LAKEWOOD RANCH, Fla. — The Development Academy Showcase is a massive production, stretching broadly across 22 fields at The Premier Sports Campus just outside of Bradenton. The event, which annually draws scores of scouts from every corner of the country, is one of the highlights of the DA season and a chance for players to cement their status as ones to watch.

The showcase officially got its start Wednesday with U18 squads. And it did not disappoint. Onlookers blanketed the fields, some looking for the next big recruit, others looking for the next Clint Dempsey.

The event opened with 40 games on a warm day that saw temperatures inch into the 80’s to make things difficult on teams used to sparring in chillier winter climates at this time of year. Still, the day produced high theater and a number of tantalizing matchups. Here are a few of the best games from a day jam-packed with action.

IMG Academy 1-1 New York Red Bulls

The Red Bulls assuredly came to Florida with confidence to burn. They’re 7-0-2 in their nine league games so far this season, and they’ve outscored foes a combined 28-8. When paired with the fact that they’re the defending U18 national champs, they were hard to overlook. Matched up against an IMG Academy side that’s found life difficult in the Development Academy this season, the Red Bulls had every reason to be assured, especially after they bagged the opening goal on Wednesday. But IMG fought back and gutted out a deserved draw after a wide open second half.

The most fascinating battle here was in the midfield. NYRB owns one of the best creative midfielders in the Academy in Georgetown(m) commit Arun Basuljevic, a crafty player with four goals in his six academy games this season. Meanwhile, IMG Academy starts arguably the best holding midfielder in the Academy in Shaq Moore, who’s on the radar for the U20 MNT. Moore and Basuljevic, who have history after having played together in a various stints with the national team and elsewhere, locked horns over the course of the afternoon with neither emerging as the clear winner.

“They know each other. They’ve been in places together, it’s always that way,” IMG coach Roberto DaSilva said. “I just told (Moore) that he has to take charge of the midfield.”

Basuljevic converted first when IMG was called for a handball in the box about 15 minutes into the game. Basuljevic drove the penalty hard and to the keeper’s left to give the Red Bulls a 1-0 edge they seemed to deserve. But Moore’s dutiful work in the middle put the clamps on the bleeding. That allowed IMG to cast its eyes forward, which led to its equalizer later in the half.

NYRB was enjoying a solid spell of possession about 10 minutes after scoring when IMG poked loose a ball and went on a lightning-fast counter. Roberto Anderson got about 35 yards from goal until being held up by a defender, but he was able to swing out of the tackle just in time to feather a leading pass to Christian Boorom. With only one man to beat, Boorom knifed inside his marker and then calmly finished far post. While the rest of the game turned into an inconclusive battle for the midfield between Moore and Basuljevic and his creative partner in crime Chris Lema, it was the last of the goals for the afternoon.

“It was just a counter,” DaSilva said. “When you win the ball, they’re off balance. Any team, when you win the ball you’re vulnerable. So when you look for those forward passes and forward runs, you can get something done. And that’s exactly what we did.”

Shattuck St. Mary’s 0-0 Real Salt Lake-AZ

A choppy start never quite blossomed into a smooth contest, as both of these sides struggled inconclusively for the breakthrough. It didn’t help that by the time the teams kicked off at 1:15 p.m., the sun had baked the dew off the grass to slow down the ball and created a hot enough atmosphere that play became tough in the second half.

Shattuck St. Mary’s made a run to the U18 national title game last July, and while a number of those key pieces were gone, a few remained. One is statuesque forward Ricardo Lopez-Espin, a physical specimen who troubled RSL’s smaller center backs at times. But more often than not, he was pushed outside of the box and was forced to take his shots from inefficient distances. In the absence of many runs that yielded close-in opportunities, SSM tried in vain to find the breakthrough.

That wasn’t helped by an early injury to Cameroonian attacker Lesley Nchanji, one of the team’s most creative and troublesome players. After he went out with an apparent ankle injury inside the first 10 minutes, SSM struggled to cope.

“Bad tackle, and the trailing leg got him and put him out,” SSM coach Tim Carter said. “It was bad, that tackle. We lost him and had to shift, and because of that we kind of lost the plot there for a little while.”

Meanwhile, RSL owned the lion’s share of possession and had more substantive scoring chances. While prized winger Brooks Lennon found the going tough on the left, he was able to test SSM’s back line several times as the game wore on and SSM’s back line frayed with overuse. With about 15 minutes left in the game, he scurried to the end line and centered for Eric Carbajal, who got hold of his shot but ripped it directly at the keeper, who had an easy save. Lennon finished a long run about five minutes later by pinching inside and whipping off a shot, but keeper Joseph Melong sprawled to his left to keep it out.

No goals here, but a learning experience for both sides.

“Real Salt Lake is a good team,” Carter said. “They had more of the possession than we had. We had at times to defend very deep in the second half particularly and looked to try to get to goal on a break. They had chances they couldn’t put away, where if one had gone it would’ve changed the complexity of the game.” 

Other noteworthy results

Solar Chelsea 3-2 U.S. U17 MNT

South Carolina United Battery 4-3 BSC CT

FC Dallas 4-4 New England Revolution

Richmond Strikers 4-7 Chivas USA

Indiana Fire 3-5 De Anza Force

Houston Dynamo 2-2 Seattle Sounders

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