GUNNERS CROWNED NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!
Under-14 and Under-15 Champions Crowned at 2008 US Youth Soccer National Championships
NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas (July 26, 2008) – Four of the 12 2008 US Youth Soccer National Champions were crowned today at Burns Park Soccer Complex where the top teams in the country met to conclude the final leg of the 2008 US Youth Soccer National Championship Series. This weekend’s championship finals match-ups were determined after three rounds of preliminary play, earlier this week.
Tonight the spotlight was on the Under-14 and Under-15 age groups, who were greeted to another night of great crowds. Over 3,000 were estimated in attendance and only added to the energy that was in the air and on display.
NJSA 04 Gunners (NJ) was the first to be crowned tonight as the New Jersey boys clashed with their Southern California counterparts, Arsenal FC. A possession battle endured throughout the match as neither side appeared breakable. As time neared expiration, a Mael Corboz direct kick in the 70th was the difference maker as Corboz struck a perfect strike to beat the keeper to the near post. Arsenal would also be awarded a direct kick in stoppage time but the Gunners defense would hold. It’s been 20 years (1988 Union Lancers - Under-19 Boys, New Jersey) since a New Jersey boys team has won a national championship.
After the win Corboz was already thinking about next year, “This feels great, when I scored it was like a dream. Everyone was going crazy. We are finally, actually No. 1 in the country. Now we have to defend our title.”
Former national and professional standout, Tab Ramos, has reminded his side several times this week to enjoy the moment, “I played in three World Cups and in the Olympic Games and I never got a chance to come to the [US Youth Soccer] National Championships. Here they [the team] are and this is their day. You may never come back to this day so enjoy it.”
Ramos felt the Gunners were a team of destiny, “There came a point in the second half and I thought this is destiny. It was two excellent teams. We played a great opponent; the game could have gone either way. I had a feeling that if it could go either way, it would go our way
