The date was Feb. 5 2001. The day began like any ordinary day. I woke, up went to school, went to soccer practice, but when I got home that day, I received a special letter in the mail. The letter was from United Soccer Academy International and they were inviting me to a try-out for their soccer team. The soccer players that make the team represent U.
S. A. in the Gothia Youth World Cup. I was ecstatic and shocked that I’ve been given this opportunity to join their team. The try-out was on Feb. 15, 2001 at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta.
One week went by and the day for the try-out was finally here. My emotions were mixed with excitement and nervousness at the same time. There were around thirty-to-fifty kids at the facility with their soccer balls ready to give it all they got to be on this team. After around a two and a half hour try-out they told us, “Thank you for coming out, and we ” ll contact you in two to three weeks by mail to inform you if you made the team or not.” Around three weeks later, I received a letter saying “Congratulations, we would like to offer you a roster spot for the United Soccer Academy International Team.” I was very proud of myself and I soon found out that I will be leaving for Europe on July 1 st, 2002 to compete for the Gothia Cup. The Gothia Cup is the world’s largest youth tournament in the world that consists of over 1, 200 teams from 118 different countries.
A year went by and July 1 st arrived. We left for Denmark from Miami International Airport and arrived for camp and conditioning. After a week of camp we traveled to Sweden for the Gothia Cup. There was an opening ceremony for all the teams that were in the tournament at Ullevi stadium. The ceremony had over 45, 000 screaming soccer fans cheering their lungs out. After the ceremony all the teams had a day to rest before the tournament began.
The Essay on High School Varsity Team Soccer
I was asked to think back about something memorable and to write an essay about a life's lesson learned. In high school, soccer was very important to me. It was my favorite sport. My freshman year I decided to pick and focus on only one of the many sports I had played in the passed. I came to the conclusion that I should play soccer considering it was one I was strongest at. I also enjoyed soccer ...
The tournament had seventy-two playing fields to start the single elimination process. Our team started out real strong in the tournament by defeating several opponents by the average score of 3-0. As the tournament progressed our team was getting a lot of respect from the other teams and also the European press. The tournament was getting harder because we weren’t a sleeper team anymore, people were taking U.
S. soccer seriously. We soon found ourselves in the tournament with only 32 teams remaining. We needed to win one more game to go play in Ullevi Stadium and to compete in the sweet 16 of the Gothia Cup. Our team had to beat England for us to reach that goal. Our game with England was the most brutal game of my life.
We went to double overtime were the game was finally ended by my teammate who scored on a corner kick in the 112 th minute, that goal put us in the sweet 16 of the Gothia Cup. The sweet 16 of the Gothia Cup is one of the top three most watched events every year in Europe. Our opponent in this round was France, which of course was the favorite. We upset France 2-1 to move on to the elite eight. Our next opponent was against defending champs Sweden which attracted a crowd of 46, 000 plus fans. Our coach actually gave us a small speech before the game but he said something very important that touched us, he said “You guys have worked hard for the past six weeks to get to this very moment.
All of you have put your heart, blood, sweat, and soul into this team and I can’t be any prouder of a group of guys. So go out there and play your heart out! ! !” We went out on the field and took Sweden into a shootout. We lost in the final frame where Sweden won and the final score being 2-1. Sweden eventually won the Gothia Cup for the second year in a row and we finished overall sixth which is the best placing in U. S. history..
