The Albion SC South Bay 2009 Academy boys soccer team participated in the Premier SuperCopa tournament in Dallas over the summer, bringing back a lot of memories and a co-championship.
The tournament is an invitation-only event drawing the top U9 to U12 boys and girls teams across the nation. Twenty-four teams competed in the U9 boys bracket.
Games took place at MoneyGram Park in Dallas June 11-16.
Albion SC South 2009 attended the tournament last year in Denver, but only made it to the quarterfinals. This year the team made it to the finals and was declared co-champions following a tornado warning that scattered the participating teams and fans back to their hotel rooms before the field was flooded in a matter of minutes.
The Albion youth team competed in the Gold Division, the highest level in the tournament, both years.
The tornado warning came three minutes before halftime with the score tied 0-0. Azteca FC also received co-champion honors.
The top four teams in the tournament came from Southern California, including two from the Los Angeles region and two from San Diego County.
Azteca defeated the San Diego Surf Academy Boys Select 2009 team, 4-0, in the semifinals while Albion defeated the Total Futbol Academy 2009, 3-2, in the semifinals.
Albion began its championship run with a 3-1 quarterfinal win over FC Dallas 09 Boys Academy.
Other quarterfinalist teams included the Angeles Soccer Elite 2009 boys team, Bethesda SC Pre-Academy I 09 and the Northern California Rush.
All of the boys on the 2009 Albion team are from Chula Vista.
The team roster includes Alberto Cisneros, Angel Miranda, Dan Casas, Dylan Gueriña, Emilio Ybarra, Esteban Villalpando Jr., Isa Mulich, Joaquin Jackson, Jordan Camacho, Kaisei Korytoski, Lucas Petersen and Maximo Piancone.
Jackson is the nephew of Mater Dei Catholic High School alumnus Alejandro Guido, who is currently rostered on Los Angeles FC of Major League Soccer.
Guido has made several appearances for United State youth teams since 2010, earning 20 caps (and scoring four goals) with the USA U17 team in 2010-11 and 32 appearances with the USA U18 teams in 2012.
Guido was a member of the USA U17 team that participated in the 2011 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico. The Americans finished 1-1-1 in Group D, defeating the Czech Republic 3-0, while dropping a 2-1 decision to Uzbekistan and drawing 0-0 against New Zealand.
Guido scored the opening goal in the win over the Czechs; the United States lost, 4-0, to Germany in the knockout stage.
Guido has made one appearance with both the USA U20 team (in 2013) and the USA U23 team (in 2015).
He played for Club Tijuana’s U20 team in 2012-13 and was loaned to Ascenso MX side Dorados during the 2013-14 season. He made his professional debut with Club Tijuana on Aug. 22, 2012, in a 2-1 win over Celaya in a Copa MX match.
