"At the rate that Academica is growing, I see us becoming the Central Valley's premier amateur/semi-pro team."
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Good morning everyone! What a crazy, crazy, crazy week it's been in American Soccer! But amidst the craziness, let's pause and remember that one of our grandest traditions is taking place this weekend: 2018 US Open Cup qualifying games. And today's interview features one of them. Academica SC.
I've got to say, I'm really glad I was able to figure out this interview. Academica is a true hidden gem of a team. Been around for decades, and they have their own field. But I don't want to spoil everything. Check it out.
What if, every two to four years, there was a nationwide competition, displaying the top amateur talent from across the country while pitting states against each other in friendly competition? Well I've got an idea for that. The United States Cup. The idea is simple. All 50 state associations assemble their best amateur players into a state team, and play each other in a March Madness style knockout competition. In year one, you do things easy. Top 16 states by population are automatically seeded. The next 30 are in the qualifiers. The 4 states with the lowest population play a home and away qualifier, The First Four. After that, you randomly draw the next 16 home and away qualifying games. Those 16 winners move onto the United States Cup proper. If you make it to the second round, you automatically qualify for the next edition. Eventually you could do away with this by playing friendlies and having a coefficient. Think about. With time, this could become not just something really fun, but really important to the American Soccer Landscape. And if you take away college players, it becomes the perfect platform for displaying top adult talent to pro teams around the world. The layout for the Inaugural United States Cup, presented by American Pyramid, looks like this.
The Hopefuls
For fun, I put names in a hat, and pretended this actually happened from start to finish. Here are the results. All results were determined after a roll of dice with random hat drawings to determine match ups. With help of my cousin Greg, this nerdy game got underway.
The First Four - Result over two games, aggregate score. North Dakota 6 - Wyoming 5 Alaska 7 - Vermont 4 Qualifying - Results over two games, aggregate score Idaho 9 - Nebraska 3 Minnesota 10 - Delaware 9 Montana 9 - Wisconsin 6 Colorado 7 - Nevada 5 Alabama 10 - North Dakota 5 Alaska 10 - Missouri 5 Rhode Island 8 - Louisiana 5 Maryland 11 - West Virginia 5 Oregon 8 - Hawaii 6 South Dakota 10 - Mississippi 2 New Hampshire 10 - New Mexico 4 Oklahoma 9 - South Carolina 3 Connecticut 9 - Kentucky 5 Indiana 7 - Iowa 3 Utah 10 - Kansas 5 Maine 6 - Arkansas 4 Now we enter the tournament proper, single game elimination. PK's happened 3 times, rolled the dice to see who would win, best of 5. Opening Round Utah 4 - South Dakota 2 Alaska 5 - Rhode Island 2 Pennsylvania 4 - Massachusetts 1 Oklahoma 4 - Montana 3 Maine 6 - Illinois 3 Colorado 4 - Virginia 2 New York 3 - Ohio 2 (PK's) Florida 5 - Maryland 3 Arizona 2 - Idaho 1 (PK's) Georgia 6 - Washington 4 Tennessee 6 - California 2 North Carolina 5 - Michigan 3 Connecticut 3 - New Jersey 1 (PK's) New Hampshire 5 - Texas 2 Minnesota 5 - Indiana 1 Alabama 6 - Oregon 2 Sweet Sixteen Arizona 5 - Minnesota 4 Colorado 3 - Alaska 1 Utah 6 - North Carolina 1 New Hampshire 5 - Georgia 2 Maine 5 - Connecticut 4 Florida 6 - Pennsylvania 5 Oklahoma 5 - Tennessee 4 Alabama 6 - New York 2 Elite Eight New Hampshire 4 - Arizona 1 Florida 6 - Maine 3 Oklahoma 2 - Utah 1 (PK's) Alabama 4 - Colorado 2 Final Four Oklahoma 5 - New Hampshire 3 Florida 5 - Alabama 2 Third Place Game New Hampshire 6 - Alabama 5 Championship Florida 6 - Oklahoma 4 And there you have it. Florida are the inaugural United States Cup Champions. While this might be the nerdiest thing ever written on AP, it was actually a lot of fun. If you want a recap of the rules to play yourself, let me know. Anyway, a tournament like this has the potential to be something truly special in the American Soccer Landscape. What do you think? Is this a good idea? Would you watch it or attend the games Let me know! "We want to provide opportunity!" Today's interview is brought to you by Jack Nadel. Jack Nadel International has partnered with American Pyramid to provide teams with access to a full range of merchandise. You can now order anything from shirts and water bottles to umbrellas and pint glasses with your teams logo on it, giving your fans more cool team gear to buy than ever before. As a bonus, all American Pyramid readers get 10% off their first order of $300 or more in merchandise. Simply email Mark Mogle at [email protected] and tell him American Pyramid sent you. Minimum order quantities may apply on certain branded merchandise.
Today's interview is brought to you by MeritFit. MeritFit.co is a Kansas City based fitness and nutrition blog run by one of my good friends and certified Personal Trainer, Dustin Duewel. He played soccer for 12 years, inspiring his passion for fitness and nutrition. Check out his blog for all kinds of useful information to up your game and get ahead of the competition. Morning everyone! As the rain and clouds settle in here for the second day, I've got a quick update for you. AP is adding a lot of new contributors! Real soon, you're going to start getting a lot more content from guys across the country, covering more soccer in places like the northeast, east coast, mid west, and possibly even one of American soccer's final frontiers, Montana.
Now, to preface going into this interview, we talk a lot about the US Open Cup, which is how I heard about the team. Unfortunately, AC Brea Steaua United (the name will be explained in the interview) fell in the first qualifying game to SFV Scorpions SC by a score of 3-1. Even though they aren't in the competition anymore, Cristian gives a lot of insight into not just the importance of the US Open Cup for an amateur team, but some interesting tidbits about players and how you can have your pro status 'removed' by USSF for a small fee. Check it out. |
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