gamecockrich10: I think that soccermom1121's incredibly lucid point is that almost everyone associated with CESA understands that there's a difference between state, regional, and national play. For most teams that played in the Premier League this season it was a humbling experience and one that can't help but make anyone understand that we have a way to go to be a consistent regional and national contender at the club level.
To me, the most important thing about doing well in your state is that it allows you to not just play in the Premier League but also that you get entry into higher brackets in top tournaments. This is what allows you to play against those top clubs/teams you mention. It's kind of a pinball effect -- if you do well then you get to play again. This allows CESA to offer more and better services to highly ambitious and talented players. But I've got to tell you, I'm just as excited about CESA's U16G classic team that won the classic cup and with the CESA U16G Strikers and Starz teams that came in first and second in the American Cup (just examples). CESA isn't going anywhere unless it can offer superior services to players across the board; from recreation to premier. A dominant team was the U16G Classic team coached by Gretchen Lentz(combined score 60-1 and undefeated); that's the kind of record to which I think all teams everywhere aspire.
CESA is effectively just about six months old. No one at CESA is claiming that CESA is a "juggernaut" at a regional or national level. I haven't even heard anyone from CESA say that CESA is "dominant" in SC -- many of the games were very close and we certainly have to do better in more age brackets in the classic and recreation cups.
The merger seems to me to be going relatively well in the first six months -- but we have "miles to go" [apologies to Frost]. Most of the hardest work is in front of us if we aspire to offer the depth and breadth of services to SC players that you find in some of the major metropolitan areas nationally.
