Boys Under-16 soccer team from McAllen wins national championship

1 month ago 51

MCALLEN, Texas – The Under-16 Boys team of McAllen-based 956 United are national soccer champions.

They won the trophy after defeating all-comers in the national championships in Denver, Colorado. The 956 United club are part of the McAllen Youth Soccer Association.

“The boys have just achieved an incredible feat, becoming the national champions. That has never happened in the Rio Grande Valley before. They won 3-1 in the final, but it should have been seven,” said assistant coach and former English professional soccer player Gary Hamilton.

“These boys are a great bunch of boys. We took 17 of them up to Denver and all 17 played their part in winning the national championship.”

Hamilton continued: “Sometimes in sports, the best team doesn’t win but we were by far the best team and the best team did win. We played proper football. We’ve got a lot of Hispanic kids, so they know how to play. After all, it is the national game in Mexico.”

Hamilton said the competition the boys played in was a bit like the old FA Cup he used to play in back in England, in that it went on for many months. In this case eight and a half months.

“The state regionals were in Houston, and we participated in that in December in January. We won the finals for that, which gave the boys the pathway to go and play all the champions from all over the country,” Hamilton said.

“So, the finals were in Denver, Colorado. We were there for about eight days. And there, there were two different brackets. There was the Supergroup bracket, which was the highest of the highest, and there was also the Premium bracket. We ended up winning in the Super bracket.”

In the group stage in the national championships, 956 United beat Tonga Fusion Elite, 2-1, Virginia Reign, 3-1, and Sporting Columbus H, 5-3. In the semi-final, 956 United defeated Sporting Springfield Barcelona, 3-1. And in the final the team another team from Sporting Columbus A, 3-1.

Asked if he thought his team would do well, Hamilton said: “We didn’t know about winning the Supergroup. But we knew we could compete because we played in a level below to get up to that level. We were hammering teams. And we absolutely slaughtered the other team in the final.”

Hamilton said some of the players in the Under-16s are good enough to become professional soccer players, if they apply themselves.

“They need to keep their feet on the ground and keep doing their schooling and get good grades. But for some of them, the sky’s the limit. We sent some of them to Real Salt Lake last year but maybe they weren’t ready last year. But we will send them again because there are definitely some kids here that are good enough to be professionals. Without a doubt.”

Real Salt Lake is a Major League Soccer franchise, and 956 United are one of their feeder teams. “It’s a great partnership with RSL. Very good,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton said that as well as being good soccer players, the Under-16s are also well-behaved. “They’re just good kids. Good kids with great parents.”

Hamilton, who played for Middlesboro in the top tier of the English professional league, has been coaching in the Rio Grande Valley since 1983. He is executive director of 956 United.

“956 United is a pretty big club, actually. We are part of the McAllen Youth Soccer Association. We are in the competitive side of the program. Currently, we have about 41 competitive teams, anywhere from the Under 8s all the way up to the Under 19s. We train at DeLeon Middle School. They’ve got a massive soccer complex.”

Hamilton said there is an abundance of soccer talent in the Valley. He pointed out that a Brownsville team recently competed in another association and reached the Final Four of a national competition in Florida.

And a Girls team from 956 United, which Hamilton coaches, reached the regional championships in Dallas.