Opening Match Set for Dev. Academy

Birmingham Will Meet Atlanta

September 28, 2007

Birmingham United will meet the Atlanta Fire Saturday in the opening match of the U.S. Soccer Development Academy’s inaugural season.

Atlanta and Birmingham’s Under-16 teams will square off at 3 p.m. at the Rathmell Sports Park in Birmingham, Ala., followed by the U18’s at 5 p.m.

The weekend’s matches are the start of a nine-month campaign in which 122 teams will compete in over 1,800 matches in conference play. The Academy, a grassroots organization formed by the United States Soccer Foundation designed to improve the United States as a soccer playing nation by placing more emphasis on training and less on games, features 2,440 players, 244 coaches and over 200 referees.

The following weekend, U.S. Soccer the Academy hosts the first Academy Fall Showcase from Oct. 6-8 at the National Training Center in Carson, Calif. Thirty-six teams from 18 elite clubs will join two U.S. Youth National Teams in the three-day event, which includes teams at the U-15/16 and U-17/18 age groups.

The Atlanta Fire, led by National Instructional Staff coach Jay Miller, has a history of developing elite youth players. The Fire have had four players selected to participate in the U-17 Residency Program in Bradenton, with several more joining top NCAA Division I soccer programs. Birmingham United, under the direction of former Dallas Burn defender Eric Dade, is the largest soccer club in Alabama with approximately 2,500 youth players.

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