President’s Cup is a national tournament sponsored by US Soccer. It begins at a regional level in each state and moves to the state level, regional US level, and finally the national level. In Florida, it is sanctioned by Florida Youth Soccer Association.
The Soccer Pit has two teams entered in the tournament and each has advanced to the second round of Florida regional play. Once they are successful in this round, the next level will be Florida finals. This will require travel within Florida and an overnight stay.
Each successive round will require farther travel and longer stays.
The regional US finals will be held in West Virginia and the national finals are to be held in Iowa in July 2021.
Each team carries a roster of 18 players and 3 coaches.
The Soccer Pit enters the President’s Cup for several reasons. The first is the enhance the skills of the players and accustom them to a higher level of play. The second is to gain notice of coaches who can assist our players with post-secondary education placement and scholarships. The third is to provide our players, most of whom come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, with an opportunity to see areas beyond our own corner of Florida. In 2016, the Soccer Pit Cobras travelled to Texas for the US Regional round and to Oklahoma for the UD Finals.
Tournament play is critical to the advancement of our players. One of our goals is to encourage our players to engage is post-secondary education. All of our players (high school and middle school) are required to have at least a 2.0 GPA. Because of this, they have the grades to continue their education but, many do not have the money to do so. Where possible we encourage them to use their soccer skill as a way to pay for school through scholarships and financial aid packages.
The U19 boys defeated Davie Sharks on Sunday March 14 2-1 to start their three- game qualifier to reach the Finals on May 9/10 in Auburndale. It was not one of our better games but nevertheless we were able to squeak out the 3 points for the win.
Next match will take place Saturday March 20 at 2PM at The North Collier Regional Park in Naples against the Driftwood Dragons from Hollywood.
Our U14 Boys were defeated this past Saturday March 13th at Pembroke. They lost 2-0 to West Pines United. I am sure these boys will regroup and take care of their next two games. Their next match will be at home at The Immokalee Sports Complex on April 4th (time TBA)