The first tournament of the season is this weekend at Colorado Cup, in beautiful Boulder, CO! The schedule is set and Madison will see GOAT, Boost Mobile, section and region rival Sub Zero, Truck Stop, LA Renegade, and host Johnny Bravo.
This will be a great opportunity for Madison Club to finally cleat up together as one team and turn months of anticipation into reality on the field. It's been a looong off-season for many, but some of our young studs were just recently battling it out for a collegiate National Championship on these very fields. As we'll be without a handful of guys and a mile higher than Madison, we'll need their legs all weekend long.
First up is GOAT - Greater Ottawa and Toronto (I think). GOAT is looking to return to Nationals form this season and have already posted early season successes with big wins against New York's PoNY, Philadelphia Southpaw, and D.C.'s Truck Stop. Madison most recently saw GOAT twice at The Chesapeake Open last year and Madison came away with hard fought wins both times, but GOAT is sure to remember our contentious meeting at Nationals 2 years ago, so expect a battle right off the bat. Look for GOAT to be in the mix for a Northeast Regionals title this fall and to make some noise at Nationals this year.
Next is Boost Mobile, a team from SoCal. Little is known about Boost, other than their performance thus far, but rumor says they have a potent deep game.
Finally, Madison ends their Saturday with what should be an entertaining game against Minneapolis Sub Zero. Little needs to be said about this rivalry that isn't already known; Sub is in our section, they are in our region, we want to beat them. Expect both teams to be in full kill mode for this inaugural match-up, which will continue all the way into the Fall Club Series. Sub will rely on their veteran core for big plays and will most likely be testing the waters and looking for what works with many new faces.
The last round on Saturday is a bye, so Club will be seeking shade, food on Pearl St. and a trip to the local mountainside creek for a refreshing dip.
Sunday comes early with an 8:30 am start against last years Colorado Cup champs, Washington D.C.'s Truck Stop. Truck Stop is a well balanced, tall and deep team, led by a bunch of guys with nicknames, on the cusp of greatness, but looking for that missing piece to finally put them over the top and into the conversation with the Nations top club teams. Truck had a mediocre Boston Invite in June, with losses against GOAT and Southpaw, but don't let early season results fool you, Truck Stop is still a very good team. Madison sees Truck Stop what seems like several times each season, though we've yet to figure out their attacking offense and efficient deep game.
After Truck comes another SoCal team and newbie to the Co Cup elite bracket, LA Renegade. Like Boost Mobile, little is known about Renegade, so we'll see if they emulate all the other SoCal teams - lots of hucks.
To round out the bracket, Madison ends with a big game against Boulder's own and host Johnny Bravo. Historically a dominant team on the National level, Bravo has seen their roster change over the last several years and are shooting to regain their place among the top teams. Like Madison, this will be Bravo's first tournament of the season and they'll most likely be working on integrating some big name additions into their roster. Unfortunately, Madison blew a great opportunity to play Bravo for nine-als at last year's Nationals when we collapsed against New Yorks PoNY, so we'll just have to pretend that we're back in Sarasota battling it out for that precious 9th place crown. Should be fun.
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