D.C. United's U-17 youth development team remains undefeated as it leaves the group stages of the Soccer United Marketing's inaugural youth development soccer tournament, SUM U-17 Cup. The United boys upheld the D.C. United legacy of success of the first team by kicking off the tournament with a 3-1 victory against Colorado. Shane Cooke notched two goals and Shane Murnane added the third. Murnane scored again in the team's second game of the tournament, a 2-2 draw with Columbus Crew on Saturday. Marcus Douglas also scored a goal.
"As a staff we were pleased to keep the unbeaten record going into the third game against Salt Lake," said coach Chris Megaloudis, "but we believed we should have left with three points after leading the Crew twice."
The team got such a result on Monday with a stunning 4-0 shutout against Salt Lake. The team took the lead in the first half off of a goal by Mike Funes, who was assisted by goalkeeper Bill Hamid. The second half got off to a quick start as forward Chris Hegngi scored after a nice build up through the D.C. midfield. The scoring was rounded out by Shane Cooke and William "JR" Bioh.
With the win, the team is assured first place in the group and a spot in the semifinals. Following the draw, United learned that it will play the Los Angeles Galaxy U-17s Tuesday evening. Should the team advance, they will play in the championship game on Thursday.
Arguez returns
United midfielder and U.S. U-20 men's national team member Bryan Arguez returned to full training Tuesday after national team duty in Canada for the U-20 FIFA World Cup. The United States had a strong start and remained undefeated in its group after a 1-1 draw with Korea, a 6-1 victory over Poland and a 2-1 win against Brazil. The team played well in its 2-1 victory over Uruguay in the round of 16, but were defeated in the quarterfinals 2-1 by Austria in overtime.
Legends at RFK
Jaime Moreno was not the only Latin American soccer legend at RFK on Saturday. Teofilo "Nene" Cubillas of Peru and Gilberto Yearwood of Honduras were honored before United's home game last Saturday against FC Dallas after attending D.C. United's second annual Latin American Festival, a celebration of Latin American culture, music and sport that took place at RFK Stadium before the game.
Cubillas, nicknamed "El Nene" (the Baby), started his professional soccer career with Peruvian club Alianza Lima at the early age of 16. At just 20 years old, Cubillas led Peru to the quarterfinals of the 1970 World Cup and was later named the South American Footballer of the Year in 1972. He played in three World Cup finals ('70, '78 and '82) and is the seventh leading scorer in World Cup History with 10 goals. Currently he works for FIFA as a member of their Technical Study Group covering the last three Gold Cups as well as last year's WC 06 in Germany.
Yearwood, a gifted central defender, has been recognized as one of Honduras' best soccer players. He played for the Honduras national team in the 1982 World Cup and was an essential component of the national team in many FIFA matches until his retirement in 1993. Currently, he is the head coach of Atletico Olanchano in the Honduran first division.
On trial This week, Vagner George Santana Da Silva joined D.C. United on trial. The 18-year old defender comes to United from Clube Atletico Mineiro of Brazil. United entered into a strategic partnership with Mineiro earlier this year. United entered into a strategic partnership with CAM earlier this year. The relationship between the two clubs was created to seek opportunities to enhance the sporting and commercial success of the respective clubs by sharing expertise and experience as well as creating new opportunities for the clubs - this is one of those steps. Additionally, the two clubs will host a Coaching Symposium during the first week of August. Register now >
