Saturday’s US Soccer Development Academy U-16 and U-18 finals will be all MLS affairs, with FC Dallas and the LA Galaxy set to face off in the U-16 championship and Dallas and the Vancouver Whitecaps set to meet in the U-18 title game in Carson, California.
The FCD U-16s got things started in Thursday’s first match, defeating the Chicago Fire 1-0 to advance to Saturday’s title match. Jacob Goyen scored the game’s lone goal in the 74th minute, picking up a loose ball on the right wing and cutting inside before his intended cross caught Fire goalkeeper Kyle Orciuch off guard and floated into the top left corner.
The Galaxy had a simpler time in the second U-16 semifinal, downing Real Colorado 3-0 at their home facility. Oscar Penate, Jorge Hernandez and Jonathan Estrada scored for the Galaxy, who scored all three of their goals in the first half.
The Whitecaps made similarly easy work of Players Development Academy in the first U-18 semifinal, beating the New Jersey club 4-1 to roll to the championship game. Andre Baires gave Vancouver the lead in the 32nd minute, with the Whitecaps doubling their lead through a 50th minute own goal before David Norman made it 3-0 in the 52nd. Daniel Sagno added Vancouver’s fourth in the 68th before PDA’s Isaiah Young pulled back a consolation goal in the 86th.
The second U-18 semifinal was a much tighter affair, with Dallas erasing a 1-0 halftime deficit to beat Nomads SC 2-1. Hector Montalvo equalized for FCD in the 52nd minute and FCD pushed hard for a winner, eventually finding it through Toshiki Yasuda in the 77th. The majority of the Dallas team will be looking for their second straight USSDA title, with roughly 90 percent of the U-16 national championship team from the 2014-15 season set to face off against Vancouver on Saturday.
Both the U-16 and U-18 finals will be streamed live on US Soccer’s YouTube channel on Saturday. The U-16 final is scheduled for 8 pm ET and the U-18 final will follow at 10:30 pm ET.
