Mid Atlantic Match-up Opens SYL Season
Match Fit Academy to test premier Super Y-League Club
 Tuesday, March 20
NEWARK, NJ – Despite the snow remaining from last week’s storm and the estimated temperature of 37° tomorrow evening, Match Fit Academy and Red Bull New York will kick-off the 2007 Super Y-League season with the first U15 boys’ action since the 2006 North American Finals. The match will be held at Red Bull New York’s Rutgers Field in Newark, New Jersey.
“It’s up to the boys to get their adrenaline flowing early and keep their toes warm throughout,” said Match Fit Academy Director of Coaching and U15 Boys Head Coach Malcolm Murphy. “I am not worried about the weather. Both sides have to play in those conditions. Hopefully, we can be better prepared mentally and use it to our advantage.”
Match Fit Academy is coming off a 2006 U14 season that left them in the middle of the mighty Mid Atlantic pack at seasons end. They finished with a record of 4-7-4.
“We are basically in the middle of our preparations for the upcoming season,” said Murphy. “But we are also confident that we can go out tomorrow and get a result.”
New York enters Wednesday’s match as the flagship squad of the 2006 Red Bull fleet. The side earned a 10-2-3 record during the regular season before going 4-1 through North American Finals play. They also upheld the recent staple of Red Bull soccer, team defense, by allowing only four goals in five games while in Tampa, FL. By doing so the 2006 U14’s, the same side taking the field tomorrow as the 2007 Red Bull New York U15’s, complied the most productive season for the Red Bull club during the 2006 season. And despite falling to a formidable Chicago Magic side 2-1 in the U14 final, the Red Bulls established themselves as one of the premier teams in the country at that age level.
“I am sure our boys will be up for this match because it is the youth side of Red Bull New York,” said Murphy. “They will also be up because it is a small community between the better players in the area. They know one another from ODP and Super Y-League, various other cups and tournaments.”
“The Super Y-League is the way of the future,” added Murphy. “This is the place that most resembles the European system. I like my games one at a time. I like playing matches when you know your players are all as fit as possible. These tournaments we go to are all about survival of the fittest, not who is the better side. I can’t wait until the Super Y-League develops into a year round thing because this game, for me, is about who is better for 90 minutes. I love the prolonged attitude of the game. It is how I was brought up in the game. You work your problems out on the pitch, not come out for five minutes and work it out and go back in. The rules of the Super Y-League mimic the rules of the professional game for a reason. You develop physically and mentally stronger players. And there is a great future of the game in the U.S. developing inside the Super Y-League. But I am 55 years old. I want to be part of the Super Y-League when it is a year-round, full-on system, with the top clubs in the country battling it out throughout the season. It gets better each season. I just want it A.S.A.P.”
As tomorrow’s match between Red Bull New York and Match Fit Academy trudges on despite the residual snow and cold of March – so does the progress of soccer in North America. The innovative youth system of the Super Y-League embarks upon its eighth season tomorrow, despite the politics and conflicting principles that surround the youth game for one reason, or, rather, one ideal shared by all: “For the good of the game.”
|
|
