Placer United girls U9-U14 Elite and Premier teams were in action this past weekend at the Pleasanton Rage Juniors Showcase. Highlighting the weekend were the U11 Elite and U12 Elite. The U11 Elite, coached by Joe Black made it all the way to the finals. They beat Livermore 2-0, Castro Valley 5-0 and then tied 0-0 with Central Valley Magic to decide who went through to the finals. The Magic edged Placer Elite by one in goal differential. In the 3rd place match, the girls defeated San Juan Blue 4-2. The U12 Elite, coached by Matt Scammacca, reached the championship game by defeating Diablo FC 2-0, North Bay Elite 2-0 and then were upended in the championship 0-1 to DeAnza Force.

The U17 and U18 Elite girls teams travelled down to San Diego to compete in the prestigous Surf Cup. Over 350 college coaches were at the event scouting for their collegiate teams.

The U17 girls lost 0-2 to Real So Cal and 0-3 to Legends Breakaway, two of the top teams in Southern California. The girls rebounded with a 0-0 draw with the Central Valley Chillipeppers, a Northern California rival. 

The U18 girls lost 0-2 to Real So Cal in the opener. They then drew 0-0 with Legends FC. The team ended the event with a 1-1 draw with Fort Worth FC out of Texas missing out on the quarter-finals.

Placer United Soccer Club sponsor, Mikuni Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar, will host a World Cup party at their Roseville location on Eureka Road this Sunday at 11:30am for the final soccer matchup between the USA and Japan for members of Placer United. Placer coach, Danny Cruz, has had the privilege of coaching two of the USA World Team players, Megan Rapinoe and Stephanie Cox, both of Northern California

“It is such a rush to watch these young women play, and to see them represent the United States with such passion and heart. The fact that these women are from Northern California and were trained early on in their soccer careers by a local coach makes it even more exciting for young girls looking at a future playing soccer,” said Jeanne Mabry, V.P. of Marketing for Mikuni. “We are thrilled to open our large banquet room in Roseville so Placer United soccer families can watch the final game together.”

The United States competes in the 2011 World Cup Finals against Japan this Sunday, July 17th at 11:45a.m. PST.

“Regardless of the outcome, it’s going to be a great game for everyone.” Mabry said.

Placer United ’03 players lead the Stanford Stadium Youth Parade on the field before the San Jose Earthquakes versus New York Red Bulls MLS Soccer Game recently.

120 youth players and parents attended the game and watched the action on the field and afterwards in a Fireworks 4th of July celebration.

It was the 3rd highest Earthquakes game in MLS history with over 41,000 people in attendance.

Erika Garcia and Leonardo Cuellar, Mexico Federation National Team Head Coach

Erika Garcia of the ’93 Girls Gold team was invited by the U20 Mexican National Team coach to travel down to Mexico City where she participated in the Mexican National Olympics. This event serves as a scouting network for the Mexican Federation to identify potential players for their National teams.

Said Erika…

“Every state from Mexico had a team entered in the women’s soccer event. My team was entered as another state under the name of IME, Institución de los Mexicanos en el Exterior. This organization handles the Mexicans who live outside of Mexico and participate in this Mexican competition. 

All of the athletes arrived on Monday May 30th. Everyone flew into Mexico City where members of the organization, IME, picked us up. From there we were taken as a team to Toluca on a bus, it was about an hour drive. We stayed at a very nice hotel and the bus transported us everywhere. Meals were provided by the event, but we were also able to go out to the town and eat authentic Mexican food. 

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday we played one game a day. Tuesday, we played Jalisco and lost although we dominated, score 3-2. 

Wednesday, we played Quintana Roo and we won, score 7-1. I scored one goal this game and assisted one goal with a cross. The best part about this game was that Leonardo Cuellar, the women’s national team head coach, was in attendance. After the game he said that there will be a national camp in July when they come back from the World Cup so to be ready for an invitation to camp. 

Thursday, we played Nuevo Leon and won in PKs. When IME went last year they made it to the final and played against Nuevo Leon so this game was kind of a rematch with lots of hunger on both ends. We tied but our forwards had numerous failed prime shots on goal. We ended up winning in PKs but it wasn’t enough to move on. The coach for this Nuevo Leon team was Roberto Medina, the women’s national U20 head coach. He’s the one I’ve been in most contact with because he was also in LA when I went back in April and that is when we first began contact. After the game, I had a chance to talk with Roberto. He said he would be going to Germany with the the team for the World Cup. He said I am on the Mexican Soccer Federation’s list, and that they’re interested! 

These three games were our bracket games and only one team advanced from each bracket. We had to win our last game during regular playing time to get max points and move on. Had we won during the game instead of during PKs then we would have automatically been in the semi final on Friday. The final was played in the Toluca Stadium where the Mexican men’s pro teams play, but unfortunately we didn’t make it that far. 

Since we were eliminated on Thursday and I was scheduled to fly back on Sunday. My dad checked me out and I was able to go to Michoacan and Ixtapa to visit my family who lives in Mexico. 

The whole experience was unforgettable.”