Stoppage Time Special: Building Soccer Dreams in NWA

Soccer history unfolded right in our backyard as the Marshall Islands national team made its international debut at Springdale High School in Northwest Arkansas. What makes this story extraordinary isn't just the debut itself, but the remarkable spirit and progress shown by a team where nearly half the players had never competed in an official 11v11 match before. Coming primarily from futsal backgrounds, these athletes didn't merely participate; they competed with heart, hitting the post against USVI and scoring their first-ever international goals in their second match.

The tournament garnered attention from soccer media giants like Men in Blazers and influential voices across social media, bringing deserved recognition to an underrepresented community in global athletics. Witnessing a nation's first-ever official soccer match is a rare privilege, something few fans ever experience. The competition, featuring teams from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos, and Ozark FC's U19s, aims to become an annual tradition in Northwest Arkansas, our very own regional international tournament.

Meanwhile, the MLS Next program has launched with impressive momentum in Northwest Arkansas, attracting approximately 100 players per age group from as many as six different states. The program has united former rivals from competing high schools and clubs onto the same teams, creating an intense training environment where hard tackles and competitive spirit drive mutual improvement. Coaches have been pleasantly surprised by the technical ability and tactical awareness of the region's players, suggesting a bright future for soccer development in Northwest Arkansas. Join us next Thursday for another episode of the Pitch to Pro podcast, as we continue exploring the beautiful game's growth in unexpected places.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Stoppage Time edition of the
Pitch to Pro podcast.
This is a highlight reel ofsome of the best moments from
the show so far, and every otherweek we will be bringing you a
special five to seven minutesegment featuring the best
stories, tales and moments ofthe podcast.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Like there were people from all over the world
that traveled in to support theMarshall Islands.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
I mean the men, men and blazers.
Did a man a blazers?

Speaker 2 (00:28):
got a segment on it, like they did some social media.
There's continuation of that,like they were in the newsletter
, like this is a massive deal.

Speaker 3 (00:36):
Yeah, it was funny Cause, like I, I would say I was
doing what everyone does and Iwas doing scrolling, yeah, like
some doom scrolling, yeah, likesome big soccer influencers were
also talking about it, you know, and I was like, man, this is
so cool that it is it's a superhuge thing, or like it's such an
underrepresented community inlike the global stage and
athletics, and now they're ableto have this and not only that
man they competed like it's notlike they got killed.

(00:57):
No, it's not like they're losing14-0, like they competed and
they like.
For me, I was like man.
I being from north of sargent,so I was proud of them.
I can only imagine like beingfrom the marshall islands and
seeing your national teamaccomplish this, being first
time ever, and then also likedoing well, yeah I mean nil for
the usvi, but that I mean theywere usvi by far and away.

Speaker 2 (01:18):
It was like the best team in the tournament they
deserve to win.
Um, turks and geckos is noslaps.
Let me like just be like veryclear.
But you know, if I had to givean edge, it was probably the
usvi.
Yeah, uh, but so nil four, butlike that it could have been
well, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:35):
And here's the thing everybody's like dean was a part
of their staff as well.
Yeah, and they tried to playlike you could have easily.
Like like hey, we're gonna, youknow, sit in the back and just
try to hope for something.
But no, they tried to play Likeyou could have easily.
Like hey, we're going to.
You know, sit in the back andjust try to hope for something.
But no, they tried to play, theyhit the post.
Yeah, good for them.
You know they wanted to playsome proper soccer and they did.
And I think on Saturday we sawkind of the benefits of that
because, well, it was tied right, I got there later, but I don't

(02:00):
know that it was ever tied, butthey did come back and they
scored their first ever goals.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Yeah, Like people again we can't overstate for
having never, ever played an 11v 11 match and you're going up
against senior national teamsHalf, almost half of the
Marshall Islands team had neverplayed even 11 v 11 in an
official match, Like they werefutsal players.

(02:27):
They were futsal players, yeah,which is just bonkers, Like
that's wild.
And so to have scored from therun of play on their first goal
was just nuts.
And then to have done the workto get a PK to kind of bring it
back and close to 3-2.
And you know there was aquestionable, you know could
have gone either way, Like PKcall at the end where you could

(02:49):
have even tied.
Like are you serious?
So it's just.
It was so unbelievably cool forme, as a soccer fan and just fan
of our community, to havewitnessed that and be a part of
that and like, say you werethere.
Yeah, Like I can't think ofhearing about or whatever
reading a internet, a nation'sfirst ever, you know, official

(03:12):
soccer match, 11 B 11.
And we were here for that.
Then we witnessed it.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
I mean, there's not.
There's not very many, there'snot very many where they can say
, hey, you're going to be a partof their first ever soccer team
.

Speaker 2 (03:20):
You know, yeah, there's not many, if any, and I
mean marshall islands is yeah,and so I mean just all the way
around, usvi, turks and cacos,marshall islands, the u19s for
ozfc, every single one of themcoming in, competing, doing so
well, representing theircountries and their teams, other
communities, heads held high,like it was.
It was such a cool event tohave here in Northwest Arkansas.

(03:44):
It was unreal that this washappening and hopefully, and the
intent I know, is to make thisan annual thing and I just I
only hope it gets bigger.

Speaker 3 (03:53):
Yeah, so yeah, even if obviously we're not in it
anymore like it's going to beawesome, like we're going to
tell our kids to continue to goand support and be a part of
this Cause.
It's this, because it's soawesome to have this here.
I mean it's like the Gold Cup,it's like Copa America, you know
, like this is an internationaltournament.
You know it's like that's here,that's here in Northwest
Arkansas, you know, inSpringdale High School.

(04:14):
Like who would have thought ofthat?
You know.

Speaker 2 (04:16):
So cool.
So again, just major shout outto the Marshallese community and
the Marshall Island SoccerFederation and all the work that
they've done to get to thatpoint.
Just a massive congratulations,huge.
So moving on to MLS, nextprogram and the U13s all the way
to the U19s, you guys, you knowthey've done a ton of work to

(04:39):
start this program, hold evals,start training and start doing
schedules and like startorganizing friendlies.
Like talk everybody through,let's take a step back.
We haven't really.
You know we talked about itbefore eval started.
Yeah, a lot has happened sincethen.
So walk people through, likelet's go back to evals.
What was that like?

(05:00):
Uh, we had insane turnout.
Just talk a little bit aboutthat.

Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, it was awesome to see.
I think I sent you the numbersthe other day.
I think we had about 100 kidsper team, per age group, come
out to tryouts and obviously I'mkind of from here.
But now I left and I'm steppingback into the space, so I don't
know any of the kids.
But from talking to the coachesthat were there helping us, it

(05:29):
was like man, this was like thewho's who in our area and not
just that.
But I mean I think we had likefive or six different states,
you know, kids at tryouts,whether it was they were
planning on commuting or movinghere for work or they just heard
about it.
You know, I saw two Memphiskids on there and I was coming
from Memphis and I saw twoMemphis kids on there.
I was coming from Memphis and Isaw two Memphis kids on our
registration and they were there.
So it was cool to see.
It was crazy, it was hectic.
I did everything that we couldto kind of make sure we were

(05:52):
giving them the opportunity toeval in front of us.
It was a two-day thing andwe're hoping that we can kind of
make that a little bit easierand identify maybe some talent a
little bit earlier, going intonext year's, but it was awesome
to see all the talent there.
I think we had probably abouteight coaches within each age
group.
Help us kind of like sort itout this is who we think, this
is who we think, and then wekind of moved them around to

(06:14):
kind of have them play with eachother and then our MLS Next
coaches picked their teams fromwhat they saw, what they needed.
But after that, once we'veselected our teams, obviously I
respect my coaches too.
They had stuff coming on, theyhad vacations or whatever.
I was leading kind of sometrainings with them in the
morning super early before itgot crazy hot throughout the

(06:35):
summer.
And to say that the levelsurprised me would be an
interesting thing, because I waslike, oh, it's club soccer.
Like I've known it, I've seen,obviously, mls.
Next I've seen high level ecls.
But like the way that these kidsplay surprised me because we
have some ballers in northwestarkansas that are techie, that
are athletic, that understandthe game at a high level, and

(06:57):
now it's been super cool to seethem all on the same team where
every other year they've beenopponents, whether it's opposing
high schools or opposing clubs.
They've always played againsteach other and now they're in
the same space, gettingtrainings at a high level,
competing against each other.
We keep talking about thesehard tackles at these games.

(07:17):
We see them in training, hardtackles that are trying to make
each other better and it's beenawesome to see but that was kind
of our summer it's like in ameeting sessions getting a
better picture of all theplayers, building relationships
with the parents, with them,kind of building the stress
Cause.
At the end of the day, we'rewe're a brand new club.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
Thank you for joining us for this stoppage time
special of the pitch to propodcast.
If you've enjoyed theconversation, you can click
watch the full episode here.
Be sure to tune in nextThursday for a new episode of
the Pitch to Pro podcast, theofficial podcast of Ozark United
FC, Available on YouTube,Instagram and everywhere you get
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