U-14 Girls at Jefferson Cup

Rightfield · First 11 Joined: 21 Feb 2007 Posts: 498

I hope one day some of those California teams come out to one of these tournaments. It's nice to see the D'Feeters make their way out here.

soccerfanx2 · Walk On Joined: 16 Sep 2008 Posts: 22

In the U13 and U15 girls, the Kickers are in a higher bracket than the Strikers so I am not sure it's about admitting who's better. [/quote]

FCeveryday · Walk On Joined: 20 Apr 2008 Posts: 5

Kickers U14 beat Strikers U14 5-1 in VCCL play this past fall.

moog · Rookie Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 37

I certainly agree that the host tournament teams should play in their own tournaments even if they wouldn't otherwise qualify, but the Strikers are pushing it a bit in how they seeded their own team in U14 Girls - actually more than a bit.

Looking at got*soccer rankings (which I assume they use since they post their results there) they have the second lowest ranking in all of U14 teams (39th out of 40 teams) - yet they seed themselves in the middle bracket (Superior). They should be in the bottom bracket.

The Strikers are ranked 386th - all the other teams in their bracket are ranked 215 or better; for the next lower bracket all the teams are ranked 249 or better (except for one team ranked 416th); and for the lowest bracket it's 297 or better (again, all but one are ahead of the Strikers).

And it wasn't like they won their bracket last year - they moved themselves up a bracket despite not even making the finals last year.

Maybe they are much better than their ranking and will show it in the tournament, but if all the other teams are seeded based on their performance - the host team should at least make an attempt to seed themselves using the same criteria.

Next year they should just go ahead and put themselves in the top bracket.

soccerab · Super Sub Joined: 14 Jun 2008 Posts: 68

Strikers and Kickers go back and forth. In the last four outings they are 2 and 2. Similar to top teams in WAGS. Kickers are probably in a lower bracket because they did not make it into Jefferson Cup last year, and while Strikers didn't win their bracket, they were a semi finalist, beating a region 1 winning team, so they performed well at Jefferson Cup prior year.

Soccerhead · Super Sub Joined: 18 Nov 2008 Posts: 97

The amusement I get from how much emphasis is put on rankings only grows by the day. I get why rankings are needed, but at 14 years old, an awkward glance from a member of the opposite gender is enough to ruin a player for a day. :roll:

What really is the difference between a team ranked 247 and another ranked 258? Or even 312? In this tournament, teams in the bottom bracket can beat teams in the top bracket. Sure, the top bracket teams would win more often, but it's close enough that getting caught up on the levels just seems a bit absurd to me. I'll be happy just to be surrounded by high-level soccer for a weekend. Let's hope the weather agrees.

moog · Rookie Joined: 08 Oct 2007 Posts: 37

My point isn't whether the rankings are correct or not (I don't believe they are very accurate beyond about the top 20 or so) - it's that if you're going to use them, then apply them uniformly to all teams (including the host team).