Twenty U.S. states and 19 countries are represented at the Schwan’s USA Cup soccer tournament in Blaine and Becker has one team in the mix.
The Becker Blaze U14 girls soccer squad is competing this week in Blaine in what is considered America’s greatest international youth soccer tournament in the Western Hemisphere. Over 500 teams are battling for the cup in three flights of a five-day format. The opening ceremony included an Olympic-style parade that highlighted each and every team.
Following the parade and the National Anthem, the players and the crowd joined in for quite probably was the world’s largest Handshake for Peace.
The handshake was also demonstrated by the Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton, Executive Director Paul Erickson and two ambassador teams.
The handshake was led dynamically by former Norwegian World Cup star Jan Aage Fjortoft.
The celebration didn’t end there. Skydivers Gary Bergman and John Bucsko made an impressive entrance as they landed on the strip of grass between the stadium seats and players on the field.
The 19 different countries playing at Schwan’s USA CUP all had representatives passing the torch before it was used to light the caldron.
The ceremonies then concluded with fireworks blasting and the band, Boiling Point playing popular cover songs for the crowd. None failed to impress the thousands of spectators and players.
The Becker team, playing in the sliver division, played three games and finished 0-1-2. They tied a team from Marquette MI, 2-2 Tuesday and tied the Minneapolis United team, 1-1 Wednesday.
Thursday, Becker took on the St. Paul Blackhawks Hedges at 1:15 p.m. and lost 1-0. The playoffs run Friday and Saturday.
The Becker Blaze U14 girls team consists of: Brittany Kostek, Lauren Gizzi, Reilly Cencer, Laura Pearce, Tory Nelson, Amber Vogl, Maddy Corey, Joey Rothstein, Megan Dudek, Kylie Schmidt, Claire Voigt, Megan Peterson, Alli Zimmer, Macy Eigen, Kalani Bauer and Coaches Laura Lee and Andy Bartel.
