Our 2006 FUTSOC FUTALAN (U16) boys squad participated in the Plantation Thanksgiving Classic this last weekend. Playing at different venues around the county, our boys played older and more experienced teams most successfully.

Opening with an early morning match against a strong experienced Weston Select U16, we battled back and forth in exchanging leads until we closed the match at a 3::3 tie on the strength of a superb hat trick by striker Eduar Garcia. The match was even and showed the enormous potential of our young squad (despite having more than half the team two years younger than our respected opponents).

In the second match we competed against a large and fast Adrestia FC team from Miami, who had opened their tournament with a 5::0 thrashing of their initial opponent. A strong first quarter of the match, saw the opponent take advantage of our very lethargic start, forcing us into error after error and gradually take advantage of our continual mistakes to total four goals off defensive delivery errors. A match which showed little from our squad, which appeared tired and listless and even uninspired, resulted in a disappointing final score of 0::4.

The third match of the tournament (our final one since we were out of the points) displayed a total rebound from the prior day’s disaster. An opening goal for the opponent, resulting from a hand ball in the penalty area, gave our opponent an initial 0::1 goal lead, which would hold until our very talented striker Eduar Garcia tied the score on a fantastic header finish to the left of the outstretched hands of the keeper, equalizing the match at 1::1. The opponent further added to their tally with a second penalty kick (and an ejection of our player with a red card on a hand ball) and then a third goal on a long shot which caught our keeper out of position. The half ended 1::3 in favor of our tough opponent’s favor.

The second half saw both teams battling back and forth with tough exchange in the midfield, until a breakaway run by midfielder Edgar Garcia sent a ball across the goal mouth, which our talented, young forward Galo Molentino, tapped it in for the second goal for our team. The game continued back and forth with close opportunities for both squads and the games’ final score resulted in a 3::2 victory for the talented Miami FC squad. This match proved to be an excellent one for our young boys, who were also playing with only ten (10) men since midway in the first half.

We are immensely proud of our team’s efforts in this their first matches of the year as well as playing up between one and two age categories. The boys were relentless, fierce, and unyielding to the very end. You must be enormously proud of yourselves, for you have also made the coaches proud…and you have made your entire club, FUTSOC, most proud!

Congratulations on such fine efforts during the entire event.