News

In the first match since their immediate exit after the group stage at the recently completed 2010 World Cup, the United States National Soccer team lost 2-0 to Brazil at the new Meadowlands Stadium. The vibrant and energetic Brazilian team, who were mostly made up of under 20 year olds and only four members of their World Cup team, easily handled a lethargic and sloppy US side. Even with a near sellout crowd of 77,223 at the not-ready-for-prime-time Meadowlands stadium, the United States National team just couldn't summon the energy, tactics and technical skills to match a Brazilian side who has returned to Joga Bonita.

Entering into the extremely unimpressive New Meadowlands Stadium, I was struck by how many Brazilian jerseys and supporters were on display, despite a concerted effort by US fan groups including the American Outlaws. The new stadium, which I don’t know how could of set New Jersey taxpayers back $1.6 billion considering how much nicer Citifield, Yankee Stadium and even the outlandish new Cowboy stadium are in comparison, is an ugly, steel and concrete mess and a logistical disaster.

The US started quite well, pressuring the young Brazilian side whenever they had possession, which resulted in two early scoring chances. Despite midfielder Michael Bradley's constant turnovers, the US held their own until about the 18th minute. Whether it was fatigue or a poor tactical decision sent in from the sidelines by Coach Bradley, the US took their foot off the gas and ceased pressuring Brazil. Brazil, realizing the game had now opened up, began stringing passes together in a midfield diamond that compacted the US defense resulting in open channels along the wings that Brazil instantly exploited. At this point, it was only a matter of when Brazil was going to score and not if...

Neymar, a wirey forward who was playing in his first national team appearance, scored on a snap header in the 29th minute. Tim Howard, the US keeper who plays for Everton in the English Premier League, didn’t stand a chance as Neymar adroitly overpowered Jonathan Bornstein and powered a cross from Andre Santos inside the left post. The US never seemed to recover from the blow and completely stopped defending altogether, opening the game even further. Without “First Defender” pressure on the ball, Alexandre Pato received a perfectly-weighted through ball from Ramires, who was left unchallenged at the top of the 18, eased around a charging Howard, and slide the ball home to take a 2-0 lead.

Despite the resilience that the USA demonstrated during the World Cup with several exciting come-from-behind victories, it was obvious that the game was over. Coach Bob Bradley started off the second half by infusing several D-List subs into the team who played like they didn't want to be there with the only notable exception being Brad Guzan who replaced Howard. The wide gap in technical skills was even more evident with Brazil freely passing the ball around without a successful challenge from the US. Sacha Kljestan, playing left midfield, was a particular embarrassment for the US side with laboring, soporific play and the inability to control even the simplest of passes. Fact is, Kljestan's play exlemplified the overall lack of quality that the US needed to truly combat Brazil's world-class skill.

Compounding the USA’s non-pressure, was the fact that when they did obtain possession, and went on the offensive, they never had more than three players on the attack. Brazil simply tracked 7-8 players back, waited for the US to mishandle the ball or fire an inaccurate cross., and regained possession. They then built from the back with flair and rhythm, humiliating the US even more with some Harlem Globetrotters-like trickery. The only reason that Brazil didn’t win 5-0 was the fact that promising US Keeper, Guzan, made several extraordinary saves, including a close quarter show-stopper, that showcased his brilliant reaction speed and athleticism.

Landon Donovan, who was playing in his umpteenth game in the past 30 days, did all that he could, but looked completely gassed after about 25 minutes of play — only his drive, pride and competitiveness kept him going. That said, Donovan, besides Howard, is really the USA's only true "International" player. His technical, tactical and most importantly creative skills put him far above the rest of his teammates.

If Coach Bob Bradley was hoping for a solid showing from the US National team in order to secure his coaching position for the next four years, this certainly wasn’t the result that was going to boost the US Soccer Federation's confidence in his abilities. Bradley's most blatant error was his failure to come up with a tactical solution to combat Brazil’s dominant possession. The US was content to simply cut of angles on defense instead of disrupting Brazil’s flow with immediate and hard-nosed pressure. Clearly, this is the beginning of the end for Bob Bradley (with his inability to change tactics on-the-fly), and hopefully a wake-up-call for the US National team.

Don Fish, the new Coach of the Port Washington Vikings Boys Varsity Soccer team, has endorsed Dean Moraitis, co-founder of the European American Soccer Academy, to prepare a select group of high school players for the upcoming 2010 Fall Season. Moraitis is training the boys over the summer with his unique blend of technical, tactical and physical conditioning. In addition, the boys will participate in the Town of Hempstead Summer League, which features several scholastic teams that the varsity team will face in the fall. Under Moraitis’ tutorage, the boys are currently 3-0.

Credit goes to Don Fish who knows that a victorious season starts with a successful off-season. For the 6 years that Dean Moraitis led the Boys Varsity Soccer Program at Oceanside High (79 wins, 22 loses and 12 ties), he would always look for ideas to make sure that his players stayed focused during the off-season. "If the boys stayed in both mental and physical shape during the summer, then that would help the team be better prepared for the regular season," Moraitis revealed in a recent interview. "One of the things that we did was to participate in the Town of Hempstead Summer League." This is the first year that the Vikings will participate in the same league.

While Dean will run the team, he will be in close communication with Coach Fish, who will witness all of the games, so he can familiarize himself with the players, and perform some advance scouting of teams the Vikings will face in the fall. The team will roster 20 players, which will more than likely make one of the two varsity squads.

"We are very excited for this opportunity to prepare the Vikings for the upcoming season. The opposition will be strong, and while we are looking to always be competitive, one of our main objectives is to develop the younger players," Moraitis stated. "The experience of a freshman or sophmore playing with and against juniors and seniors, is second to none, and this summer experience will certainly raise the level of their game both tactically and technically," Moraitis stated.

The team will also be coached by Lee Rogers, who helped the Vikings register for the league, and has coached the Girls Varsity Soccer Team at Baldwin High. Last year, the girls team reached the final, loosing a tight game to East Meadow, by the score of 0-2. Technical Director, Dan Brotman, will also assist with the team, while Jeff Finkle and Dom DiAgostino will help with all of the Administrative responsibilities.

All of the games will take place at Cuomo Park, in Seaford.

As the LIJSL 2010 Spring Season ended this past June, each of the EASA trained teams ended their seasons with great success by meeting or exceeding their team’s objectives. EASA sets specific targets for each of our teams to obtain. The objectives are broken down into team goals for both the year and each season (Fall and Spring), as well as individual player goals. While success for players and teams are measured at various levels, the entire group of EASA trainers were excited with how strong each of our teams finished the Spring 2010 season.

Here is a quick synopsis of each of our teams:

The Torpedoes: The Boys Under 10 year old "C" team, finished the Fall Season with 8 loses and one tie. The focus over the Winter season was to continue to train this group of boys to develop a tactical understanding, and to help them achieve a higher level of conditioning. The results of our training allowed the boys to finish the Spring Season with 3 wins, 2 ties, and 4 loses, a tremendous difference from their first season. In fact, the boys allowed only one goal in their final 4 games. Also, one player was moved to the "A" team, and another moved to the "B" team.

The Dynamite: The Girls Under 12 "B" team faced many obstacles when they first came together. The team lacked a cohesive training approach, having endured several lackluster trainers since their inception, and were never taught how to play the game. The results spoke for themselves and the team was on the verge of disbanding when Dan Brotman took the reins as the coach and trainer. The aim was to begin to create a positive atmosphere with a true educational focus on learning all aspects of the game: technical, tactical, mental and physical. Dan Brotman began this transition by incorporating functional training methods and specific tactics to create more scoring opportunities. The approach paid off with the team going from scoring only 5 goals over the past three seasons total, to scoring 24 the next.
Dean Moraitis joined the team in the Spring and the addition made an immediate impact with his emphasis on conditioning. The Spring's results demonstrated that compassionate 360° Total Training makes a big difference with the girls finishing in 5th place, and, for the first time, making it to the second round of the Long Island Waldbam’s Cup. Two of the girls were invited to move up to the "A" team, but declined the invitation to remain with the positive learning and supportive environment of the Dynamite The team's objective for the 2010 Fall season is to try and move up a Division for the first time.

The Real: The Boys Under 14 team, played in Division 2, but were faced with some major problems. Between boys leaving the team and certain players being injured, the Real were facing certain regulation to the 3rd Division. At the eleventh hour, Dean Moraitis was asked to rescue the remaining part of of the season and help the team survive as a unit. With only 11 players left, 9 who were viable to play, and having 4 games left in the season, Dean asked the boys to focus, work hard and come together as a cohesive unit, despite the obstacles. Moraitis set a target of obtaining at least 9 points. The Real became invigorated with Dean’s never say die attitude, won 3 games of their last four games, and finished high enough to remain in Division 2. Thanks to the "big finish" and Moraitis staying on to be the full-time trainer, the Real have already signed four new players, and will be playing the 2010 Fall Season as the Manhasset Real.

The Blue Knights: The boys under 15 year old team finished in second place in Division 5 and will be moving up to Division 4. Considering that the team was 0-9 in Division 5 and had to drop to Division 6 when Dean Moraitis took over the team, demonstrates the improvement of the team and is another example of the benefits of the EASA approach. The team finished in second place during the Spring 2009 season in Division 6, and have been competitive ever since. Five new players have joined the team, and Dean feels that with the new players, and the continued development, the team should have no problem progressing to even a higher level of play.

The Power: The Girls Under 16 "B" team began the season playing in Division 4 for the first time, the highest level that they had played since Dean Moraitis took over the team three years ago when they were in Division 6. The aim was to be as competitive as they could be, and to try to reach the target of finishing in the top 5 spots, something that the team was able to accomplish. The new goal is to try to finish in first place and move up to Division 3.

The Predators: Six years ago, the Boys Under 16 year old "B" team began play, under Dean Moraitis in Division 8, going 0-7-1. This Spring season, the Boys began play in Division 3 with the hope of moving up to Division 2 at the end of the season. Unfortunately, the team was immediately beset with multiple injuries, forcing the team to roster five of their games with only 13 players. Considering the barriers, the team was still able to finish in 2nd place, and will be moving up to the Division 2, the highest level the Predators have ever played. The Predators also competed in several Premier Tournaments as well, and are looking forward to another successful season.

The Wildcats: The Girls under 14 team had an incredible season, winning Division 5, and allowing no goals, the only team in the LIJSL to do so. Playing most of the season without their main goal scorer, the team came together and instead of having one girl score, worked together and had 6 girls score for their team. The Wildcats will be moving up to Division 4. See the full story below...

The Port Washington Wildcats, GU14 in the Long Island Junior Soccer League, went undefeated and unscored upon in winning their division for the Spring 2010 season. The Wildcats were the only team in the entire league of approximately 1,500 teams that did not allow a goal the entire season.

One of the main aspects of EASA training is to focus on tactical defensive training, as a team. For years, EASA trained teams have finished with the fewest amount of goals allowed in each of their divisions. For the Spring, 2010 season, 4 of the 8 teams trained by EASA trainers finished the season with the least amount of goals scored. However, one of the teams, trained by Lee Rogers, finished the season with an amazing accomplishment. The Wildcats, an Under 14, Division 5, Girls team, that played in the LIJSL finished the season with no goals allowed. Considering that there are close to 1500 soccer teams that played in the Spring 2010 season makes this an incredible accomplishment.

Lee Rogers was not only proud of the teams accomplishment, but impressed with the level of intelligence the girls displayed. "When we first began training the Wildcats, the team lacked a tactical understanding of playing defense as a unit. Our focus, as trainers, was to make the girls understand that every player, regardless of their position, needs to understand that the most important part of the game is to help protect the goal. Once we did that, then we taught the team how to counter attack and take advantage of the space given to us from our opponents."

The team finished in first place and will be moving up to Division 4. As with all of our teams, EASA would like to congratulate the Wildcat Coaching staff, the players as well as all of the parents for a job well done!

The Predators have been competing for the past few years at several Premier Soccer Tournaments out of Long Island. This Memorial Weekend was no different, as the team competed at the Delta FC Invitational Tournament and College Showcase at Citizens Bank Fields at Progin Park in Lancaster, Massachusetts. This brand new complex has (16) 11v11 fields, including (5) artificial turf fields. It is considered to be the best soccer complex in New England and possibly the entire East Coast, and last year, the complex hosted the USSF National Finals.

While the Predators are a Division 3 team that competes in the LIJSL, all of the competition was against Regional Ranked teams from the North Eastern Part of the US. The team also had to compete without 5 players from the starting lineup (injuries, family obligations, etc), yet, the team performed way above expectations. While the final results were a tie and 2 loses (0-0, 0-3, 1-2), the Predators left an impressive mark to all that witnessed the games, and were asked to compete in next years Tournament, as well as an invitation to play scrimmages vs. other Ranked Teams from the region. It should be noted that the Predators were the only non-division 1 team that competed in this years tournament.

Besides playing the games, the boys had a wonderful time off the field as well. The team stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in Fitchburg, Mass., which also hosts Coco Key Water Resort, an indoor water park located in the hotel. The boys were able to enjoy some down time from the games, taking advantage of the rides that the park had to offer. As always, the boys enjoyed playing against some very strong competition as well as the time off the field as well. The coaching staff, Jeff Weintraub, Jeff Finkle, and trainer Dean Moraitis, are looking forward to the next College Showcase, which will be held at Fort Dix, New Jersey.

The European American Soccer Academy and the Port Washington Soccer Club are pleased to announced that the Spring Goalkeeper clinics will start on April 5th at the Manorhaven School. The clinics are free and open to all Port Washington Soccer Club players who want to enhance their technique with specific goalie training. The clinics will held every Monday for eight straight weeks at the Manorhaven Elementary School. Times will be as follows:

Boys & Girls U9 - U12: 5:30 to 6:30 PM
Boys & Girls U13 - U19: 6:30 to 7:30 PM

The clinics will be conducted by the European American Soccer Academy's Goalkeeping trainer, Mike Hurley.

The European American Soccer Academy is now training three new teames in Port Washington, New York.

The three new teams are: the Real Boys Under 14, the Dynamite Girls Under 12 and the Flames Girls Under 17.

EASA are looking forward to the new relationship with the players and family members of the three new teams.

While most New York football fans were glued to their television sets, hoping that the Jets would continue their run to the Super Bowl, the Predators were on their way to Rochester College, to participate in this years Clarkstown Indoor Soccer Tournament.

Clearly, the boys were focused more on soccer as they finished in second place, behind New Hyde Park (Division 1). This was an important accomplishment, in that the Predators were the only Division 3 team there, while all of their opponents were either Division 1 or premier. Their only lose was, in fact, to NHP (0-2,), but the Predators put on a defensive clinic, finishing their other 4 games with 4 shutouts, and a final record of 1-3-1.

The biggest thrill was their victory against Lynbrook America (Division 1) by the score of 1-0. Peter Ashley scored the winning goal after America's goalkeeper blocked a shot from John Marracho. The Predators Goalkeeper, Michael Moraitis, played exceptional, as did his fellow defenders, Brian Arranow, Jose Lopez, Matt Valenti, and Arjan Saraon, who played the game with a broken nose. The team will now continue their training, as they prepare for the Dix Hills Soccer Tournament in February.

For years, teams trained by the staff of European American Soccer Academy have always insisted on proper sportsmanship and behavior for all of the players that train with us. We feel that players who play with the spirit of the game in mind are giving a lot more respect as a leader than that of a player who is constantly bringing the game down by acting inappropriately.

When there is a presence of sportsmanship on the field, the game of soccer dramatically improves. You are then playing soccer for the love of the game without any intent of hurting the opponent. It is our pleasure to announce that this year, three of our teams won the Sportsmanship Award from the LIJSL for the Fall 2009 Season.

The teams that were awarded were the Predators (BU16), the Wildcats (GU14) and the Torpedoes (BU10). As always, Dean Moraitis and Lee Rogers are proud of their teams, and we congratulate, not only the players, but the Head Coach of each team, as well as the Parents!

By the late 80's, my dream to once again play soccer at either a semi, or professional level again, as I had played in Greece, was finally fading away. Three ACL surgeries on my left knee, a sore achilles tendon on my right foot, and other numerous injuries, had finally taken its toll — never mind the painful truth that I was, in fact, getting older and slower. The good news was that despite the pain and inability to run as I did when I was younger and healthier, I was still able to "contribute" with an adult team in Oceanside, where my good friend Lee Rogers played as well.

Lee and I had known each other for close to five years, and, besides being great friends off the field, had also connected soccer wise, he being the "General" in the midfield, looking to create any way possible, and I, taking advantage of his passing skills, scored most of the goals on our team. So, on a day where most "normal" people might have wanted to spend the day home, enjoying a hot cup of tea with a blanket and a remote control, avoiding the rain and close to freezing temperatures, Lee and I were playing with Oceanside, pretending that we were still in our younger 20's, playing against team from Queens, where most of the players were from Serbia.

As was common in those days, games were quite rough and dirty, and by the end of the game there would be a few "arguments" between the players of both teams. As both teams began their quarrels, Lee and I, having no interest of being a part of players pretending to be boxers instead of soccer players, walked over to the other side of the field, where a group of younger players from Oceanside were playing a team from Syosset.

As we watched the game, the transformation of us from being players to becoming coaches from the sidelines began, and our comments, as always, were quite critical. "Look at him not taking the proper space!" "Can you believe the coach is not telling them what they are doing wrong?" "What is he thinking, not passing the ball?" "What kind of system is this team playing?"

And then, of course, the most common thought would always come about: "If we were coaching, the team would be playing so much better!!!"

As we began to laugh about the fact of how critical we were to the Coach of Oceanside and his team, a parent from one of the teams that had tolerated our obnoxiousness, declared that we should become coaches ourselves and see how difficult it really is before walking away in disgust. We looked at each other, began to laugh again, and decided that one day, we would open our own Soccer Academy, and teach children the proper way to play the game...and maybe even invite that same parent to have her son play for us. We then decided to call it a day, wished each other well, and went on our own business.

A few years later, we began our own coaching careers, Lee with the Baldwin Soccer Club, in Long Island, and I first in Queens, New York, with a Semi-Pro Team, and then in Herricks, Long Island, as an Assistant Coach to the Boys Varsity Soccer Team. We quickly discovered that the parent that had spoken to us that cold afternoon, was quite right, in that coaching was not as easy as we had first thought. The good news, however, was that we both felt confident in that with our experience, passion for the game, and continued success, that we would one day achieve the goal that we had set for ourselves and pursue our dream of having our own soccer academy.

Almost 20 years later, and after several Scholastic and Club State Titles, High School National Rankings, numerous Conference Titles, Chase Cup and Waldbaums Cup titles, as well as numerous tournament victories all over the United States between us, what we once thought of as a joke, has now come true: the official birth of European American Soccer Academy (EASA). With that, we are happy to announce the start of our web site for EASA.

Creating a web site for European American Soccer Academy will not change our theories, or thoughts about coaching, or how we continue to be role models for our players. What we have done is allowed for a more modern approach, as well as easier access to all of the players, and parents of our teams. The good news will be that everyone will know exactly what out theories of the game are, and how in fact we coach our players. We will quickly post soccer team news and events so that players and coach's will be able to get information much quicker, about anything that is of interest, either about ourselves, our teams, or anything else of importance.

We will post team and game photos, and documents for all your soccer fans, friends, and family to see. We will also create a much easier way for parents and players to review soccer schedules and other events for your teams calendar to highlight your games, practices, and tournaments. Soon, we will also create youth soccer tips and drills to improve your player's game, and also have a newsletter that will have various sources of information for all to read. As time goes on, there will be other exciting information about various happenings on EASA's web site.

Please take your time and read up on everything that is on our site. We have taken our time to make our site as professional, and as informative as possible.

Welcome to our new home!

Dean Moraitis & Lee Rogers