Cleveland Whitecaps 3-4, and defeated Eli Tigers (Illinois) 2-1. In the finals, we battled with the Whitecaps again and lead 2-0 at half. The Whitecaps got one back early in the second half but our girls continued to fight hard and earned a2-1 victory to claim the U14 Championship.
In the U17 bracket our U15/16 (and one U17 player) gained some valuable experience playing in an older division and playing some international competition. We defeated CFC (Cleveland Football Club) 8-1, tied Liederkranz 2-2, and defeated India/Deeksha 7-3 to finish at the top of the group. The championship game was won by the Internationals over Liederkranz in PKs after the score was tied at 2-2 at the end of overtime play.
The U17 game against India was a true example of sportsmanship. India had traveled to the US with only 11 of their original 16 player who were denied Visa’s at the last minute. They had been beaten twice and outscored 22-0 before playing the Internationals. Because of this, Internationals head coach, Zdravko Popovic decided to only play with 9 players in the first half and 7 players in the second in hopes of giving the players from India a chance to earn some success on the field. The team from India came away from the game with smiles and three goals to end their tournament experience in the USA.
An Internationals’ parent, Al Guzik, commented on the gesture: “Zdravko showed true class today. He also came up with enough t-shirts to give to every one of the India players as a token of appreciation. They gave our girls Indian flags. It was a nice gesture in a goodwill tournament.” This is perfect example of how the game of soccer can bring people together.
Contential Cup: Internationals U17 Girls Champions pictured with Deeksha, a U17 team from India.
