Dep. Holanda is first in first Adelante Fútbol Tournament

On Oct. 1, Dep. Holanda won the championship in La Liga de Las Américas, the premier Michigan/Ohio soccer league consisting of 12 teams.

The following Sunday, the Toledo-based team won first place in Adelante’s first Fútbol Tournament, held Oct. 7-8, 2006 at Schneider Soccer Complex in Toledo.

Adelante, Inc. is a non-profit service agency, assisting many Latinos in Northwest Ohio, and the tournament was established to promote soccer and assist Adelante’s fundraising efforts. This first year, National City Bank, Fremont Printing, and La Prensa made financial contributions to assist in these efforts.

One of the main organizers was Richard Parish, who plays soccer with El Diablo, and is also a financial advisor with Merrill Lynch in downtown Toledo. According to Parish, “What a great weekend.  Great weather, great soccer, really great people.”

Manuel Zapata, who assisted Adelante, Inc. in selecting the teams, informed La Prensa, “It was a great 2-day tournament with 10 teams in competition for prize money of $1,000 (1^st place), $500 (2^nd place), $250 (3^rd place), and $250 (4^th place). Next year we plan on having at least 12 teams.”

All teams played three games each on Saturday, followed by playoffs on Sunday. After the first day of tournament play, the following top 8 teams were:

Saturday, Oct. 7, 2006   Round One

Team                                                    Won     Lost      Tie       

Dep. Holanda (Toledo)                3          0          0

Liverpool (Detroit)                                   2          0          1

Guadalupe (Toledo)                                2          0          1

Halcones (Columbus)                             2          1          0

El Diablo (Toledo)                                   2          1          0

Central Arcenal (Adrian)              1          1          1

Toros Meza (Toledo)                               1          2          0

LSU of Univ. of Toledo                0          3          0 

Action resumed on Sunday, with the following results:

Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006 Round Two

Dep. Holanda defeated LSU (UT), 9 to 0 

Halcones defeated El Diablo, 3 to 1

Liverpool defeated Toros Meza, 4 to 0

Guadalupe defeated Central Arcenal, 2 to 1

Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006  Semi-Finals

Dep. Holanda defeated Halcones, 2 to 0

Liverpool defeated Guadalupe, 4 to 3 (penal kicks)

Sunday, Oct. 8, 2006 Finals

Dep. Holanda defeated Liverpool, 4 to 0

Dep. Holanda wins tournament, with Liverpool second.

Sonia Troche, the executive director of Adelante, Inc., expressed her appreciation to all involved and assisted Toledo City Councilwoman Lourdes Santiago in awarding the cash prizes.