Gyassi Zardes perfectly remembers last year's encounter with Chivas USA's Youth Academy team. The match was like no other Academy match before. Zardes, who is the captain of Galaxy Academy U-18 Team, points out that the match wasn't even a match, but rather "a battle."
"It's not just, like, a regular game," Zardes said. "It's a rivalry."
The rivalry renews Saturday at The Home Depot Center as the second installment of the SuperClasiquito (Little SuperClasico) takes place on University Field #2. The game is free and open to the public. Fans are asked to enter the stadium through Gate D on Victoria St.
Last year, Galaxy won both games, 1-0 (U-16) and 3-0 (U-18). The U-16s take the field first, with kickoff scheduled for 2 p.m. The U-18s will "battle" at 4 p.m., or after the first game ends.
Both games have playoff implications. In the U-16s, Galaxy sit in third place of the SoCal Division, seven points ahead of seventh place Chivas USA. Chivas is coming off an impressive win over first place Arsenal FC. The roles are reversed in the U-18s, Chivas is third and Galaxy is seventh, but both clubs are only seperate dby five points-- and only the top three teams in each division make it to the playoffs.
The Galaxy Academy held its last training session ahead of Saturday's game on Thursday. We stopped by and caught up Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development Trevor James, who's in charge of the Galaxy's Youth Academy program, both captains, Zardes and Juan Perez Jr.
We also interviewed Alejandro Covarrubias, who's playing for bragging rights, literally. Covarrubias, a midfielder, will be playing against friend and high school teammate Daniel Castro, a midfielder on Chivas USA's U-18 team. Covarrubias said he will greet Castro prior to the game, "but once the whistle starts, that's it, we're not friends. I'm going to go in with everything."
Here's the rest of the audio:
Gyassi Zardes...
Juan Perez Jr...
Alejandro Covarrubias...
Trevor James...
Friday, April 24, 2009
Getting Ready for The SuperClasiquito
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4 comments:
Thanks for posting the update & reminder piece about the Super-Classico similar games for our U-16 and U-18 academy teams. Appreciate the audio. Wish there were more pics of the youngsters, though. I want to wish the young players in both squads lots of fun, energy, mental preparedness, and physical strength! Hope our youngsters play really well! Thanks again to the coaches, the trainers, staff, parents (especially), and the players for the time, the commitment, and the evergy put into developing future professional soccer players week in and week out. Stay rested, and just be steady, controlled, and in posession. Communicate with each other - all the best for tomorrow!
Hahahahhahahahahahhahahah 3-1 baby! Woooooooooooo!
Galaxy academy SHUTOUT Chivas in 3 of the 4 games this year despite being a first-year program, I would be a bit more humble about ONE win if I were you.
Besides, if you are hanging out on the Galaxy blogs you must be a closet Galaxy Supporter! Stop being in denial and come over to the good side, we won't hold it against you, we welcome everybody.
So I'm guessing Galaxy won 3 of the 4 matches, but any official word on the results?
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