The second Installment of Internacional’s Danish Experience:

Our day began promptly at 8am in the lobby because as Phil says “early is on time, on time is late and late is unacceptable.” We experienced our first Danish breakfast with bland cereal, salami, and as well as some soft boiled eggs. But Phil was upset we didn’t get to experience the Danishes… Darn. While eating, Quincy had to excuse herself from the table and throw up. The time change really got to her.

After breakfast we had a team meeting and met our new Danish teammate Anna. An hour later we headed out to the field for our first game against Throttur FC (Iceland). The Iceland players struggled in the heat as they sat in sports bras and rolled up their pants to bikinis while sun bathing on the bench. It was quite the distraction. Welcome to Europe!!!!! After beating Throttur FC 4-1, we went to the cafeteria for lunch followed by a long nap preparing for our next game.

We had a team meeting before playing Brøndby (Denmark). As we were warming up, Phil drops the big news on us that we will be playing against 2 professional players (no big deal). Resulting in a 1-0 victory. After our game we had hamburgers and extra large hotdogs for dinner with the Danish players. We taught them some English slang words including yolo and swag. Then we headed for bed.

The next morning Phil was very excited to find that they had Danishes at breakfast! After breakfast we played the championship game against a team from Sweden and unfortunately lost 2-1, not knowing until later they had a few U17 national team players on their team. We then quickly headed to the award ceremony to receive our runners-up trophy to bring back to the TC office. We then had delicious pitas for lunch!

Second journal entry brought to you by room 515(Tori, Maddie, Jori)

Team Chicago Academy-Internacional is currently in Denmark participating in Brondby Cup. This is the third year in a row that a rising U18 Team Chicago Academy team has traveled to Denmark for this event. Over the next week we will share updates from the players. Here is the first installment:

Day 1 7/27
Our trip began at 8:05 p.m. with a team meeting at O’Hare. Once all the goodbyes were said, we headed through security, anxious for our trip to begin! Around 9:30 we boarded the plane, dreading the 8 hours ahead of us. Some of us got a nice 8 hours of sleep, while others stayed up to watch movies. The plane was practically full yet somehow Phil managed to get a row to himself…

Day 2 7/28
Upon arriving in Copenhagen, we got off the plane, got our bags and were introduced to the infamous Mr. and Mrs. Nielsen plus Phil’s aunt. The gang then went outside to wait for our bus. We didn’t realize it would be hotter in Denmark than it is in Naperville. Somehow Sophia was left in charge, when Phil went to go get his rental car. After what seemed like hours of sitting outside, the 16 sweaty and sleep-deprived girls boarded the bus and we headed to the Danish Olympic Training Center Idraettens Hus. We got our rooms and split up to take a mandatory but much needed nap.

Around 5:30 we went and got dinner at the cafeteria right next to the fields we will be playing on and the Brøndby Stadium. Realizing that air-conditioning was a luxury we wouldn’t be having these next 9 days.To help pass the time, Sophia and I (Abby) thought of a game called “Spot the European”. To play you simply spot someone wearing socks w/sandals, manpri’s, jorts (Jean shorts), popped collars, very deep v-necks, fanny packs, short shorts, etc. For points. We got the whole team involved and are up to a whopping 123 sightings in the first day alone. After dinner we headed off to the Brøndby (BIF) vs. Silkeborg game to watch our first soccer game of many this week. Brøndy came out on top with a 2-0 victory! After watching the post-game celebrations, Inter headed back up to the rooms for very necessary showers and snacks. We are looking forward to our two games tomorrow, hopefully we can start getting our bodies used to the 7-hour time difference.

First journal entry brought to you by room 511 (Abby Flynn, Sophia Moreau and Tatiana Espinosa)

P.S. Tati had no part in this journal entry, she was too busy on her phone…

Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo finished as runners-up at the US Youth Soccer U19 National Championships in Germantown, MD after a nail-biting 1-0 loss to VSA Heat from Virginia. VSA avenged its 2-1 over-time loss to Botafogo in the 2013 U18 National Championship game.

With the 2nd place finish Botafogo finish its youth career with only two competitive losses in two years, and 3 Regional Championships, a 2013 National Title, a 2014 National Silver Medal, and a 2012 National Bronze Medal.

The Botafogo players have set a new standard for Team Chicago Academy teams, and we thank them for all their contributions to help grow the club.

Participants in the 2014 National Championship Series were: Angela Widlacki, Ashley Handwork, Brooke Ksiazek, Bryce Banuelos, Gianna Dal Pozzo, Gracie Lachowecki, Heather Handwork, Hope D’Addario, Jenna Romano, Kaela Leskovar, Kaitlin Johnson, Karla DiJohn, Katie Ciesiulka, Kristen Brots, Liz Bartels, Mary Rounce, Megan Geldernick, Rose Lavelle, Zoe Swift, and Zoey Goralski,

The U19 National Championship match between Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo and VSA Heat will be streamed live at 4:45pm (Central) today.

The re-match of last year’s U18 National Championship match will be played in the Maryland SoccerPlex stadium in Germantown, MD.

http://championships.usyouthsoccer.org/live__stream_4_PM/

Team Chicago Academy-Botafogo advanced to the USYSA National Final with a convincing 5-0 victory against SSA Chelsea from Georgia. With the win Botafogo set up a rematch of last year’s National Final against VSA Heat from Virginia.

Today’s game was played on a very poor field, which made it extremely difficult to play good possession soccer, but the Botafogo players handled the conditions well. Ashley Handwork got the eventual game-winner halfway through the first half when she met Hope D’Addario’s corner-kick at the far post, and lobbed it over the keeper to the inside netting of the far post. Liz Bartels made it 2-0 with five minutes left in the half, after Kristen Brots found Zoey Goralski in a great overlapping run from the right back position, and Zoey squared the ball to Liz for a one-time finish.

Up 2-0 at the half Botafogo needed a 3rd goal to be absolute certain of a spot in the Final, and Ashley Handwork took care of that with a great finish 10 minutes into the 2nd half after Gianna Dal Pozzo had stolen the ball and played her through. Kristen Brots got her 2nd assist of the game when she went end-line and drove a perfect cross on-top of the 6-yard box which Kaitlin Johnson ran onto and slammed home in the side-netting of the far post. And Liz Bartels finished off with a fantastic solo effort as she beat two defenders and tucked the ball away at the foot of the far post with five minutes left in the game off Mary Rounce’s assist. Megan Geldernick earned the shutout in goal.

Botafogo will now face VSA Heat in the final at 6pm EDT on Saturday 7/26