In a closed market, it’s hard to find a path to the top. In the U.S. Soccer world, there are very few viable paths to the top for players that can often be overlooked for the customary reasons: too small, too slow, etc. 

For the USA Soccer Stars squad, the path to the pinnacle of soccer is blocked through the traditional path in soccer so the team is off pursuing the road less traveled. Juan Lopez, the head coach of the team, has been plugging away at this pursuit for some time. 

In 2012, Lopez took a group of players from Southern California clubs to the MIC Cup in Barcelona. MIC Cup is regarded as one of the best youth soccer tournaments in the world. Messi, Neymar, Sergio Busquets, Marcelo, and countless other greats played in the competition in their youth days. USA Soccer Stars made it to the semifinal stage of the competition, which is still the best finish for U.S. club at the event. 

Since then, Lopez has been trying to get exposure for his players through international events at the most prestigious events in the World. Recently, the USA Soccer Stars traveled to Tijuana for a pair of games against Club Tijuana. The USA Soccer Stars 2000 team defeated Xolos 1-0 at Estadio Caliente. 

“The result was phenomenal,” Lopez told TopDrawerSoccer. “The Xolos Academy did not know what to do or adjust [against our high pressure]. The Xolos team is one best teams we have face. They have some national Mexican players in the team.”

Dylan Robinson (Cathedral High School) scored the lone goal of the game. Lopez also said Manuel Manuel Lopez had a strong game. He had been training with the Xolos Academy prior to the game, but played with his normal club team during the friendly. 

Lopez said that Xolos are planning to invite five or six players down to Tijuana in the future for an extended trial. The coach is hoping that these opportunities for his players will open up doors for the young men to pursue their talents on the soccer field abroad since the opportunity for them is not readily available in domestic leagues. 

A younger squad also accompanied Lopez to Tijuana. The team, from the 2002 age group, defeated Club Tijuana 2-0 in a friendly as well. Lopez said that the success of USA Soccer Stars has earned attention from a number of different clubs and competitions across the globe. Real Madrid extended an invite to the club to come to a tournament in Madrid based of the teams’ previous successes. 

USA Soccer Stars 2000 Roster: Manuel Manuel Lopez, Damian Vasquez, Sebastian Barba, Jaime Gutierrez, Braulio Roque, Ben Garcia, Erwin Martinez, Zackary Bayola, Nicholas Pavez, Hector Jimenez, Lucas Holopainen, Lucas Rosales, Raffi Margossian, Evan Vance, Matheus Cole, Dylan Robinson, Hector Jimenez, Sebastian Caro, Jaime Gutierrez, Daniel Martinez, Lucas  Rosales

Paris Adventure 

FC Golden State U13 finished as semifinalist at the 2016 Volkswagen Junior World Masters. FC Golden State qualified for the event after winning the 2015 Nomads Thanksgiving Tournament in the U12 age group. 

The Southern California squad defeated the representatives from France and Senegal in group play. FC Golden State played to draws against Russia and Switzerland, which was enough to send the team through to the quarterfinal round as the second place team from the group. 

FC Golden State defeated the squad from Italy 1-0 in the quarterfinal fixture, but lost in the semifinals 2-1 to SK Sturm Graz. Hertha Berlin won the competition with a 1-0 result against SK Strurm in the final. 

FC Golden State 04 Roster: Jose Alcala, Rafael Avalos, Kai Beam, Maximiliano Lopez-Ornelas, Desmond Silva, Diego Alvarado, Alejandro Covarrubias-Santillan, Ramon Rosales, Jaezy Zavala, Kenneth Lee, Martin Arellanos, Ivan Hernandez, Brian Sanchez

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