MLS D.C. United

D.C. United Academy Update

Published on May 28, 2008 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
D.C. United News Release


U17 Clubs World Cup: The Academy team competing in the international youth competition, the 4th Clubs Youth World Cup, arrived Monday morning in Spain with a squad made up of players from both the Under 16 and Under 18 Academy teams. D.C. United fell 3-2 to RCD Espanyol de Barcelona in their first match-up on Tuesday.

After Espanyol got on the scoreboard first, Chris Hegngi collected a pass from Marcus Douglas to even up the score heading into halftime. In the second half Espanyol went up 3-1 and United was able to keep it competitive, with Matt Oduaran scoring late in the game. However, D.C. was unable to find the back of the net again and the game ended 3-2.

This prestigious competition brings together the most important youth teams from all over the world, including clubs such as Spain's Real Madrid and FC Barcelona, Italy's Torino FC, Mexico's Deportivo Cruz Azul and last year's winner Sao Paulo FC from Brazil. This is D.C. United's second time in the competition, having participated in the Cup in 2006.

"We created many scoring opportunities and were unlucky not to come away with a victory," said United's Director of Youth Development John Maessner. "We played very well for our first game considering the travel and the circumstances and we are very proud of all of our players."

United will next face Spain's Sevilla FC on Thursday, May 29th at Ciudad Real and Serbia's FK Partizan on Saturday, May 31st at Daimiel for the chance to continue on to the next round. The top four teams qualify for the 2009 Clubs Youth World Cup.

"With a win Thursday we keep our chances of going through to the next round alive," Maessner said. "We feel very confident that our boys will respond well and have an even better performance than they had tonight."

D.C. United Academy results: With players from both the Under-16 and Under-18 squads in Spain for the Clubs World Cup, D.C. United's Academy teams traveled to Rockford, Illinois to play in the Academy Spring Showcase against the Colorado Rush and DeAnza on May 24-25.

The U16s could not get a win, falling on Saturday, May 24 against the Colorado Rush 2-1, with Steven Mashinski scoring the only United goal. Then on Sunday, they fell 3-0 to Californian side DeAnza.

"It was very disappointing to lose two games, however, it was great to see some of the younger players get in and play well," said U16 Academy Coach Richie Burke. "In conversations with National Team staff, they were very pleased to see a young forward line of a 13 year old, a 14 year old and a 15 year old. The three youngest players were playing on our forward line in the first half. Although the majority of our stronger players are in Spain for the Clubs World Cup, there were still inspired performances from team leaders Michael Funes, Bayron Gudiel, Dominick Yin and Steven Mashinski."

The U18 squad fared better, defeating the Colorado Rush 3-0 on Saturday thanks to goals from Prince Lapnet, Danillo Lima and Nikolaj Kapus. Sunday also brought a win, coming from behind to beat DeAnza 4-1. Danny Shannon, Danillo Lima, Nikolaj Kapus and Prince Lapnet all scored in this victory.

"Two great results from the 18s," said U18 Assistant Coach Judah Cooks. "A new group of players gelled very well together and got a well-deserved 6 points. We got some of our older players back from college and this helped our younger players to grow and learn. We are very excited to see this group play more together in the future."

Check out the D.C. United Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Major League Soccer Stories from May 28, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central