zoomtime

Le Bron Speas Very bad call. The LeBron comparison is assinine. +1

If they win the College Cup he's gone.

This has been discussed a bit on here, but I think it's pretty likely that Valentin is gone. Sarkodie, ditto. I keep thinking -- maybe the guy with the highest ceiling, who has only begun to scratch the surface of his talent, is Ben Speas. Speas and Caldwell will be the Gavin and Zemanski of 2011. Ben and Perry Kitchen are capable of scoring goals from the midfield, no doubt about it. As good as this team is this year, 2011...Mmmmm, mmmmm, Good! Yeah I figure Kofi, maybe Zarek, and possibly Darlington too. And while I agree that players like Speas and Kitchen are only going to get better and make the 2011 season great; the thing that I worry about for that year, is that if both Zarek and Kofi leave early, and Chris Korb graduates, there goes 3/4 of this unstoppable back line. And while we currently have a lot of depth in the midfield and up front, we really don't have too many defenders on the bench right now. The only thing that makes it seem as though this might not be a huge problem, is that little detail that we have the best team in the country and Porter really has top picks at new guys, to some degree. Even if we do restock with the best prospects in the country, I still don't feel like that completely replaces the experience and coherence this line of defenders have built. Oh well, only time shall tell. And if all else fails, we have Meves in the net, and he's a beast. I think defense will be fine next year, Perry will move back in the middle with Chad and Eric Stevenson will play one of the outside positions, leaving only one opening at this point with new people coming in next year. Should be some good years to come!!!

Bring him here, we'll take him, especially since he's a forward and our stock of those seems to keep running low. Since I was the first one -- a year or just more ago to suggest Teal Bunbury as the successor to Zakuani's scoring mantle, ladies and gentlemen, can you say, "Yoram Mwila"?Really? I'm thinking Nagbe is much more likely to be next year's leading goalscorer (I think he could even put in 20). I think Speas, Nanchoff, and Ampai will all increase their goal tally from last year too.Zakuani and Bunbury were more the prototypical "target forward" type, which seems to fit coach Porter's offensive vision. Nagbe, even when he's playing totally up top is much more apt to rome a larger area, looking for loose balls. Darlington will probably score double-digit goals in 2010, but I see Mwila being more a stationary target. And I hear he has a great head on his shoulders! Let's hope he uses it frequently. Z.I.P. there will be at least 5 people on the team that score more goals than Yoram next year (D, Ampai, Nanchoff, Speas, and maybe Scott or Kofi). Some things are going to change next year and that does not entail Yoram scoring more than 5 goals...he won't play enough. Print this out and save it for next year.

You can't watch from the stands when the dome is up...it would do no good for us to have a similar setup as the dome only covers the field and not the stands.

Generation Adidas

Live Video of the game with sound.http://www.ubathletics.buffalo.edu/multimedia/

here's a summary:http://fausports.cstv.com/sports/m-soccer/.../100309aab.html

3-0 zips win...final

ben and my family is there

Anyone have a friend at the game you can call for a halftime score?3-0 Akron winning at half

3-0 at half Akron

Ben (as in Speas) has gotten enough discussion (on and off this board), that most apparently expect him to be a future Zip. That's great and shows Caleb's continued coaching and recruiting acumen. But PLEASE... don't give us false hopes about a player the likes of Kofi Sarkodie playing college football (i.e., soccer) at Akron -- or anywhere else. Seeing that kid's abilities in Korea last summer, I have to say Sarkodie is the next Jozy Altidore. As much as I would love to see America's premier 17 y.o. someday in an Akron uni, I have to say that it would be against his best interests to even consider playing US college ball when he could be learning the game at the international level day in and day out. Adu, Edu, Altidore, Sarkodie, that's the line of up and coming US superstars. Surely the kid will be entering into the Generation Adidas program.No, they are both going to Akron for sure...they told me.

The youngster who attended CVCA and was on the US 91 or 92 squad last summer (the one that eliminated him from qualification for last year's WC). He will be a HS senior in 08-09, and I would think UA should have a real chance at him.My dream: Kofi Sarkodie! Star of the US U-17s last summer, and an Ohioan from Huber Heights. But he's more likely to be playing in Europe or MLS.Both of the above mentioned players will be at Akron in the next 2 years.

I agree with the talent that Caleb has brought in...the future looks pretty good. However, pay close attention to who he brings to the team in the next 2 years. Maybe not next year, but the following year we will most definitely have a shot at the NCAA title.

Ben was not select for the Korea trip. He was asked to play in Japan at the beginning of August, but was injured. He is leaving for IMG in Bradenton tomorrow (and is therefore not playing for CVCA), we wanted to make sure he was healthy as he began playing for the U-17 team at IMG. Akron 09'?...maybe, he has two years to decide that...if you have any more questions ask me...Ben is my source.