U.S. Paralympic National Soccer update by Nick Creasy

By: Nick Creasy

The team just began a camp this past Saturday (11/26) and are preparing for a Friendly vs Canada this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday (12/1, 12/2, 12/3). The team is missing a few regular traveling 12 player due to academics coming to a close for this semester and moving for great job opportunities.

Since the U.S. Paralympic National Soccer team does have these variables to work with there are a few more new faces at this camp. This is a great opportunity for Coach Jay Hoffman and Assistant coach Michael Haas to see how our development players are excelling. What got the Paralympic Soccer team to this stage in their training for the 2012 Paralympics in London was their superb finish in the final Qualifying Match to get out of the group stage against Ireland, at the CPISRA Paralympic World Cup this past June 14th- July 1st.  The U.S. was ahead with a 1-0 lead at halftime and a 3-0 lead in the early stretch of the second half and really relied on our defensive structure. With a perfectly executed defensive strategy of Bryce Boarman and some game saving blocks by Keith Johnson, the U.S. won the match 3-2 vs Ireland. Josh McKinney put away the first two goals and Adam Ballou put away the third goal which made the difference in the end.

The U.S. Paralympic National Soccer team finished ranked 8th in the world!

Scores in the Friendly USA vs Canada will be updated daily starting Thursday evening ET at http://www.facebook.com/parasoccer. Future Matches have been Scheduled as well as Residencies. As far as future Friendlies, the U.S. Paralympic team will be bringing England to Chula Vista, California during the January camp for matches on January 30th and February 1st.

Starting in late January there will be a mini-residency in Virginia Beach, VA. with coach Hoffman and between four and six of the players from the past World Cup roster. This mini-residency will end the last week of April. On top of this residency there will be one week camps monthly at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center from January until April leading up to the BP Paralympic Games in mid May.