By Lizzy Snell
Media Intern
The Sao Paulo F.C. defeated the Chicago Kickers on Sunday afternoon, 5-2, to take home the U15 boys’ weekend championship. And even in losing, the Kickers took away some valuable soccer lessons.
“We scored two goals on [Brazil] and no other team did that in the tournament,” said Kickers’ head coach, Joe Mueller. “Obviously we couldn’t hold them back but all in all it was a great game and a good team. We fought to the last minute and I’m proud of them.”
Mueller added that he wanted his players to see from the Brazilian squad how important practice is in order for a team to play well together.
“You can see that the other team, they play all the time and I stress to the kids all the time you have to practice on your own and not just come to practice and practice,” Mueller said. “And that goes for all the kids in the United States - if you’re going to compete against the rest of the world they need to play all the time – at the park and with their friends.”
Double zeros were on the board until the 34th minute of the first half when Cyro Barreto, 14, from Brazil broke the deadlock with a hard shot across the left side of the goal.
“I was passing with my friend Lucas and after two passes I was in front of the goal, the pass came inside and I scored,” Barreto said with a smile.
Baretto said the first half was very intense and he was tired at halftime.
“The first games [we played] were 30 minutes and now we’re playing 40 but I’m happy because we scored,”
Baretto would go on to score another goal in the 57th minute, putting Sao Paulo ahead 3-0.
Thalles Silva, 14, also scored two goals for Brazil, his first one coming from a place kick just minutes into the second half.
“The final game was tough,” Silva said. “All finals were tough and the team was very good…the competition [here] is really good and the tournament is perfect and excellent.”
Luca Stroeter, 15, also scored for Brazil, going back to back with Silva’s second goal in the final minutes of the game.
Gaspari Roque, head coach for Brazil said the beginning of the game was really tough and difficult as the Kickers were good and played very well.
“I would like to come back and bring back other age groups of the club,” he said.
When asked about defending the U15 title next year he smiled and said that it’s not just him but the entire group has a title to defend.
The Kickers, a soccer club based out of Lakeville, Illinois went 11-0 this past season in their home league and took second place in the 2008 University of Wisconsin Parkside Puma Classic.
Michael Bottcher, 15, scored first for the Kickers in the final fifteen minutes.
“[I] just went to find the open spot and hope there’s no one there to cover me and put it in the corner,” said the Johnsburg, Illinois native.
“I think we played really good,” Bottcher said of his team’s performance. “We’ve had some better days but I think overall the team played really well. It’s great to see so many players and how good they are; it definitely lets you see how big soccer is outside of the U.S.”
Nick Mueller, 15, shot a penalty kick for the Kickers to make it 5-2 in the final minutes.
“Well I don’t really look at the [goalie],” Mueller said of his goal. “I look at one side and hope he goes to that side and I try to put it in the net in the corner…and it worked.”
When asked what his favorite part of the tournament was, Mueller said meeting new people and making friends with them.
“I’m having the time of my life with all my friends here,” he said. “I definitely want to come back and go for first.”
Joe Mueller said the last minute goal in the first half changed the tone of the game.
“I think initially we held them in the first half,” Mueller said. “We played very aggressive and the game could have gone either way. Overall our kids never stopped hustling; they just didn’t have any gas left in the tank in the end.”
“I thought we played pretty good since it was our first time here and [Brazil] was good but I thought we held our own.”
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