Thursday is typically a quiet day at Dallas Cup as the older age groups take a much needed day off before the knockout rounds and the non-stop action of the group stage is over. However, late in the afternoon, the fields were full of action with the U13, 14 and 15 age groups playing their quarterfinals in hopes of making it to Pizza Hut Park for their championship games on Saturday.

One of the marquis matchups of the quarterfinals was the U15 matchup between FC Dallas Premier and West Pines United of Florida. Both teams headed into the game with seven points from their three group games while WPU would be playing their fourth game in four days. It was FC Dallas who would win an extremely tight game with an Ilya Dmitriakov’s 5th minute strike giving FCD a 1-0 victory over the Florida side.

Dmitriakov decided the game when he produced a wonderful individual dribbling move through the heart of the West Pines defense and unleashed a right-footed curler from outside the box that found the net to the goalkeeper’s left. The wide open start to the game suggested that we could be in for a high scoring affair, but defenses would control the game.

FC Dallas enjoyed the bulk of the possession in the first half with Paulo Sanchez and Antonio Aguilar linking up in the 12 minute for a scoring opportunity. Sanchez’s long ball found Aguilar on the left side of the box where Aguilar easily beat the WPU left back and ripped a nice effort on goal saved well by Joseph Ghitis.

West Pines primary scoring chances came from their forwards, Romario Bernard and DeAndre Robinson as well as substitute Jonathan Semerene. The trio seemed to have a nice understanding with each other while having some nice moves in their bag of tricks, but the Dallas defense led by Milton Rosales and Kellen Reid stood strong.

The second half would be a story much like the first with Dallas holding the lion’s share of possession, but failing to craft many scoring opportunities. As the game went down to crunch time, West Pines pushed forward and earned multiple dangerous free kick opportunities much to the consternation of the FC Dallas fans and family in attendance.

With just seconds left in the game, WPU flashed a free kick all the way through the box needing just a touch to tie the game and send things to extra time. The ball would go agonizingly wide and Dmitriakov’s early goal held up to earn FC Dallas Premier a spot in the semifinals.

Having faced a side from Florida in the quarterfinal, FCD will now go across the country (so to speak, the game is still in Frisco) to face FC Golden State of California in the semifinal. FCGS defeated the India U15 National team 4-3 in their quarterfinal. In the other half of the U15 bracket, Germans Eintracht Frankfurt defeated Chicago Fire Juniors 5-2 while another Dallas area team, Solar Chelsea SC will face them in the semi, having defeated Milan FC 2-1.

FC Dallas
GK: Michael Raine
D: Milton Rosales, Daniel Mendoza, Homero Montemayor, Kellen Reid
M: Nicolas Lozada-Smit, Luis Hernandez, Dean Madden, James French
F: Ilya Dmitriakov, Antonio Aguilar

West Pines United FC
GK: Joseph Ghitis
D: Aaron Braun, Andre Blackman, Ruben Tejeda, Samuel Vinson
M: #0(name not provided), Darren Rios, Walker Dawkins, Joshua Castellanos
F: Romario Bernard, DeAndre Robinson

Thursday results
U13 Quarterfinals
Houstonians FC Red 1 Solar SC Red 0
Nomads Academy 3 Beach FC 1
Solar SC 2 Cosmos Academy West 0
Seleccion RCL Soccer 1 Sparta Premier 0

U14 Quarterfinals
Oklahoma FC 3 Texas Rush Nike 1
Fullerton Rangers 4 Lonestars SC 2
Andromeda SC White 4 Solar SC Red 1
FC Dallas Premier 2 Dallas Texans Red 0

U15 Quarterfinals
Eintracht Frankfurt 5 Chicago Fire Juniors 2
FC Golden State 4 India U15 National Team 3
FC Dallas Premier 1 West Pines United 0
Solar SC 2 Milan FC 1

Friday knockout round schedule
U13 Semifinals
Houstonians FC Red vs Seleccion RCL Soccer
Nomads Academy vs Solar SC

U14 Semifinals
Oklahoma FC vs FC Dallas Premier
Andromeda SC White vs Fullerton Rangers

U15 Semifinals
Eintracht Frankfurt vs Solar SC
FC Golden State vs FC Dallas Premier

U16 Quarterfinals
MTH PAC Tigres vs FCB Escola Monterrey
CD Chivas Guadalajara vs Cosmos Academy West
PTSC Timber Wolves vs Real Salt Lake AZ
Estudiantes Tecos vs Houston Dynamo

U17 Quarterfinals
Brasilis FC vs CFI Guadalajara
Tigres vs Prepa Tec FB
Solar Chelsea U16 vs LD Alajuelense
West Side Metro Premier vs Santa Clara Sporting

U19 Quarterfinals
Ajax Gunners vs Davis Legacy
Knowsley Youth vs Santos FC(USA)
CZ Elite vs Dallas Texans Red
Lewisham College vs Solar Chelsea
U19 Super Group Semifinals
Arsenal FC vs Eintracht Frankfurt
FC Dallas vs Tigres