Vancouver Whitecaps U18s are heading in to the United States Soccer Development Academy (USSDA) playoffs on the back of a 12 match unbeaten streak, winning ten of their last eleven and having lost only one game in 2013.
There is no doubt that the Caps are heading into the playoffs as one of the most in-form teams and that's just as well because they have been placed in a tough Group 1 with two other MLS academy teams and the team with the best U18 defensive record (and second best in both of the age ranges).
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When the USSDA originally made the draw the Caps were grouped with two 'playoff pool' sides, 11th ranked Chicago Fire affiliate, Indiana Fire Academy, and 19th ranked Kendall SC out of Miami, along with 10th ranked wildcarders, and old foes, Pateadores.
There was an error in the pot placements and Points Per Game (PPG) stats however and it all had to be redrawn!
The result was that Vancouver are now placed with only one 'playoff pool' team and two 'wildcard' sides, and one of their opponents will be very used to the Texas heat and humidity.
The U18 playoff group games are being played over four days, from Monday 24th to Thursday 27th, and the Caps will face two evening kick offs and an early morning one.
First up are <b>Chicago Fire</b> tomorrow evening at 7pm CDT (5pm PST).
The Fire Academy play in the Mid-America Division of the Central Conference, where they finished in 5th place, eleven points behind divisional winners Shattuck-Saint Mary's Soccer Academy. It was a performance that sees them ranked 7th in the 'wildcard pool'.
Chicago finished the season with a record of 14 wins, 6 draws and 7 losses from their 27 games for a 1.78 PPG average. They scored 52 goals and conceded 26, keeping eight clean sheets in the process.
The Fire's top scorer is Jeffrey Farina, with 17 goals from 25 appearances and he has already committed to Notre Dame University to continue his footballing career.
Chicago are heading in to the playoffs unbeaten in three, with four wins out of their last five and three clean sheets.
On paper, they look to be the easiest of the three games for Vancouver, so it's nice to kick off the week with that. But as we learned last year, you can't take anything for granted in these playoff games, with the Caps losing their first match against Pateadores 3-2, after visibly tiring in the latter stages due to the unfamiliarity with the heat and conditions.
They still managed to win their group thankfully but it's a lesson that the Caps don't want to repeat and the team went through rigorous preparation before they left Vancouver, playing in added kit and long sleeves to try and simulate some of the conditions. At least it was hot here before they left.
The conditions will undoubtedly be a factor, with highs expected of around 37 degrees but feeling like 45. It's crazy, and as we said last year, there is no way that they should be playing games in those conditions. There has to be a better option.
The team next up for Vancouver, at 7.15pm (5.15pm PST) on Tuesday, will be very familiar with the hot and humid Texan conditions.
The 16th ranked <b>Houston Dynamo Academy</b> side are the only team the Caps will face from the 'playoff pool'.
Houston play in the Frontier Division of the Central Conference, where they finished third this season, one point behind second placed Solar Chelsea SC and four back of divisional winners, and last year's U18 USSDA Champions, FC Dallas.
The Dynamo finished the season with a record of 15 wins, 7 draws and 5 losses from their 27 games for a 1.93 PPG average. They scored 52 goals and conceded 34, with Bryan Salazar grabbing 12 of them. Salazar is a dangerman for the Caps to watch, having become the Dynamo's fifth homegrown player to come onto their MLS roster in February of this year.
Houston kept eight clean sheets all season and are coming in to the playoffs with two wins in their last three games, the last of which being a 1-0 away win in Dallas.
The young Caps will at least get a day to recover from the conditions on Wednesday, having the day off before getting back to action bright and early on Thursday morning to face East Petersburg, Pennsylvania side <b>PA Classics</b> at 9.00am CDT (7.00am PST).
Although officially a 'wildcard' team, PA Classics are very highly rated and are affiliates of Philadelphia Union.
The game is set to be a battle between the highest scoring side in the U18s, and indeed in all of USSDA (Vancouver Whitecaps - 87 goals), and the U18 team which has conceded the least goals over the course of the season (PA Classics - 15 goals).
The highest goals for v the lowest goals against. Something's got to give and hopefully it's going to be wearing a Pennsylvania jersey. They will be a very hard team for the Whitecaps to breakdown and will really test their attacking firepower. Whether the Caps can find a way through or not in this one could be the key to their playoff success.
With it coming in the last game of the group at least they'll know what they need to do and who knows, the job might already be done by then. If they need to get a result and are struggling to find a way through then it will be a really good test of this team's character.
PA play in the highly competitive Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference, where they finished fourth this season behind three of the top ten ranked playoff teams, including divisional champs Baltimore Bays Chelsea.
PA Classics finished the season with a record of 14 wins, 7 draws and just 4 losses from their 25 games, for a 1.96 PPG average, which is higher than five of the 'playoff pool' ranked teams. They scored 42 goals and, as mentioned above,
conceded just an amazing 15 goals (0.6 per game) over the season, which included 12 clean sheets.
PA's top scorer is Joseph Julius, who grabbed 16 goals in 25 games in his first season after moving up from U16 level and has already committed to NCAA Division 2 school, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE Cougars), as well as being an Union prospect.
PA Classics are heading in to the playoffs unbeaten in five, winning three of those and recording a 6-0 win over Richmond Strikers to round off their regular season on June 2nd.
The Caps U18s flew out of Vancouver on a direct flight to Dallas earlier this afternoon and will have a day of light training on Sunday to try and get a quick acclimatisation to the conditions. The U16s showcase runs from Tuesday to Friday and they will fly out on Sunday.
It's going to be a tough week, but there is no doubt that the Whitecaps are ready for it and we'll find out more about their thoughts on the week and their preparations when we catch up with coach Gordon Forrest tomorrow.
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