SC Soccer Forums SCSoccer.com Forums Club Soccer & ODP State Cup

It is entirely up to US Soccer. If they think having another Academy program in SC will further its mission, they'll admit one. If not, they won't. There are lots of factors that would go into that decision, talent pool in the service area certainly being among them.

For comparison purposes, here are some quick numbers I gathered:

According to US Census Estimates (for 2008):

4,479,800 (South Carolina)
9,222,414 (North Carolina)
9,685,744 (Georgia)
24,326,974 (Texas)

One website I found showed the following (2006) population for the Atlanta area:

3,813,700 (what they called the 10-county Atlanta region)
4,917,717 (what they called the 28-county Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area - notice this is larger than the entire state of SC)

According to the same website, "in the past six years, the [Atlanta] metro area has added more than 142,000 people annually."
(that's more than the entire population of Columbia)

Some thoughts: CESA gets criticized for bringing players in and playing in a watered down league. Discoveries played in the same watered down league, and had at least 5 players from out of Rock Hill, including CESA's Sebastian Velaquez that won the golden boot at Nationals. Let's throw them in that discussion too.

If CESA could not compete with the SCU's academy teams why didn't they own those age groups before the academy. Sounds to reason they would have racked up some hardware too.

Let's not pretend that the academy is full of great teams. For all the Texans, Lonestars, and CASL's, there are the AFU's, AFC's, North Mecks that were never even in the Premier League before academy because they could not get in.

I hear that the gap is closing because of the one goal games. How many of these games were one sided in CESA's favor. How many teams played 4-5-1 and sat players behind the ball. What was the placement of these teams in the Premier League. How close was the 16's match. How did CESA's 16 girls do in Premier League- 2nd. How did the 15 boys do- 2nd with "mighty" MPSC next to last.

At least try to be somewhat objective.

Objectivity is in the eye of the beholder.
There is no doubt that CESA has many good teams. But to say that a team playing a 4-5-1 sat in to play with them is a bit harsh. Alot of national teams and club teams (Liverpool's 4-2-3-1 or 4-5-1 comes to mind) play a very defensive system (Italy won the last world cup if I remember correctly). The biggest problem people were having was that games were moved FOR CESA. CESA will go 8 for 8 and the best players from all of the state will go to them to be on the best team. That's just the way it is.

I ask this with all honesty- I really do.

Can someone explain the rationale of all the top players coming to CESA and not the academy- which I have seen posted here. I would really like to know that.

Here is another question: Are we saying that if Lexington were in the same boat as CESA's 17's that SCYSA would not do the same for them. Do people really believe that?

Just because the scores were close does not mean there were evenly played matches..How many times have we seen a team take 25 shots on goal and give up only two or three shots and lose 1-0..Even match? no..The team did what they had to do to stay in the game and possibly win..A win is a win but it does not mean the match was played evenly..You have to look at shots taken,corners,fouls and time of possession as indicators that a match was close..Not because a team had a chance to win in the remaining minutes..

Cid, I agree with what you said, but there were several games- not all- that were one sided with no effort by other teams to get out of their half. I guess my point is that a 1-0 or 2-1 game might not indicate how close a game is.Last year the gap was closing because of the number of CUFC teams in the finals, CESA only won 5. Now it's thay were all close, yet not one other team won one of those matches.

Been quiet for a long time here, but for everyone saying congrats to CESA there is an addendum. Why- they won so move on.

CHT: Exactly and this does not always go in CESA's favor. One 17 girls semi from what I understand was won by the team that had less of the ball and fewer chances- great for them. The facts that teams compete and keep games tight is part of the game, but saying a gap is closing because of a score line is short sighted.