- John Carlton
This week's Gordon Jago Super Group featured some exciting matches, a lot of goals, and the seperation of the wheat from the chaff. On Wednesday, two Super Group matches took place simultaneously on Field 6, where FC Barcelona took on Costa Rican side Club Sport Cartagines, while German outfit Eintract Frankfurt took on the Brazilians from Coritiba FC on Field 7. Because I missed Barcelona's first match I decided to live tweet their match against Cartagines.
The day was cloudy and cooler with mild wind. Barcelona brought their Juvenil B team, a collection of U17 players in a Super Group that features many 18 year-olds. Cartagines were an unknown commodity coming into Dallas Cup, but have enough size and ability to compete. Barca really took the game to Cartagines, attacking early and often. In the first 35 minutes Barcelona took a 3 goal commanding lead. No. 9 Alejandro Lopez, a striker that looks ready to play at a high level, got one and speedy flanker No. 22 Alain Richard Ebwelle put another one past the Cartagines' netminder, Luis Rodriguez. Barcelona spent the rest of the half coming in waves crashing on their opponents penalty area. Barcelona went on to win 4-2.
Due to wifi issues interrupting my live tweeting, and seeing as Barcelona had their game well in hand, I turned my attention to the more interesting match featuring Eintracht Frankfurt and Coritiba FC on the adjacent Field 6. There were about 150 people crowding the sidelines for this one. Frankfurt is a big team, with size and athleticism all over the field. Brazil matched their size in most positions but had that extra flair one expects from the samba nation.
The consensus of observers this week is that Eintracht Frankfurt look the class of the Super Group, but Coritiba proved to be their best opponent of the tournament so far. The match ended in a 2-2 draw, but Frankfurt will advance to the Super Group championship game after defeating Arsenal FC on Friday evening, 2-0.
In the other semifinal, Mexico's Tigres dismantled FC Dallas U17/U18 Academy, 5-0, to advance to the championship game. I covered the Tigres match against Real Salt Lake (AZ) Academy on Sunday, and they are a very good attacking side who have grown in confidence as the tournament has gone on. The championship game will be a classic match up between the Latin style of football that is taught and inculcated in Mexico and the technical, physical approach favored in Germany.
Other news and notes from Dallas Cup XXXII:
- FoxSoccer.tv is streaming Sunday's Gordon Jago Super Group championship game.
- Saturday has lots of action as the younger age groups have their championship games.
- Saturday's U15 championship game is between local sides Solar SC and FC Dallas Premier. Premier was not even invited to the tournament until 2 days before it started.
- The India U15 National Team advanced to the quarterfinal of their group, ultimately losing to FC Golden State.
I will be live tweeting the Super Group championship game, 7pm EDT on Sunday. Follow me on Twitter @Archtype for more observations of the Dallas Cup this weekend.
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