2017 MANCHESTER CITY CUP RECAP

Manchester City Cup A Huge Success in San Diego

The 3rd annual Manchester City Cup hosted by Surf Cup Sports welcomed top athletes and teams for a great weekend of youth soccer action. 

Related Article: San Diego Surf SC Scores Big at Man City Cup

Youth Soccer News: The 2017 edition of the 2017 Manchester City Cup Presented by Nexen Tire was held over Memorial Day weekend at the SoCal Sports Complex in Oceanside and Surf Cup Sports Park in Del Mar.

The 3rd annual Manchester City Cup was a huge success, attracting over 25,000 soccer fans to watch great youth soccer action.

The tournament, which has steadily grown over the past three years, had to turn away teams as they received an overwhelming number of applications, selecting the top 422 teams to participate.  The increase in participation reflects a 33% year-over-year growth.

The world-class youth tournament has grown significantly in the last three years — with only 238 teams registering for the inaugural tournament in 2015, the first year of the joint Manchester City / San Diego Surf SC partnership.

In 2017, the event welcomed teams, spectators and scouts from across the country and abroad, including academy teams from England and Mexico.

In fact, youth soccer teams from Northern California, Arizona, Washington, New Mexico, Hawaii, Colorado, Texas, Utah, Nevada traveled to San Diego for this tournament as well as 5 teams from Mexico and two from England.

Hosted by Surf Cup Sports, the professionally organized youth soccer tournament received a lot of local publicity — ABC, NBC and KUSI all sent TV crews to the fields — and Univision Deportes set up their multi-camera TV crew and televised 9 SuperGroup matches.

“Our partnership with Manchester City is helping grow the game of soccer in the USA,” said Jeremy McDonald, President of San Diego Surf SC. “This is about playing great soccer, competing and kids having fun.”

“Univision broadcasting the Man City Cup’s SuperGroup matches brings a new level of exposure to this high quality, internationally acclaimed youth soccer tournament,” says McDonald, who is also Vice-President of Surf Cup Sports.

“Soccer fans were able to watch these highly competitive games on TV and see that they were played on pristine soccer fields that are as good, or better, than in any professional stadium.”

The highly competitive international SuperGroup included academy teams from Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspurs, Club América, LA Galaxy, Seattle Sounders, San Jose Earthquakes, Houston Texans, Crossfire Premier, Pateadores SC, FC Golden State, San Diego Surf and the 2016 defending champions Xolos Academy — who earned the title of Champions again this year.

The Manchester City Cup also included a youth soccer coaching workshop with Manchester City Academy Director Mark Allen — with both an on-field and workshop session, Allen shared his insights on the game, developing players who want to win and the coaching philosophies implemented within the English club.

“Our philosophy is very simple,” said Allen. “That is to deliver comprehensive football education. We make sure our values at the club live every day of the week. Staff excellence – I think we are very fortunate at Manchester City. We have leaders on the field in everything we do.”

Allen also discussed the importance of setting goals for players and communicating with their parents as they advance through your club. He also addressed the topic of professionalism, which starts with the way players present themselves when they travel for matches and tournaments.

“We like to think we set the benchmark for standards and conduct in terms of boys’ behavior — such as on a trip like this,” said Allen.

“They’re representing the football club – the importance of how they dress, how they carry themselves and to always be respectful is stressed. Every player in the academy, whether he is U9 or U23, has an individual plan. So every 12 weeks we review the player. That review is presented with the player and the coaching staff. A report is made of that and the parents get to see it.”

The Manchester City Cup’s 2002 International SuperGroup consisted of top English premier academy teams battling MLS academies from the LA Galaxy, San Jose Earthquakes and Seattle Sounders as well as U.S. Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) clubs along with two top teams from Mexico.

Manchester City and Surf SC battled on the field in the Match of the Day and the match was tied going into a PK finish which was won by the EPL Academy.

Only Xolos, Club America, Tottenham Hotspurs and Seattle Sounders emerged from group play to compete in the finals.

Seattle Sounders defeated Tottenham Hotspurs 3-2 to secure 3rd place in this prestigious tournament.

2002 SuperGroup Final between two La Liga teams:

The SuperGroup final featured two La Liga youth academy sides facing each other. The Tijuana Xolos were crowned champions of the 2002 SuperGroup as the Mexican side hoisted another international youth title in a 2-1 victory over Club América in front of nearly 2,500 fans.

“It was a good game, but these kids are worthy of a final and we were able to come out with the title,” said head coach Frankie Oviedo.

“It was very stressful, honestly. Very tiring, but these are the tournaments that help us grow as coaches and players. We want to thank Manchester City and Surf Cup Sports for this competition, and we hope there will be more tournaments.”

It was the second time the Xoloitzcuintles were crowned champions at this year’s tournament, which included a title in the U13 Academy group.

A Scout’s Perspective:

The event also welcomed top college and MLS scouts as well as coaches from U.S. Soccer who were evaluating promising talent.

“Manchester City Cup was a great opportunity for American DA clubs to play against international competition,” said Michael Ndoumbe, U.S. Soccer scout. “It gave us (US Soccer) an opportunity so see and measure our DA club in the B02 age group against European and South American professional youth teams from a technical, tactical, psychological and physical aspects.

“The gap is definitely getting smaller. Our teams were able to compete tactically, physically and got good results. I thought overall from a mental aspect we could match their concentration level but just periodically,” said Ndoumbe.

“From a technical aspect most of the time in the 2nd half you could still see a lot of breakdowns. Most of our DA teams started very well in games against their international oppositions but had glimpses of times where they lost their focus and made simple mistakes,” said Ndoumbe.

“Mistakes that —  in regular DA games — you can get away with but against International pro youth teams, you get punished.”

To ensure professional tournament action, top officials were recruited to officiate matches in all age levels as quality on the pitch remained of primary importance to all in the tournament.

“The selected referees for this tournament were among the best male and female referees in the country,” said George Noujaim, Cal South State Referee Administrator.

Soccer is big business and successful youth soccer tournaments can generate big money for the area. As the 2017 event is over, the future is already being planned.

“Surf Cup Sports events always provides a huge economic boost to our region and bringing in youth soccer top tier academy teams from England and Mexico, as well as from across the USA, is just the beginning,” said McDonald. We look forward to the continued success and growth of the Man City Cup.”

Boys Winners

Girls Winners

Here is a video recap of the 2017 Manchester City Cup Presented by Nexen Tire.