It was a special weekend for the Austin FC Academy as for the first time, one of its teams hopped on a plane to play in a match.
The U-15’s traveled to Colorado by plane over the weekend, facing off against the Colorado Rapids -- their fellow MLS club -- on Saturday and Real Colorado on Sunday. Both matches were part of the MLS NEXT regular season schedule. The U-14’s were off this weekend while the U-13’s lost 2-1 at home to San Antonio FC.
For the U-15’s the weekend ended with the team splitting the games as they beat the Rapids 1-0 on Saturday and lost 2-0 to Real Colorado on Sunday.
“From the kids’ perspective it was a good new challenge of getting on a flight. It was actually a couple of [the players] first flight in their life,” Austin Academy GM Tyson Wahl told AustinFC.com on Monday. “That’s kind of a reality check and it also shows you what great opportunities some of the players are getting with this program. I thought that was meaningful and special.”
But it wasn’t just about what happened off the field as Wahl and his staff used the opportunity of having two games in two days to prepare for what’s to come at the end of the month: MLS NEXT Cup. There they will be expected to compete at a high level many times over a short timespan.
“Both of those teams have a different style than we’re used to. They were very physical, very aggressive and pretty direct but that presented us with some really good challenges. The kids dealt with the elevation as well. There were really a lot of positives.”
The Austin FC Academy’s trip wasn’t the only big soccer match in Colorado this weekend obviously. With the Concacaf Nations League happening at the same time -- as the US men’s national team eventually defeated Mexico in the final on Sunday -- the players got a rare opportunity to watch the best American soccer players in the world compete up close.
“The game against the Rapids was played at the exact same time as the USMNT training session [at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park]. It was fun for the kids. After the game we were able to eat and stretch down in some shade and watch the last 10 minutes of their session.
Due to some flight delays, the team ended up watching the USMNT’s win over Mexico in the airport and on the plane. They even got some claps after the passengers after a flight attendant gave them a shoutout when reading the announcements.
