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Central Valley Outlaws win big in Italy
By DICK SPARRER
The band of outlaws raided Italy earlier this summer and stole the coveted San Marino Cup.
But don't call out la polizia--it's not what you think.
This was the Central Valley Outlaws, a boys under-17 soccer team from the Santa Clara Valley, and the local soccer players took a summer trip to Europe to experience soccer at a different level.
But they did more than experience the game ... they won a few in the process.
The Outlaws played tournaments in Italy and Finland, and to the surprise of their Italian hosts, they won the team championship in the San Marino Cup tourney.
The Outlaws rolled to five wins and a tie in seven games, including an impressive 6-1 win over an Italian team in the finals.
"They had players on that team who are about to turn professional," said Outlaws coach Richard Johnson. "But they were a first-half team. We ran them, and beat them mostly on conditioning."
Still, the Outlaws beat them, and it was quite an accomplishment for an upstart age group team from California, playing in a "soccer country."
"There were some really good teams over there," said Johnson. "They all had real good skills because soccer is their number one sport."
"But we were always in better condition [than our opponents]," he added. "So we were a second-half team, and that was the key to the whole thing."
The lopsided win in the finals came of something as a surprise to Johnson, who had pulled players from a number of different organizations together to form the Outlaws.
"I didn't expect to win that big, but our team was just focused," he said. "It was just great."
Still, there were tough games for the Outlaws.
Central Valley's only loss of the tournament came against a Sicilian team that had no intention of losing.
"That was one of the hardest games--physically and mentally," said Johnson of the clash with Sicily. "They were a team determined to win, and they did everything in their power to win."
The Outlaws may have lost the decision, but they gained a lot from the game.
"We learned from that and went on," said the coach. "We were successful after that."
Central Valley was one of just two teams from the United State in the under-17 age group in Italy.
The Outlaws also competed in a 69-team tournament in Helsinki, Finland, and finished eighth overall.
And while the results didn't match those in Italy, the experience was exceptional.
The highlight of the tournament for Central Valley actually came in a hard-fought 1-0 loss to Dankaukrine, Russia.
"It was a beautiful game ... a great, exciting game," said the coach. "We just couldn't buy a goal."
Playing for the Outlaws were Max Podlone, Nathan Smith, Jose Flores, Dusty Brim, Ryan Carter, Reid Wilson, Paul Gurney, Nick Greene, Jason Park, Nick Murdick, Andrew Levers, Preston Greene, Justin Johnson, Kris Zanotto, Dustin Cohen and Matt Wytock.
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Cupertino, California Since 1947
