Week #6
The Weekly Spurs Report
Past Events:
Last weekend the Spurs took 11 teams to Aberdeen for the 2023 Geffdog Winter Invite.
The 2005 Girls and 2006/07 Boys finished as Finalists!
Open Registrations:
Register for Winter JR Spurs at the link below.
Birth years 2014-2019
Cost - $60 (includes t-shirt)
Register for Spring Grassroots
Cost is $75
$10 Early Bird discount before January 23rd
$25 Late Fee after March 3rd
Birth Years 2011-2018
The SoDak Spurs SC Spring Grassroots program is a 6-week season starting on April 17th and finishing May 25th.
The Brookings Home Team powered by Century 21 Krogman & Co Player Spotlight
The very first Brookings Home Team SuperShot Player Spotlights are Otto Nelson and Jacey Johnston!
Otto Nelson is 8 years old and he is a member of the 2014 Boys team. His favorite thing about playing with the Spurs is traveling and playing games with his team. When he grows up he would like to compete in the Olympics as a swimmer or a soccer player. Congratulations Otto!
Jacey Johnston is 8 years old and she is a member of the 2014 Girls team. Her favorite thing about playing with the Spurs is playing games with her team. She would like to be a teacher when she grows up. Congratulations Jacey!
Both players will receive a $25 gift card to Dunhams. Thank you to Brookings Home Team and Nate Harrington of Dunham’s for providing the prizes!
Pro Spotlight - Joao Felix - written by Jake Weber
Joao Felix is a 23-year-old Portuguese winger who currently plays for Chelsea in the Premier League. Earlier this month he played at Atletico Madrid in the Spanish La Liga. Felix was recently loaned out to Chelsea. Instead of conducting trades or having free agency, players typically move between teams in soccer by mode of transfers and loans. A team will pay another team some money and then enter contract negotiations with a player. If the player agrees to move, then his former club is paid the transfer fee and the player joins his new club. A loan is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of a team paying to keep a player permanently, they agree to pay part of a player’s wages to have them play with their club for a limited amount of time. Teams may conduct this business twice a year, in January, and the summer. This is all oversimplified but is important to understand why Felix is in the news recently in the world of soccer.
In the past, Felix made headlines for being one of the brightest young stars in the world. He first broke onto the scene in 2018 at the age of seventeen when he made his debut for the Portuguese team Benfica. He made 26 appearances with their first team and scored 15 goals as Benfica went on to win the Portuguese league.
His incredible performances as a young Portuguese winger inevitably led to comparisons to Cristiano Ronaldo, and his expensive transfer to Atletico Madrid didn’t help. In 2019 Felix was bought by Atletico Madrid for $142 million. This is the 4th most expensive transfer ever and the 2nd most expensive for a teenager. Only Kylian Mbappe’s move to PSG in France was more expensive. The Ronaldo comparisons and high transfer fees meant high expectations, and while Felix has had bright moments in Spain like scoring 25 goals in under 100 appearances or winning the golden boy award, which is given to the best player in Europe aged 21 and younger, Felix has still struggled to find good form. Injuries and Atletico Madrid’s defensive style of play have seemingly held him back from his early promise.
Felix hopes to rejuvenate his career in London with Chelsea but has unfortunately gotten off to a rough start. Just this week Felix made his debut for the Blues and after 57 minutes was given a straight red card for a high and late challenge on an opponent. Felix showed early promise in his career as a technically gifted winger who had an eye for goal and was confident on the ball. And while his recent struggles in Spain and rocky start in England suggest his best days are behind him, he is still a young and exciting player to watch.