October 18, 2009 - The Volkswagen Jr. Masters World Finals is an international U13 soccer tournament comprising teams from 20 different countries that will compete in South Africa in late May prior to the start of the World Cup.  The US National Finals was held October 17th and 18th in Washington DC and like all other country champions, the winner of this tournament receives an all expense paid trip to South Africa for this event for all players and two coaches.  As one can imagine, the best of the best went for the title.   

Lower Merion Magic (U12A-boys) was one of 12 teams that qualified for the National Finals by winning or placing second in one of 6 premier level tournaments held earlier this year.  Magic qualified with a second place finish at the Spirit Kick-Off Classic in Downingtown this past August, which included the #1 ranked teams from Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania (Magic) and New York.   

In the US finals, Magic played 3 preliminary games on Saturday and finished with 6 points.  This gave them a second place finish in their group of 6 and allowed them to advance to the semi-finals on Sunday morning.  Their semi-final game versus Arlington Red (VA) was a hard fought match and the game ended in a 1-1 tie after regulation and extra time.  Penalty kicks were needed to decide a winner.  Both teams hit their first 5 penalty kicks.  For Magic, Cody Wax, Wyatt Page, Griffin Fleming, Anthony Haines, and JD Egan all converted.  In sudden death penalty kicks, both teams, including Henry Farr of Magic, converted on their 6th kick.  A Magic player did miss in the 7th spot, but goalie Peter Bradbeer came up with a huge save in the bottom of the frame to keep Magic alive.  Padgett Gustavson made the 8th kick for Magic, while the Arlington player bounced one of the post to give Lower Merion the victory.  

The finals were played in RFK stadium two hours later and it was a great experience for the boys to play in this venue.  Magic was unfortunately not at 100% because of sickness, injuries and the difficulty of the previous game and fell 2-0 to a very talented PDA (NJ) team that they had beaten 2-0 only a few months ago in the finals of the Lou Ramos Classic.  Despite the final result, the weekend was a tremendous amount of fun and a great experience for Magic players and families.  ALL Magic players made important contributions through out the weekend and our congratulations go out to Peter Bradbeer, Justin Davis, JD Egan, Henry Farr, Griffin Fleming, Connor Gregory, Padgett Gustavson, Gian-Luca Hail, Anthony Haines, Nick Jannelli, Jerry Karalis, Josh Liss, Matt Mayer, Wyatt Page, Felix Serlin, and Cody Wax as well as Head Coach Mark Weinmann and Assistant Coach Dale Haines for this fine performance.

Fox Soccer Channel is making a documentary of the tournament and it is planned to air in November on Fox Soccer Channel and later in the spring on Fox and Lower Merion Magic will be one of the featured teams.