FRISCO, TEXAS  - Good Friday crowds were large here at Pizza Hut Park for the 30th Dallas Cup, and six teams booked their ticket to three Saturday finals in the prestigious tournament.

Many of the roars that echoed across Pizza Hut Park were for a pair of teams coached by Dallas Texans’ coach Marcio Leite, whose U13 and U14 teams both qualified for Saturday’s final. While Leite manned the bench for the 13s, fellow Texans coaches David Hudgell and Hassan Nazari (the club director) stood by the 14s in their win.

The U13 squad’s match against English side Southampton was even for much of the first half, but Erick Chapa’s first time strike but Texans up 1-0. Ian Sadler had been denied by a good save from Southampton goalkeeper Lewis Noice, and Texans’ defender Aaron Meyer made a vital tackle in the penalty to avert a Southampton scoring chance.

Texans made it 2-0 just before the half when Francisco Rodriguez sent in a good serve and Anthony Jeffries met it with an equally adept header for the goal.

In the 2nd half Christian Ramirez was showing a lot of skill for Texans, causing the English defense a lot of problems. A third goal came when Chapa put in some effort to keep a ball alive in the penalty area, then touched it to Sadler who drove home a shot. Chapa scored the fourth and final goal for Texans when he beat the goalkeeper to an errant pass, rounded him and sidefooted home.

Texans will play Southern California giants West Coast FC in the final.

Leite said the win was a collective effort.

“It was a team effort. Everybody stepped up and we showed we can compete against anybody around the world,” Leite said. “From the goalkeeper up everybody stepped up and did what we needed to do. We created a lot of opportunities and I think we deserved the result.”

Defender Aaron Meyer said the group was well organized.

“We made sure we played some hard defense and didn’t have any mistakes, and then just get it up to Eric and Christian,” Meyer said. “That was probably our best game playing with each other. It was a tough game and we did well. We just need to keep playing our hearts out.”

Chapa, who scored five goals in one group stage match, said the team works well together.

“For the last six or seven months Marcio’s had us working on passing the ball and moving it well,” he said. “We’ve been getting better at getting the ball to different players. We’ve bonded with ourselves pretty good and the guest players we’ve had have been really good. I’m excited about playing in the stadium tomorrow.”

Strikers beat Albion on PKs

In a U14 semifinal, Juan  Sanchez’s Irvine Strikers scored a late goal to force overtime and then prevailed on penalty kicks against Noah Gins’ Albion SC squad.

The match, possibly because of high winds and definitely due to the teams having played four matches in five days, was pretty flat for most of the first half. Strikers’ winger Marco-Antonio Delgado hit a good shot that Albion goalkeeper Colin Webb did well to catch. Delgado then hit a good cross that Luis Flores headed off the crossbar. Delgado had a near miss from a wide angle later in the half, while Flores’ effort was well-saved again by Webb, who also denied Vincent Reyes.

In the 2nd half, Albion’s U15 Boys National Team forward Oscar Ortega began to stretch his legs a bit, giving the Strikers’ defenders plenty of work to do in trying to contain him. One weaving run ended with a rasping shot that Strikers’ goalkeeper Steven Delgado did well to tip over the bar. Delgado then caught a thundering drive off the foot of Albion’s Dominic Chavez.

Albion continued to flourish and Ortega made another breakthrough into the area before Reyes made a good tackle. This was a bad foreboding for Strikers, and Andrew Murphy played a good pass for Ortega, who finished well to give Albion a 1-0 lead.

The Strikers’ team, who will be moving as a group of Los Angeles FC Chelsea at the end of the season, began pushing forward furiously as regulation time neared an end. Albion defender Patrick Barba was showing some real quality, but Strikers managed to just scratch and claw for a tying goal, with Marco-Antonio Delgado scoring from a scramble.

Both teams created chances in the overtime. Ortega had a shot saved by Delgado after a weaving run into the area. Marco-Antonio Delgado hit a great cross for Strikers that Albion’s Shane Mahvi did well to clear out. Delgado then had a shot saved by Webb and another effort that came crashing off the bar.

The match then went to penalties and Steven Delgado came up with a vital save for Strikers, after which Marco-Antonio Delgado hit the winning spot kick, prompting an impromptu bunny hop of a celebration for Sanchez’s team.


U13 Semifinals
Dallas Texans Red 4, Southampton FC 0
(See above match report)

West Coast FC 4, Legends FC 0
The Southern California side is the talk of the tournament with a 15-0 goal difference through five matches.

Final (Saturday): West Coast FC vs. Dallas Texans Red

U14 Semifinals
Dallas Texans 2, CESA Premier 0

(The win means Texans coach Marcio Leite will have two teams in finals at the PHP Stadium Saturday

Irvine Strikers 1, Albion White 1
(Strikers advance on penalties, 4-3 – see above match report)

Final (Saturday): Dallas Texans vs. Irvine Strikers

U15  Semifinals
Los Angeles FC Chelsea 1, Pumas 0
(The match marks LAFC’s fourth consecutive shutout)

Santa Clara Sporting 2, Monterrey 0
(Julio Morales and David Perez scored for the Northern California side)

Final (Saturday): Los Angeles FC Chelsea vs. Santa Clara Sporting

U16 Quarterfinals

Santa Clara Sporting (CA) 3, Dallas Texans-Houston 0

South Bay Force (CA) 3, Ajax Gunners (CN) 3
(Ajax Gunners advance on penalties)

Arsenal FC (CA) 3, Club Morumbi (MX) 0

Real So Cal White (CA) 1, Dallas Texans 0

Semifinals (Saturday)
Santa Clara Sporting vs. Real So Cal White
Ajax Gunners vs. Arsenal FC

U17 Quarterfinals
Lonestar Red (TX) 2, Tigres (MX) 1

CF Monterrey (MX) 1, Oakville Gunners (CN) 0

Chicago Magic AS Monaco Academy 3, FC Dallas U16 Academy 1
This match was played before a spirited crowd at PHP. Harry Shipp scored a great goal for Todd Bailey’s Magic.

CZ Elite (CA) 2, Andromeda U16 Academy (TX) 1
(Academy teams are finding the going rough in this age group)

Semifinals (Saturday)
Lonestar SC vs. CZ Elite
Chicago Magic AS Monaco Academy vs. Monterrey

U19 Quarterfinals
Miami FC Kendall Academy (FL) 1, North Texas Strikers 0
FC Dallas U18 Academy 3, NV Fusion 2
Dallas Texans U18 Academy 3, Royal Navy (UK) 1
Solar SC U18 Academy (TX) 3, Shattuck St. Marys (MN) 1

Semifinals (Saturday)
Miami FC Kendall U18 Academy vs. Solar SC U18 Academy
FC Dallas Juniors U18 Academy vs. Dallas Texans U18 Academy

SuperGroup Semifinals
Eintracht Frankfurt (GE) vs. Vancouver Whitecaps (CN)
Manchester City (UK) vs. Sao Paulo FC (BR)