We are very excited to announce that we have hired a former Team Chicago standout to assist our head coaches this winter. Brendan King started his soccer career here at Team Chicago before moving into the US Soccer Federation Residency program in Bradenton, FL. He was a member of the 2007 US U-17 World Cup Team and has played over 25 games for his country at the U-17 and U-20 levels.

Brendan was a four-year collegiate standout at Notre Dame. While at Notre Dame, King made over 80 appearances notching team highs in goals and assists. After graduation he turned pro and has spent time in the MLS with the Chicago Fire, six months in Norway with 2nd Division side Alta, and with Bray of the League of Ireland.

As a coach Brendan has coached Notre Dame Soccer Camps every summer for the past five years. He has also been providing personal training in the Chicagoland area for five years. He spent all of 2013 coaching with the Chicago Kickers Soccer club in Gurnee, facilitating practices for teams from U-8 to U-18.

Brendan’s primary role will be to help assist our Academy head coaches, and to help cover practices and indoor games when we have conflicts. He will also be available to provide paid private and/or small group training for any players who are interested.

We are so thrilled to have a former Team Chicago player of Brendan’s pedigree join our staff for the winter. Please, welcome him when you see him on the field or in the building.

Team Chicago Academy-Cruzeiro continued its quest for back-to-back MRL Premier I Division championships and berths to the 2014-15 Region II Championships and the 2015-16 National League with two home games last week.

On Monday night Cruzeiro faced long-time rival Campton United in a thriller. Cruzeiro dominated most of the play and chances, but unfortunately did not close out the game when up 2-0 in the second half, and in the end Campton tied the game at 2-2 a minute and 26 seconds into injury time.

Cruzeiro had taken the lead ten minutes into the 2nd half on a great goal. The play started with Kerry Abello finding Jamie Goralski on the left flank. Jamie beat her defender down the line and delivered a perfect, whipped-in cross that Riley O’Brien steered home at the back post. Six minutes later Jamie played a great ball in-behind the Campton back-line for Kerry Abello to run onto. Just as she was about to tuck the ball away, Kerry was taken down from behind for a clear PK. The foul should also have resulted in a red card for denying an obvious goal-scoring opportunity, but the referee did not even give a yellow card. Jordan King stepped up and confidently deposited the spot kick.

With the two goal lead Cruzeiro created a couple of other 100% chances to put the game out of reach, but instead it was Campton that got a goal with 15 minutes left in the game. The rest of the game was incredibly intense, but when the referee indicated one minute of injury time, and Cruzeiro still holding onto the 2-1 lead, it looked like the all-important three points were in the bag. However, Campton managed to make the most of the additional 26 seconds the referee added after the fact, and scored on a great strike from 25 yards out.

With the tie against Campton, Cruzeiro had to win on Sunday against the Wisconsin State Cup champions Waukesha SC, and after a sluggish start the team took control of the game. Alyssa Bombacino scored the go-ahead goal with six minutes left in the 1st half from Francesca Marconi and Claire Hensley’s assist. 15 minutes into the 2nd half Waukesha tied the game, but the Cruzeiro response was prompt. Alyssa Bombacino restored the lead with a great individual goal, and Mia Marconi got the insurance goal all within five minutes of the Waukesha goal. This time the Cruzeiro players held onto the two goal lead and secured all three points.

With the win Cruzeiro moved to 5-1-1 on the season, and now needs a win and a tie in its final two games to secure a spot at Regionals. Two wins are needed to win the MRL Premier I Division and secure an automatic berth into next year’s National League. The first game is this Saturday at 1pm at Commissioners Park against FC United.

After losing its first two games of the season, Team Chicago Academy-Brasilia finished its U16 MRL Premier I Division play in style by going 6-0-1 the rest of the way while defeating both the current Region II Champions and the IYSA State Cup Champions. The impressive run has secured Brasilia a 2nd place finish, and if Futura wins the Missouri State Cup next weekend, Brasilia will qualify for the USYSA Region II Championships for the first time.

The final two games of the MRL season were against Libertyville FC 1974 (IL) and FCX and Brasilia emerged with a 1-0 win in both games.

The Libertyville game started with a flurry of chances for Brasilia which unfortunately weren’t finished. The teams entered half-time tied at 0-0 with most of the play controlled by Brasilia. The second half didn’t generate that many opportunities for Brasilia as the play became a lot more physical. Things then started to change about midway through the second half when Jade Eriksen-Russo collected a ball deep in her own end. Jade beat two defenders and continued to make a 40 yard run before combining with Abbie Severson on a one-two combination play to free herself again. From there Jade served a cross that found the upper corner of the far post to secure the 1-0 victory.

The second game against FCX game had some similarities to Sunday night where Brasilia created some great opportunities but just could not find the back of the net. The goal came as a result of good build up play that resulted in Jade Eriksen-Russo getting the game-winner again.

Congratulations to the girls on a fantastic Fall season. We are keeping our fingers crossed for a Futura State Cup win in Missouri. Up next for Brasilia are college showcases in North Carolina and Florida.

Team Chicago Academy-Brasil Girls finished its U13 MRL First Division campaign with a 3-0 victory over CSC from Kentucky. The game was played on turf last Saturday in Indianapolis, IN on a perfect day. The first half started off with Brasil Girls trying to figure out how to beat an offside trap that CSC was pulling combined with the fast surface that the turf provided. The score at half ended with both teams tied at 0-0.

Coming out in the second half things started to improve for Brasil Girls and they started to figure out how to beat the offside trap. Hailey Newman gathered a ball in the middle third of the field and dribbled through several defenders that resulted in a great finish for the first goal and eventual game-winner. After the first goal things started to come together more and the result was another great finish, this time by Alex Salemy who converted off a throw in from Darby Wade to put Brasil Girls up 2-0. The final goal was a penalty kick that resulted in Amy Flores placing a perfect shot past the keeper to the lower corner to round out the scoring at 3-0.

Great way to end the fall MRL season for the Brasil Girls.

Congratulations to Coach Brian and Coach Anny on the birth of William Robert Bierman, 7 lb 10 Oz 19in and to big brothers Ben and Peter.