Chula Vista FC will be on the road again in search of another championship when the local amateur men’s team heads to Range View High School in Aurora, Colo., to participate in a United States Adult Soccer Association Region IV Men’s Amateur Cup tournament semifinal game on June 9.
Game time is 6 p.m.
The winner advances to the Region IV final, which feeds into the National Amateur Cup final in August.
Chula Vista FC defeated San Nicolas FC, 2-1, to win the Cal South Adult State Cup Open Division championship May 5 at Titan Stadium in Fullerton.
The winner of the June 9 game will face San Nicolas FC in the regional final after San Nicolas FC recently defeated the Arizona champion.
Range View High School is located at 17599 E. Iliff Ave., Aurora, Colo.
Game on
Chula Vista FC tuned up for its upcoming June 9 match by engaging cross-town rival ASC San Diego in an exhibition game May 25 at Mission Bay High School.
ASC San Diego plays in the National Premier Soccer League, which is commonly recognized as a fourth tier league but has been given no official designation by U.S. Soccer, the governing body for the sport in this country.
The game ended in a 1-1 tie. ASC San Diego opened scoring in the sixth minute as Michael Turner (USD) broke down the sideline and sent a high cross into the goalmouth area where teammate Sean Callahan (homegrown player from the Albion Youth Academy) knocked the ball in for a 1-0 lead.
The first half was chippy (with four yellow cards) but otherwise slow to develop; however, the second half was full of intensity.
Oscar Hernandez scored the equalizing goal for the visitors on a penalty kick. Chula Vista FC then played the final 20 minutes of the match a man down following a red card ejection.
The teams have started to develop a rivalry after Chula Vista FC defeated ASC San Diego, then known as Albion Pros, in the opening round of last year’s U.S. Open Cup.
Chula Vista FC belongs to the SoCal Premier League, an amateur adult men’s league, while ASC San Diego aspires to represent the region at the professional level.
“The NPSL is a league we have debated joining in the past, but the cost is high and U.S. Soccer has not recognized it as a professional division,” Chula Vista FC coach J. Hector Diaz said. “The NPSL is a league at a higher lever than the UPSL (United Premier Soccer League) and a possibility for us in the future. We showed we can compete against the best in the NPSL having won and tied Albion in the past two games.”
While the teams’ 2017 U.S Open Cup qualifying match drew a large and boisterous crowd, attendance was minimal at the May 25 exhibition game. That may have partly resulted in a rather forgetable first half showing by the teams.
While the result meant nothing in terms of advancement for either team, the matchup was high on local bragging rights, and that contributed to a much more feisty atmosphere in the second half.
ASC San Diego hosts Temecula FC in its final regular season game on June 19. The local team sits third in the NPSL’s Southwest Conference Division standings with a 5-2-1 (W-L-T) league record and 16 standings points.
Orange County FC leads the division table with a 6-0-3 record and 21 standings points, followed by FC Golden State in the runner-up position with a 5-1-2 record and 17 standings points.
FC Arizona sits below ACS San Diego with a 3-4-2 record and 11 standings points, followed by the Riverside Cobras (2-5-2, 8 standings points), Temecula FC (1-4-3, 6 standings points) and the Oxnard Guerreros FC (1-7-1, 4 standings points).
The Southwest Conference will send three teams to the NPSL’s West Region playoffs. The third team will be determined by a play-in game between the third- and fourth-place finishers in the standings, with the third-place team to host the game on June 30.
A total of eight teams will participate in the West Region playoffs. The Northwest Conference will send two teams while the Golden Gate Conference will send three teams.
The regional quarterfinals are scheduled July 7, followed by the semifinals on July 14.
The regional championship game is scheduled July 21.
Each game will be hosted by the higher-seeded team.
The NPSL national semifinals are scheduled July 28, followed by the national championship game on Aug. 4, also hosted by the higher-seeded team.
ASC San Diego owner Noah Gins, who played four seasons for the San Diego Flash of the A-League, is hoping his team can continue to represent the San Diego regional at a high competitive level.
This is the team’s third year in the NPSL.
“We’re positioned for longevity,” he said prior to the May 25 game.
Gins serves as executive director for Albion SC.
The NPSL team sits at the top of the Albion SC youth pyramid and offers a professional pathway to players. When Gins was hired as technical director in 1998, the Albion SC included six teams and a large recreational pool. Now the club boasts more than 120 teams and has become recognized at the national level.
ASC San Diego and Chula Vista FC are not the only high profile men’s teams in the area. San Diego 1904 FC is planning to begin operations next year in the United Soccer League, a Division II professional league recognized by U.S. Soccer.
California United FC, a neighboring team in Orange County that also withdrew from the NASL, continues to explore its league options for the 2019 season. It currently maintains a second team that participates in the UPSL.
There are other teams at yet other levels.
San Diego Premier Pros FC operates under the umbrella of the USPL Pro Premier tier. The team, which currently boasts a 5-4-0 record, will host La Maquina FC (6-1-2) in a league match Saturday, June 2, at 6:45 p.m. at San Ysidro High School.
La Maquina eliminated Chula Vista FC, 4-1, last November in the third round of qualifying for the 2018 U.S. Open Cup tournament.
With the announcement earlier this week that Major League Soccer has awarded Cincinnati an expansion team, it is uncertain where teams aspiring to play at higher levels will fit into the San Diego region.
Club Tijuana seems to have a lock on the highest level of play in the immediate border region, and continues to draw thousands of fans to Mexico from this side of the border for home matches.
College soccer programs at San Diego State University and the University of San Diego offer attractive alternatives for soccer aficionados, especially during the fall months.
Youth soccer, of course, is everywhere.
Getting their kicks
A pair of Chula Vistans with ties to Club Tijuana (and Chula Vista FC’s youth program) – Alejandro Guido (Mater Dei Catholic High School) and Joe Corona (Sweetwater High School) – received call-ups to fill out the 22-man roster for the United States national team in its May 28 international friendly against Bolivia.
Corona, currently on loan at Club America from Club Tijuana, started the match in Chester, Pa., a 3-0 U.S. victory. This was Corona’s 21st cap – most on the current roster.
The 24-year-old Guido, who has played for Club Tijuana since 2012, scored a goal and added two assists in three games played for Team USA at the 2011 CONCACAF U-17 Championship. Prior to residency, he was a member of the U14 and U15 national teams.
This was his first call-up to the U.S. men’s national team.
Rubio Rubin of Club Tijuana also received a call-up for the U.S.-Bolivia match. He also received a starting assignment.
Josh Sargent and Timothy Weah, both 18, each scored goals for the U.S. side in the win over Bolivia that appears to be reloading with youth after failing to qualify for this summer’s 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament.
Sargent became an instant Internet celebrity when he intercepted a goalkeeper clearance and turned the takeaway into a goal in the 52nd minute.
Walker Zimmerman also scored his first career goal for Team USA.
The average age of the U.S. starting 11 was 22 years, 160 days.
How young are they? Seven of the U.S. squad’s starting 11 are products of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy: Alex Bono (Empire United), Erik Palmer-Brown (Sporting Kansas City), Weston McKennie (FC Dallas), Rubin (Portland Timbers), Christian Pulisic (PA Classics), Weah (New York Red Bulls/BW Gottschee) and Sargent (St. Louis Scott Gallagher-Missouri).
The American team will face Ireland and France in another pair of friendlies leading up to the World Cup.
The 2018 FIFA World Cup kicks off June 14 to July 15 in 11 host cities in Russia. Thirty-two teams will compete, including the host nation.
Notable non-qualifiers include Italy, the Netherlands, Chile, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Scotland, Paraguay, Cameroon, Austria, Bulgaria and Romania.
Italy will miss the World Cup for the first time since 1958.
