Month: January 2013

James Straus and Robert Neathery Sign With Richmond International

James Strauss (Catholic/SSC) saves against SLSG Elite, U17 Boys
James Strauss (Catholic/SSC) saves against SLSG Elite, U17 Boys semifinal
Two area players are joining the move to the United Kingdom to advance their game.

James Straus, Springfield Catholic’s goalkeeper, will sign paperwork on Tuesday according to Irish Reports. Robert Neathery, from Nixa, signed earlier this month with the Academy program based in Leeds, England. The two players are teammates at Springfield SC where they won the U16 Missouri State championship in 2011.

Straus, who won two Missouri High School state championships with Springfield Catholic, was named the Class 1 Goalkeeper of the year along with 1st Team All-State recognition.

Robert Neathery, Nixa Eagles
Robert Neathery, Nixa Eagles (2010)
Neathery, who earned 2nd Team All-State honors in Class 3 (one of five area players) was also named Co-Offensive Player of the Year for the Southwest Region while establishing new Career Scoring marks for the Eagles.

A program begun in 2010 in Leeds, England has now recruited 7 players from this region (list below). As noted on the RIASA website, “the program is great for students who are looking to play year round. This is something the NCAA soccer does not allow, which leaves the players with a gap in their development opportunities. RIASA fulfills this gap”.

RIASA on FACEBOOK

Naki Wells, a RIASA alum, plays for Bradford City, the Div 2 side that just made history by making it to the Capitol One Cup Final to face Swansee at Wembley – this is the old Carling Cup. They got to the Final by beating Wigin, Arsenal, Aston Villa

1. Joe Curti – from Carthage, 92 Missouri ODP State Team and Springfield SC coached by Jeremy Alumbaugh
2. Doug Stevenson – from Kansas City, 92 Missouri ODP State Team and Regional Team from Kansas City, played for KCFC and KC Wizards coached by Gareth Hughes
3. Jackson Patillo – from Willard, on 93 Missouri ODP State Team and Springfield SC coached by Jeremy Alumbaugh
4. Reid Harbach – from Springfield Catholic, 94 Missouri ODP State Team and Regional Pool Team, Springfield SC coached by Carl Rose
5. Austin Hart – from Springfield Glendale, on 94 Missouri State ODP team and a Regional Pool team Player and a Springfield SC coached by Carl Rose
6. Drake Trease – from Nixa, on 93 Missouri ODP State Pool Team, played for Springfield SC coached by Carl Rose

In addition to our local boys, Taylor Ries (95 Illinois ODP State Team and Regional ODP Pool Team) from Quincy HS (IL) will sign his letter of intent to RIASA on Feb. 7.

A nice story on the Springfield SC connection can be found on the RIASA website from October 2012.

Missael-Maturino-Carthage-Tigers-soccer

Missael Maturino Signs with Neosho County Panthers

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Missael Maturino, Carthage Tigers, with his brothers, father and Coach Adame on right
The Neosho County CC men’s soccer team has signed Missael Maturino for the 2013-2014 season at Neosho County Community College. Missael attends Carthage High School in Carthage, Missouri.

While attending Carthage high school his team won two district titles and made the state final 4 the past two seasons.

“Missael is a great young man, outstanding player on the field and excels in the classroom,” stated the Panther coaching staff.

He joins his Carthage teammate Ismael Maturino as well as Kickapoo’s Aaron Strunk and Joplin’s Griffen Locke in signing with the Panthers. Neosho County CC competes in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Barton County CC is the defending Conference and Region VI champion.

Missael Maturino:
Defensive MVP of District 12 in Missouri
1st Team All District
1st Team All Conference
Named to the Southwest 2 All Region Team
Defensive Player of the Year for the Region

concacaf-gold-cup-2013

CONCACAF Gold Cup 2013 Bypasses Kansas City

concacaf-gold-cup-2013CONCACAF announced Wednesday the 13 venues and host cities that will welcome the 2013 CONCACAF Gold Cup from July 7-28, 2013. It appears that Sporting Park is too small for the organizers.

Via CONCACAF.com – The region’s premier National Team tournament will again expand its footprint by visiting eight new world-class venues in this year’s edition: Georgia Dome in Atlanta, GA; M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore, MD; Sports Authority Field at Mile High in Denver, CO; Rentschler Field in East Hartford, CT; BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston, TX; Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens, FL; JELD-WEN Field in Portland, OR and Rio Tinto Stadium in Salt Lake City, UT. Six new Gold Cup cities are featured in this group of newcomers, including Atlanta, Baltimore, Denver, Hartford, Portland and Salt Lake City. Houston and Miami return to host the tournament, for the 5th and 9th time consecutive time, respectively.

The event will also return to five venues from its previous editions including Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, TX (2009, 2011); Soldier Field in Chicago, IL (2007, 2009, 2011); Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA (1991, 2002, 2011); Red Bull Arena in Harrison, NJ (2011) and CenturyLink Field in Seattle, WA (2005, 2009). Years in parenthesis denote Gold Cups at each venue.

With a mix of historic venues and brand new state of the art soccer facilities that average 57,000 spectators, the 2013 edition of the Gold Cup promises to provide fans both in stadium and at home with unforgettable atmospheres in world class venues. In 2011, the tournament drew more than 600,000 fans throughout 13 match-days, including nine sell-outs.

To date, eleven of the twelve participating national teams have qualified for this year’s tournament. In alphabetical order: Belize, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Martinique, Mexico, Trinidad & Tobago and the United States. The final spot will be decided on Friday in the fifth-place match of the 2013 UNCAF Copa Centroamericana between Guatemala and Panama, which is being held in Costa Rica.

Read more at CONCACAF.com

Evan-Loyd-Total-Demize-futsal

Total Demize Compete at Futsal Regional Tourney

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Evan Loyd (Greenwood) in goal at Midwest Regionals Futsal tourney

The US Youth Futsal Midwest Regional Tournament opened in St Louis on Saturday. Featuring teams competing in leagues within four hours of St Louis, Champions and Finalist in each division will receive a bid to the USYF National Tournament, February 15-18, in Overland Park, KS The Total Demize sent three boys teams this year, one in the U14 age group and two in the U17/18 age group.

There were 7 teams from the Midwest Regional who went to the national finals in 2012, 5 of them were crowned National Champions!

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The Spartans opened with a 2-15 loss to Mike Butz (don’t ask, I don’t know about this team/name) on Saturday morning, followed by another 2-15 loss to SportsTutor a few hours later. They finish Sunday with a morning match against their closest competitors, St Louis City SC followed by Chicago Red Blast in the afternoon.

A 10-6 victory over STL City on Sunday morning put points on the board for the boys as they finished their weekend with a sizzling 15-16 loss to the Chicago Blast.

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A close game, ending in a 7-9 loss opened Pool A play for the Demize boys against Kirkwood United. That was followed by a 5-12 loss in the afternoon to Avalon Black, home of the U16 National Champions from last years tournament in KC. The boys will finish in the 5th place game Sunday against TDSC 94-95.

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A pair of losses in Pool B on Saturday, first 0-15 to Lou Fusz Siafu followed by 1-11 Saturday evening to current leader SportsTutor sends the boys to the fifth place game on Sunday evening at 5:00 pm. It will be a Club scrimmage as they’ll face their U17 Total Demize counterparts.

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JP’s EPL Report, Week 23

theo-walcott
Welcome back to this weeks EPL Report. The week started with QPR playing host to Tottenham. QPR have been on better form since manager Harry Redknapp has arrived. The Rangers still sit in last place but are moving closer to the rest of the pack very quickly. The game played to an even 0-0 tie. QPR came away very happy while Tottenham disappointed dropping points in a game they need points from if they expect to stay in the top 4.

Chelsea bounced back from the disappointing QPR game with a 4-0 win over Stoke City. West Brom have been on bad form losing their last two coming into an away game vs Reading. This is a game that West Brom had to win as Reading are 2nd bottom. West Brom got ahead early as Chelsea loan man Lukaku was able to nock home a slotted cross and give the Baggies a lead in the 20th minute. Lukaku went close as he put a strong header off the upright in the 56th minute, but he was determined to score again in the 69th minute as he fired a shot from outside the box past the outstretched arms of the keeper. But Reading were not going to just give up and the got one back in the 82nd minute with a diving header from Kebe. In the 88th minute Reading was awarded a penalty and Le Fondre struck it home confidently. Reading completed the comeback in the 90th minute as a free kick came in from distance. The ball took a bounce and Pavel Pogrebnyak was able to latch onto it and chip over Ben Foster and give Reading a very important 3 points.

On Sunday at Old Trafford Liverpool were looking to come and make up some ground that West Brom had dropped the day before. Robin van Persie got the game started with another quality goal in the 19th minute as he redirected a cross into the back of the net. Cleverly went close in the 41st minute missing the frame by inches with a howler of a volley. In the 54th minute United doubled their lead with a set play that Evra was able to get his head on towards goal. The ball looked to be going wide until it struck Vidic in the face and was redirected into the net. In the 57th minute United got sloppy in the back losing the ball in a dangerous position. Gerrard was able to get a quality shot that De Gea parried wide but directly into the path of Sturridge who tapped it home. The game ended 2-1 and Man U continued their assault on the top of the table.

In a game that was full of controversy Arsenal hosted Manchester City. In the 8th minute Mike Dean decided that Koscielny’s tackle on Dzeko was a goal scoring chance and he was sent off and a penalty was awarded. Dzeko took the penalty but was saved by Szczeny and the gunners were able to stay level. The gunners held strong until they fell asleep on a set piece that and James Milner hit a stunner into the net and gave City the lead that they deserved. City continued to pressure and caught Arsenal’s defense out of shape. An initial shot from Carlos Teves was saved by Szczeny but Dzeko was there to clean up the mess and give City their second. Arsenal played with much heart in the second half creating a couple of chances. City were on their back foot and it was seen as Vincent Kompany dove into a tackle showing both cleats to Jack Wilshere and he was sent off to even the game. Arsenal did present more chances but they came to nothing and City took three huge points that they desperately needed to keep in the title race.

Upcoming matches on TV

Saturday

9:00 AM on ESPN2/3 – Man City vs Fulham. Man City should make easy work of struggling Fulham who have won only won of their last 6.

9:00 AM on FSC – Liverpool vs Norwich. This is a game that Liverpool must win if they have any aspirations of gaining traction this year.

11:30 AM on FSC – West Brom vs Aston Villa. West Brom have been slipping in games they should be winning. Have the Baggies finally been exposed this year or can they turn it around against a weak Aston Villa side.

Sunday

7:30 AM on FSC – Chelsea vs Arsenal. Chelsea have been quite poor under Rafa Benitez. Arsenal will look to capitalize on this and continue their momentum from the FA cup win over Swansea and Theo Walcott signing a 3 year deal this week.

10:00 AM on FSC – Tottenham vs Man United. Manchester United look to be in a class above everyone this year. It will be interesting if a trip to White Hart Lane can change that.

Monday

2:00 PM on ESPN3 – Southampton vs Everton. The pressure will be on Everton with Chelsea and Arsenal playing this weekend. They can either jump up into even points with Chelsea or let Arsenal jump them for 5th place.

Wednesday
1:45 PM on FSC – Arsenal vs West Ham. This is a make up game from Boxing Day that was canceled due to a threat on the tube heading to Emirates Stadium. Arsenal will need to take maximum points if they have any hopes of playing European soccer next year.