GROUP A: the first stadium match to watch will pit an unbeaten Westchester side against the top defense in the New England region – Black Watch SC has a 1.36 GAA. GROUP B: Mountain WFC is an experienced North American Finals team having advanced to the semifinals last season. In facing two far-south teams last season, this otherwise formidable side’s only setbacks came against a Southern Californian side and a team from Florida (RSL). Alpharetta United (Georgia) is the furthest south they will get in the group faze of their 2009 tournament. In a wide-open GROUP C, look for the streakiest teams. MPS Crusaders are coming in hot, unbeaten in their last six. They get TSF Academy, who has won seven-straight, on day three of group play. GROUP D: Experience collides when Kalamazoo and the New Jersey Stallions square off in Group D on Sunday, November 22. Both teams were semifinalists in the 2007 U13 boys North American Finals.

Rule number one at the North American Finals is that every team is dangerous. On the second day of GROUP A action, two USL youth affiliate clubs Real (USL-2) and MPS Portland (PDL) meet with a lot to prove. On top of that these two clubs get the advantage of watching TSF and Kendall play their hearts out later that night in the 2009 SoccerFest Showcase Match. The Stallions are the only repeat finalist in GROUP B. They face the only other unbeaten team in their group, Alpharetta United, on day one. The Fort Wayne Fever completed a 1-1-1 first-run in their U16 North American Finals last season. So did Black Watch SC. They meet in a GROUP C battle on the second day of group play. Finally, day three pits the unbeaten Lynx, who can score goals (over four per game) against the also unbeaten Royals, who can score goals too (2.9 per game). This GROUP D match should be well attended.

North American Finals Features
The USL Super Y-League North American Finals is the culmination of season-long play-in process for the largest youth league in North America. Teams from Vancouver, British Columbia annually face squads from Miami, Florida, a distance of more than 3,450 miles.

A total of 140 teams participate in 10 age/gender divisions. The top 16 boys teams stemming from six regions of the US and Canada compete in one match per day for five days until team is crowned the top U13-U17 team in the SYL. Throughout the regular season, players are scouted by opposing coaches and recommended for inclusion in ODP programs each spring. That same scouting process is ramped up during the North American Finals by the addition of 60 college scouts.

Alternative to other top tournaments throughout the United States, teams must play and show well throughout the regular season to gain entry to the North American Finals. For example, the combined record of U13 boys teams in this season’s North American Finals is 139-22-18. Teams in the U13 division played an average of 11.2 games during the regular season and were, at worst the fifth-best team from a 15-team division.

Aside from the high level of competition and melting pot atmosphere on the field, the North American Finals offers locals the chance to participate in a five-a-side Futsal tournament. All age groups and genders are included, boosting the number of teams attending the North American Finals near the 200 mark.

The 2008 North American Finals included a power-soccer (wheelchair) demonstration in the Players’ Village, an area that includes everything-soccer (merchandise, video games, coaching symposiums, live music, Fox Soccer Channel taping sessions and food) for players and parents to mingle with the Futsal teams and others attending the tournament.

Josmer Altidore played in the North American Finals, as did hundreds of soon-to-be professionals (Bryan Arguez) and standout collegiate (Dilly Duka/Ingrid Wells) players. George Malki (US Residency Program, 2008) was identified for inclusion in US National Team Programs through the North American Finals.

Another positive aspect of the North American Finals is the presence of USL’s 125+ professional and amateur club officials during the event, bringing together a top-to-bottom pyramid of soccer development otherwise unseen on a national scale in the US.