Boca Jrs 89 Boys Win Nomads Tournament Premier Division

The U17 Boca Jrs 89 boys team won a convincing Championship game against the powerful Lobitos team at the Nomads Thanksgiving event.  The players made an excellent impression on their coaches and members of the Boca family whose support throughout the games was deeply appreciated!  The team was especially impressed by the many Boca athletes that were there all the way through the final game!  Also impressed by our team’s performance were many college coaches who expressed keen interest in recruiting many of the seniors and juniors.  The accomplishment was impressive because the team played six games in three days against strong competition and every single game was on the balance which highlights the mental toughness, team unity and commitment that the young men showed in every game.

The first match was against a very good and rugged F.C. Portland team and the game ended up in a scoreless tie that belied an excellent attacking game by both teams.  Next game was against Santa Rosa United in which the Boca team fell two goals behind in the first half but came roaring back with four goals in the second half and won the game by the score of 4-2.  Then the team avenged a recent loss at the NHB tournament by posting a narrow but solid 1-0 victory over the very good Cypress squad.

Having finished top of their group Boca advanced to the Quarter Finals where they met DVSC in another close match that ended up 1-1 after regulation and Boca won it in penalties by scoring five of their six attempts with goalkeeper Zubach forcing two of the opponents to miss.

In the semi-final match Boca faced perhaps the most balanced team in LA Football Club.  Boca fell down a goal early in the first half but soon equalized and went ahead and held a 2-1 edge to advance to the final.  The most rewarding detail in this great game was the beautiful winning goal coming off a series of excellent combination passes and finished expertly by Manuel Cardenas who is one of the best examples of a team player!

The final match was against the powerful Lobitos team from Northern California, and it was actually where the Boca team was most dominant as they scored two goals early in the first half and forced the opponents to take chances to equalize in the second half. Boca counterattacked well and almost had a third that was barely thwarted by an excellent goalkeeper.  Late in the game the opponents scored a consolation goal with minutes to go but Boca preserved the championship for the remaining minutes!

This was en excellent example of teamwork in which there were so many outstanding performances in each game.  Boca had no substitutes in goal or at fullback but the young men stood firm!  At forward and midfield almost any combination seemed to click as we only had a total of three substitutes and everyone showed a great deal of unselfishness and willingness to help the team at any position!  It was a great pleasure to see the joy of the exhausted players receiving their trophy and medals after a challenging but rewarding weekend!  The team’s effort was epitomized by team captain Mustapha Chopan who played every minute of every game and almost passed out in complete exhaustion after the final whistle completely.  He quickly regained his wits after a few bites of cookies and chocolate candy!  Talk about hypoglycemia!

The Champions

• Goalkeeper: Michael Zubach
• Forwards: Nate Curry, Ade Akinsanya, Alex Acosta
• Midfielders: Navid Torabian, Sam Chen, Michael Strobel, Mustapha Chopan, Francisco Corona, Manuel Cardenas
• Backs: Fernando DeAlba, Michael Ruedy, Julian Vallejo, Sean Divoky