Joey Barone's U11 Gold team won their division in the Michigan Challenge Cup. Coach Joey had the following feedback on the weekend: "The boys played extremely well considering we have not had everyone at practice at the same time due to summer commitments. We held possession well in the back and middle third and we were creative in the attack scoring 22 goals in 4 games against u12 competition.
Defensively, we displayed great one on one defensive skills but will need to improve in negative team transition - which will come with time spend rehearsing at practice.
The thing that I was the most proud of is that we had to play Vardar in the final after beating them the day before. Typically the team that lost the first game will come back and shorten the gap, but we played even better in the final and beat them by six goals which shows great character from a young team.
This team has the makings of a great team; character, talent, speed, goal scorers and two good left footed players... and as the tournament director said during the trophy presentation, one of the best coaches around. " (And he's modest too!)
