Today there were no games.

We started the day off as usual by having a good breakfast at the hotel. We then proceeded to the field to stretch out and have a light practice.

This was followed by showers and a trip to the local mall (Jordan Creek Mall). Here the boys had lunch, watched a movie and just relaxed.

A few of the boys (Ricky, Dillon, Miguel and Anthony) decided to get their heads in the game early by having their numbers shaved into the back of their heads.

Having spent most of the day at the Mall; the boys proceed back out to the fields to get one last practice in.

The boys had dinner and went to bed early. Ready to wake up for the Championship Game.

Today is the day. We must win this game to move onto the championship game. The boys had a good breakfast and then headed to the field to play Bethesda Roadrunners.

This was an extremely tough game. It was obvious that both teams put everything they had into this match. However, in the end, we came out victorious with a 3-2 win over Bethesda. The final goal coming in “Stoppage Time.”

You can tell by the post game photo that both teams were exhausted; but came to have tremendous respect for each other.

Valley United and Bethesda after hard fought game.

The day ended with a Player Party at the Simon Estes Amphitheater. The group “Swing Crew” played some oldies, sing along tunes.

Boys at Player Party

Our boys enjoyed some good food and time off the field with teams (including the Bethesda Roadrunners) from various parts of the country.

As the night came to an end; the boys went to sleep very proud of the fact that they would be playing in the Championship Game on Sunday morning.

Today was a frustrating day. We ended tying the Michigan Wolves 0-0.

However, this game was not without excitement. This was an 8:30 am game. As the scoreboard indicated 59 min, 33 seconds; the game was halted on account of lightning.

Our game was eventually rescheduled to resume at 10:30 am. However, almost at exactly 10:30 we saw some more lightning. Ironically, it was the first lightning we had seen since the game was halted.

We finally finished the game around 11:30.

The boys spent the rest of the day relaxing and just hanging out.

First day of the competition ended in a 1-1 draw versus Dallas Texans Red.

With the game over and time until a team meeting the boys were able to walk around the Des Moines “Skywalk.” This is an interesting system of “bridges” that allow you to go from building to building and hotel to hotel without ever leaving the comfortable air- conditioned environment.

From one area of the “Skywalk” you can see a wonderful view of the State Capitol Building.

We woke up around 8 am and proceeded to have breakfast at the hotel.

This was followed shortly by everyone getting showered and ready for the Player Luncheon. This was an exciting event for the kids as they received recognition for their achievements to date. They also were able to see and touch the “US Youth Soccer National Cup” that they were playing for.

As you can tell from the pictures; the boys cleaned up very nicely and represented their club and Region IV well.

We ended the day with a visit to the James W. Cownie Soccer Park. This is a very nice, well kept soccer venue. Here the boys were able to put on their cleats and run around for the first time in a few days.

We start the journey from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Des Moines, Iowa. Our trip starts at 3 pm (Pacific Time) and ends with our arrival at Des Moines Marriott around 1 am (local time). The first leg of the trip wasn’t bad. We left LAX only 45 minutes late. Since we only had a 1 hour lay over in Minnesota we were a little worried. We ended up getting to the gate with 15 minutes to get from one end of the airport to the other where our plane bound for Des Moines was about to depart. We arrived at exactly 9:20 (which was the time this plane was supposed to take off). We rushed aboard, took our seats and then taxied out to the runway where we sat for 40 minutes. It turns out that the luggage wasn’t balanced. Therefore, we returned to the gate for the airlines to redistribute the luggage. Finally, we took off. All told our 40 minute flight from Minneapolis to Des Moines took us about 2 hours.

Everyone was in bed around 2 am ready to start the tournament and day in about 6 hours.