ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

[eggy]

The Girls 95 #1 play Cal-South #1, British Columbia, Cal-South #2, and Washington. Any predictions for this team?

I say 3-1. A close loss to Cal-South #1, big win against BC, close win over Cal-South #2, and a win against Washington.

Good luck to Girls 95 #2 in your games. Lets hope for good weather, light traffic and no injuries.

[Shu's Daddy]

Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

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Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

I read elsewhere that an Oregon 95 team lost 8-0 to a CalSouth team. Could this be true and, if so, how in the world could OYSA let that happen to a team of elite players?

[Guest]

Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

I read elsewhere that an Oregon 95 team lost 8-0 to a CalSouth team. Could this be true and, if so, how in the world could OYSA let that happen to a team of elite players?

It is true. (Well, I think it was actually 9-0, but after you get past 5 or so does it really matter anymore?) :shock: So here’s the deal....it was Oregon's "B" team that got trampled by Cal South. While (in my opinion at least) Oregon's "A" team was also dominated by the same Cal South team, it wasn't nearly as bad and they did hold their own better and spent more time on Cal's half of the field than the "B" team did (even scored a goal toward the end). But I digress....back to the topic of the team that got drubbed....

Here's how it works. The '95 pool this year has roughly 47 players in it. This past weekend (as with all ODP tournaments for '95s this year), 18 were rostered on the "A" team, and 18 were rostered on the "B" team. (11 players from the pool were not rostered at all - one due to injury, and the rest just didn't get selected.) All 18 players on the "A" squad are reasonably strong and fairly similar in skill level. (Of course there are a few that are maybe slightly below the rest, but there don't appear to be a lot of glaringly weak players there.)

On the other hand, the "B" squad has a half a dozen or so players (give or take a couple) who could easily step into a spot on the "A" team and the overall level of the "A" team would stay the same (or maybe even improve ever-so-slightly in certain positions). But from there, the skill level of the remaining "B" team players starts to drop off fairly quickly, and drop pretty far. While the "A" team can be considered strong in pretty much all 11 positions on the field, the "B" team is strong in only some - and let's face it - you can't play a Cal South team with "some" strong players on the field and expect not to get obliterated. And to decrease the "B" team's odds even further, due to subbing and every player on the roster getting to play a reasonable amount of time, most of the time all of the "stronger" players aren't on the field all at the same time, so the team on the field is depleted even further.

And in case anyone out there has never experienced it up close, Cal South plays an extremely rough and physical brand of soccer. Nothing like any team in the northwest. Talk about culture shock! Those sweet little (ok, not-so-little) 12-year-old girls will slide tackle you from behind, grab your shirt/shorts/arms/whatever, throw elbows and just generally steam-roll their opponents to win or keep the ball. I had heard that before, but honestly, words don't even do it justice - you have to see it first-hand to really get it. When you put a team like that up against Oregon's "B" team which includes a lot of smaller girls, including several U12's and good handful of '96s, it is just a recipe for disaster. (That is another area where the "A" team has a significant advantage over the "B" team -- lots of bigger girls and no little girls at all -- they don't get knocked around as easy.) If you look at past results from previous years, the "B" team rarely (if ever) wins a game, and it isn't uncommon for them to get plowed by strong teams.

On the plus side, this whole tournament doesn't really "count" for anything. They are still just 12-year-olds and there is nothing "on the line" for these games. The main objective at this age (at least for my kid) is to get the experience of playing against high-caliber teams. Plus, it is a great eye-opener for Oregon players (and parents of Oregon players) of what small fish we are in a really big "pond." It is definitely good for the kids to get out of their comfort zone of the northwest, and experience the style of soccer that is played in the land of perennial national champions....

Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

I would like to follow up on Just Lurking's comments.
Here are some things that I saw and heard this weekend. The Oregon 95 A team was struggling at the mid field. The forwards were having difficulty because the mids seemed to be passing the ball to open space. The A team had one goalie that played very well. The strongest aspect to the A team was their defense.

The B teams biggest weakness is their size. They are small and slow to react. The biggest deterant to Oregon's success is the size of pool that they draw from. Not the amount that they choose for their pool players but the amount of players in Oregon and SW Washington available. One parent told me that their is 6-8 players from Vancouver and probably 10 more that could have made the team. Can anyone tell my why they don't play for Washington?

[eggy]

Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

One parent told me that their is 6-8 players from Vancouver and probably 10 more that could have made the team. Can anyone tell my why they don't play for Washington?

My child played on the Oregon A team and she is from Washington. Why, play for Oregon? Distance to practice. Washington was not an option due to distance. The A team had 4 players from Washington on it and the B team had at least 3 that I know of.

I enjoy reading the reviews of this last weekends performances. Please remember that these are 12 and 13 year olds. They played their guts out even when they were being beat.

[Guest]

Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

Didn't mean to imply that any kid wasn't giving it their all out there...they definitely were. For the record, my kid is on the B team, so I was there watching them bring the ball back to mid-field for their 10th kick-off of the game. And I can tell you that the 10th kick-off was done with the same energy and determination as the first one. Was just trying to give JW the background as to why the lop-sided score for the Cal South/Oregon 2 game, and I called it like I saw it.

Like I said in my previous post, participation in this program (at least at this age) has nothing to do with the results, and everything to do with the experience. (And yes, sometimes part of the "experience" is getting whooped up on. :) It's just part of the deal, and not necessarily a bad thing.)

As for the SW Washington girls playing in Oregon ODP...I say, "Come on over." The WA girls are great players, and they just make the Oregon pool that much stronger!

[Shu's Daddy]

Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

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[Guest]

Re: ODP Girls 95 Nike Friendship Cup

Stopped By shame on you!! Don't point out positions . It just makes you look bad when you most likely are trying to get your daughter on the A team. How can you make a comment when you did not see but probably one of the games since your daughter was playing at the same time during two of the games last weekend. Further more girls were rotated so much that if you watched you saw 8 different mids play. Don't generalize since the average time a girl got was 30 minutes and sometimes you have bad games. Support your other team and keep your negative political opinion to yourself. Keep this positive all you did was make yourself look bad and now several people are wondering who would do what you did. Some of the girls get on this. I could tell you what I saw and I have watched both teams play since the beginning and I have watched all of these girls for years and all positions had good moments and bad moments. Goals were assisted by the mids. Goals were saved several times because the mids got back and helped the defense. Soccer is a team sport. Take it easy ! :?