Ranked #5 in Florida in U17 by GotSoccer.com 9/18/04
Team League Name + Record for 2003-04 Season:
South Florida United Youth Soccer Association, 7 wins, 4, losses, 5 ties
Team League Name + Record for 2002-03 Season:
South Florida United Youth Soccer Association, 8 wins, 3 losses, 2 ties
Record in 2003-04 State Cup: 4 wins, 2 losses, 0 ties (Round of 16)
Record in 2002-03 State Cup: 7 wins, 1 loss, 2 ties (Final 4)
Team Tournament Record for up to 3 tournaments in last 2 years:
Nations Cup, CocoaExpo, July 24-26, 2004, U16 Champion, 5 wins, 0 losses, 0 ties, defeated Barry Athletic Club of Cardiff, Wales 4-1 in final.
Second Annual Weston Invitational, Weston, FL, Memorial Day 2004, U17 champion (played up), 4 wins, 0 losses, 0 ties, defeated West Pines of Broward County 5-4 on PKs after 1-1 tie in regulation in final.
Disney's Spring Holiday Soccer Festival, Wide World of Sports, Easter weekend, U17 champion (played up), 3 wins, 0 losses, 1 tie, defeated Raheny United of Ireland 4-2 in final.
Additional Information::
Coached by Roberto Mercado, who holds an A license from the National Coaching School of U.S. Soccer and a license from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Core of this team has played together under Mercado since U9s.
2003-04 Campaign -- 28 wins, 9 losses, 8 ties
Won last four tournaments, the three listed above plus the Columbus Day in October 2003 with 3 wins, no losses and a tie, defeating the Weston Fury 1-0 in the final.
Nine players also part of highly regarded St. Thomas Aquinas High School soccer.
Five other players also part of Archbishop McCarthy High School program, coached by Mercado.
Roberto Mercado is beginning his ninth year as the coach of the Eagles U17 team. Seven of the boys started playing for Mercado as U9s. The squad went to the Florida Youth Soccer Association Final Four in 2003 and finished the
2003-04 campaign with a combined record of 28-9-8. The U16s played in the South Florida United Youth Soccer League and also won five tournaments: the Nation's Cup in July at CocoaExpo, Disney's Spring Holiday Soccer Festival in April at the Wide World of Sports, the Second Annual Weston Invitational Soccer Tournament Memorial Day weekend (playing up in the U17 age group both times) and the Columbus Day Cup in October 2003 at CocoaExpo.
Mercado holds an A license from the National Coaching School of U.S. Soccer, the highest license a coach can earn. He also has a license from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
Since 1992, Mercado has coached boys' and girls' teams in the Hollywood and Plantation recreation and travel leagues and has served as boys' head coach at Seminole Middle School in Plantation, Plantation High School and Archbishop McCarthy High School in Pembroke Pines, where he has coached since 1998. The last eight years he has been a coach and trainer in the Plantation Eagles Soccer Club and Richard Williams Soccer Sense programs.
From 1989 to 1991, Mercado coached at the prestigious Tahuichi Aguilera school in his native Bolivia. Distinguished graduates include Marco Etcheverry, Jaime Moreno and Mauricio Ramos, stars in Major League Soccer.
He learned soccer in his hometown of La Paz, where he was a First Division player in the American Institute during his middle and high school years. In 1970, Mercado played on his country's "The Strongest" youth division U13-U15 team Professional Club and then moved up to the U15 national team. Mercado played high school soccer in Falls Church, Virginia, and college ball at Catholic University in La Paz.
