Time to get caught up! Lots of action right now in the International Soccer World so figured it was time to catch up a bit and get you some updates.
Wisconsin High School Girls Tournament
Once Memorial got knocked out, it was hard to keep focus on the high school season, but the tournament rolled on and for those of you like me, who were bummed and didn’t want to keep up, but now want to know, here you go. They re-seed the final 4 teams each year once they reach State, to try to get the best finals match up, so the Seeds represent the re-seeding process.
Division 1 Semifinals
#4 Muskego (16-4-2) 2, #1 Waunakee (18-3-2) 1
#3 Divine Savior Holy Angels (14-6-4) 1, #2 Bay Port (21-3) 0
Division 2 Semifinals
#1 Whitefish Bay (24-1) 5, #4 Marshfield (14-8-2) 0
#2 Oregon (17-0-1) 2, #3 Brookfield East (8-13-1) 0
Division 3 Semifinals
#1 Catholic Memorial (24-4-1) 5, #4 Ashland (20-3-2) 0
#2 Edgewood (18-2-2) 3, #3 Notre Dame (13-7-3) 1
Division 4 Semifinals
#1 The Prairie School (17-3-2) 2, #4 Kettle Moraine Lutheran (14-12) 0
#2 Oostburg (18-1-4) 0, #3 St. Mary Catholic (18-5-1) 0 (Oostburg advances 4-3 in the shootout)
Championships
Division 1 – Muskego (17-4-3) 2, Divine Savior Holy Angels (14-7-4) 1 Division 2 – Oregon (17-0-2) 1, Whitefish Bay (24-1-1) 1 – (4-1 shootout) Division 3 – Catholic Memorial (25-4-1) 1, Edgewood (18-3-2) 0
Division 4 – The Prairie School (18-3-2) 2, Oostburg (18-2-4) 0
I’ll just mention is quickly, but I still think the private and public schools being in the same tournament is a mistake. The private schools have a clear advantage in player pools and it shows in the results. Two titles and a 2nd place for private schools when they make up a pretty small pool of the total teams in the state. Interesting. It gets worse on the boys side.
UEFA Gold Cup and Copa America
The Gold Cup is heading to the Knock Out stages in the next few days. A bit confusing with all these tournaments, but the governing body for soccer, FIFA, has 6 different group associations and every two years, runs a championship for these 6 groups.
The groups include: Asia, Africa, South America, North America, Oceania and Europe. The North America federation is called CONCACAF, short for Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football. The tournament is referred to as the Gold Cup. Mexico has won the tournament 10 times, but the USA has won it six times. Since 1991, Mexico has 7 titles, USA 6 and Canada 1. This years tournament is close to having a final 8. Four groups of 4 play in the group stage and they move into a knock out stage of 8 teams. The USA has advanced into the Quarter-finals after a dominating 6-0 win over Trinidad & Tobago on Saturday. Quarter Finals begin the weekend of June 29th. Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico all look to advance. Usa Highlights below. For those that remember, it was Trinidad & Tobago that eliminated the USA from World Cup qualification a few years back. That was the low point of US Soccer in my lifetime. This was a bit of a revenge game, but not sure it takes the sting out of missing the World Cup.
Copa America is deep into the Group stages as well. Copa America is the championship for CONMEBOL, the FIFA Confederation for South America. These are many of the best teams in the world and the competition is intense. Uruguay has won 15 tournaments, Argentina 14 and one of the world’s storied programs, Brazil, has only won 8 Copa America trophies. That’s a tough tournament to win!! Quarterfinals start June 27/28th with 3 teams already qualified…Venezuela, Brazil and Columbia.
Women’s World Cup
We are deep into the knock out round with 3 teams already qualified for the quarter finals. Top seed and favorite, USA is rolling after their first three games and looks to be building something special in their search for another World Cup trophy. 18 goals in the Group Stage sets a record. Their next match is Monday against Spain. The teams that have already qualified for the Quarter Finals…Norway, England and Germany. The winner of France-Brazil (currently tied 1-1 late in the second half) also advances today. There have been 7 Women’s World Cups. The USA has won 3 trophies, Germany 2, Norway 1 and Japan 1. Can the USA make it 4 of 8! Let’s go!
Here are the highlights from the last game against Sweden. The first real test for the USA.
UEFA Europa League
Chelsea! Chelsea! Chelsea! As a Chelsea fan, it was a great ending to the season. A top 3 finish, and a Europa League Championship over Arsenal. A dominating performance with some glorious goals. Check it out.
UEFA Champions League
A Premier League double as Liverpool earns a Champions League trophy. For the first time ever, the four finalists for the two big European club trophies were all from the Premier League. Chelsea defeated Arsenal and Liverpool defeated Tottenham. This wa not a wide open affair as Liverpool settled into a defensive posture after getting their first goal. But a Champions League title will make you do strange things and Liverpool finished off a great year with one of their biggest trophy in years. Their 6th Champions League trophy. An early PK on a strange hand ball made it 1-0 and a late 87th minute goal finished off the scoring at 2-0.
More Gold Cup, Copa America and Women’s World Cup updates during the week!