This Week In Southwest Missouri Soccer

I see some light at the end of the tunnel and feel like I’ve got the high school beat under control. I’ve uploaded schedules for about half of the teams, I’ve covered games featuring over 20 different teams in the region since Labor Day (with hundreds of photos and dozens of videos) I’m behind on uploading photos to the commercial site, where you can purchase photos and related items featuring your favorite players but I’ll keep you updated. There are plenty of pictures from last year *winks*

Before I dig into this week’s calendar, a look back. A parent/team that’s been very innovative is Randy Bailey at Springfield Catholic who with a relatively inexpensive Sony camcorder (less than $400) is generating hundreds of hits on the short video clips he is posting from the Catholic games. The money shot is always the goal and he’s got all 3 Catholic goals from Saturday’s game against Greenwood. Check them out on his YouTube channel.

Still early in the High School season but there look to be some interesting matchups this week. I’m trying to see some teams still so I won’t necessarily be at these games but local fans might want to consider them

Tuesday – Carthage vs Ozark as the teams that fought in the Christian County Tournament Final get a rematch 10 days later, this time on Carthage’s grass pitch
Thursday – Carthage @ Catholic offers Catholic a chance at a strong Class3 team. They lost to Waynesville in their first game, how will this one turn out? Kickapoo @ Ozark will offer a good look at a pair of District 11 teams in an early fight that has seeding implications and finally, Glendale hosts Waynesville who as noted earlier beat Catholic. Can they come to Springfield and knock off another local power?

Weekend Tournaments including Bolivar Liberators, Sedalia Sacred Heart and we have some out-of-town visitors locally with Jackson and Cape Central visiting to play Glendale and Parkview in a set of Friday/Saturday tilts.

The U20 World Cup opens this week in Egypt. The US is paired with Germany, Cameroon and the Korean Republic in Group C. The tournament opens on Thursday when the hosts Egypt face off against Trinidad & Tobago. The first game for the US comes on Saturday September 26th at 9:00 am vs Germany. The group stages include the following games:

Date Opponent Kickoff (CT)
Sept. 26 vs. Germany 9 am (ESPN Classic, ESPN360.com, Galavision)
Sept. 29 vs. Cameroon 11:45 am (ESPN2, Galavision)
Oct. 2 vs. Korea Republic 11:45 am (ESPN2, Galavision)

I’ve updated my calendar to reflect the information above and will keep it up-to-date as the tournament progresses.

The roster is a mix of MLS, College and foreign-based players. If you recall the last U20 tournament, held in Canada in 2007, when Altidore and Adu smoked their peers in some fantastic games, then you know we’ll see some future stars and a few that will go bust. I for one am looking forward to it!

The Missouri State Lady Bears open Missouri Valley Conference play this weekend when they host the Northern Iowa Panthers on Sunday at 2:00 pm. The next time you’ll see them is 3 weeks later so get out while the weather is still good.

The Missouri State men are on the road this weekend, in Dallas for the Southern Methodist tournament. They’ll play Houston Baptist on Friday and SMU on Sunday.

The Drury Panthers are on the road, with Conference games in Rolla against the Missouri S&T Miners on Friday and in St Louis against Maryville University on Sunday.

Missouri Southern travels to Truman State on Thursday, another tough MIAA road game but will welcome the opportunity to play at home again on Saturday against Missouri Western. The Southwest Baptist Bearcats are also traveling, for games against Emporia State and Washburn.

Before leaving, I want to send a shout out to the Pink Panthers, a U13 girls team from the Carl Junction area. They sent me a note pointing to their website and the games they played locally this past weekend. A nice site, using my favorite WordPress website software and including some great photography. The photo is from the site, and the game against the Lake Country Soccer Academy team.