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ON A ROLL: Time to break up Maine West. Its latest win came Thursday over Deerfield. Keep an eye on them.
FREE FALLING: How the mighty have fallen in the south suburbs. The new schools within the Lincoln-Way district spread the talent pool out, but I never thought I'd see the day when Lincoln-Way East and Lincoln-Way Central really aren't true state contenders.
And Sandburg...wait until next week. I have a few thoughts on the state of the Sandburg program and where it's headed.
SOMEONE STEP UP: The start of the boys soccer season features the Best of the West, the Barrington, Hinsdale and Glenbrook South Tournaments and the Pepsi Showdown. But after mid September, it's pretty quiet around here.
Maybe it's time for someone to create an end of the season tournament?
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Do you ever write anything positive from teams from the south suburbs? Great for Maine West but all I ever see in your write-ups are teams from your tournament as if that is the only good soccer played in IL.
As for the Lincoln Ways, the school has split and it is huting their programs a bit. But come playoffs I am sure they will be just fine. There is a ton of parity this season all over.
As for Sandburg, because they are out of the Pepsi Tournament they are no longer a strong program? They are just fine, just knocked off a strong stagg team. So it will be interesting to see how you degrade the free falling Sandburg?
Finally, step it up and run an end of the year tournament??? It is called the IHSA Playoffs why would anyone run a big tourney in the middle of conference? Maybe the IHSA should just crown Neuqua Vally Champs because they won the biggest tournament in the World!
It's good to be back to have to respond to the clueless nation. Do I ever write anything positive about teams from the south suburbs? Are you kidding me? I was a one-man drum-pounding band for the area. Every coach in the south suburbs will tell you the area isn't what it used to be and it's getting worse. Why is that? That's up for debate. Why do you think certain programs have brought their schedules down a notch - because they can't compete at that level any longer. Sandburg beat a strong Stagg team - the same Stagg team that lost to Lake Zurich 7-1 in the Pepsi Showdown?
Clueless nation dumb statememt Part II: Maine West isn't in the Pepsi Showdown - Maine South is. So time for you to learn your schools and directions.
Reading is a skill - end the year tournament meaning regular season tourney. Many conferences, states do it. The MSL has a great tourney, but that's really it. Hey, why don't you run one in the south suburbs?
I wonder why the school split in the LincolnWay District has hurt the soccer programs but doesn't seem to have affected performances on the football field ?...............
One of the best kept soccer "secrets" is a small private high school Varsity squad that plays under the Illinois Lutheran High School banner in Crete. To date they are 13-0-2 and have only allowed two goals the entire season ... one in the Peotone Diablo Tourney which they ended up winning and one with :49 left in the recent game vs Beecher where they were winning 4-0 with subs all in at the end of the match. At any one point in time there are 3 sets of brothers on the pitch ... Sophomore twins, a freshman/junior combo and a freshman/senior combo. With under 200 total High School students in the school it's amazing they have beaten larger schools like Tinley Park, Crete-Monee, Peotone, Beecher and others. Their River Valley Conference rivals have lost to the Chargers on several occasions 8-0, 9-0, and even town rival, Crete-Monee, posted no goals losing 4-0 to the Chargers. They're a fun team to watch and I've been watching soccer on the professional level since 1980 here in the U.S.
Joe,
What is the MSL tournament??? It isn't a tournament...just crossover games for how they performed during the regular season in their divisions. Unless you consider 1 game a tournament, or their regular season a tournament then... don't get me wrong, I think the MSL is one of the few conferences that does it right because they give the regular season meaning and have a night to honor the 2 division champs with a game that all eyes are on... it is neat, but I still wouldn't consider it a tournament.
I think coaches fear injury with tournaments at the end of the year...there are quite a few the first weekend of October...which I don't get because isn't the seeding done sometime in September???
The south will be back. You will see. I remember when you reported for the Star newspaper on soccer in the south suburbs on a daily basis. Did that not help your career?
That's exactly what I meant. At the end of the day, it is a tournament in a way - win your division, play for the overall title. I did receive a number of emails from people and coaches with ideas for a tournament at the end of the year, and there is one that jumped out. There will be some news soon regarding a possible event that could showcase as many as 40 to 50 teams over one weekend beginning next year.
Why don't we look at the different sectionals and tell me teams go to Regional and Sectional finals that have no business winning a regional or sectional title. Come play in the Downers Grove South Sectional. 4 top 10 teams in same sectional and have to knock each other out to go to state every year. There are 4 legit teams that could go down state from that sectional that will never get a chance. We need to look to seeding teams state wide by class and not let every team get in the playoffs. We should run it like football. You should have record, strength of schedule and playoffs point decide who makes it into the playoffs and then seed and form the playoff system from there. Not by geographical location, that someone makes up becuase they do not want to drive far and play a good team when they can stay close to school and play bad teams and win Regional titiles every year. by overall performance and strength of schedule.
It's about the representation of the different soccer that is played in different areas. It is what soccer is about. Bringing people from all places together and giving them a chance. Are the teams that make it to the World Cup the best 32 teams in the world?
Although, I am happy to see that this discussion exists. This shows that people actually do care about the sport. If people care, then there will be progress.
Keep it up Joe!