Scrappy young San Jose soccer team vying for a second national championship – San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE — A scrappy bunch of young soccer players from San Jose — with barely enough money for food, equipment and travel — is making big noises in the world of national competitions, where primo teams are usually flush with sponsors, footwear, trainers and even special nutritionists.

But the South San Jose PAC Indios, who dine at Costco and practice in a downtown dog park, have the kind of players who will stuff fists of grass in their cleats, just to get a better fit.

And yet last Monday this ragtag team shocked the youth soccer world by winning the

National Premier League Championship in Indiana

against a Massachusetts team with “Elite” in its title. And now the team is aboard a used school bus crawling to Oklahoma to vie for a second title, the biggest crown in all of youth soccer.

“With just a week between, these boys are turning right around and heading out to try to win another championship,” said Mounir Auon, whose son Neil plays wing and mid-center on the team dreaming of capturing the U.S. Youth Soccer National Championship in Tulsa. “That would be quite an amazing accomplishment for a team that has so many factors working against it.”

Of all the challenges, nothing is more dire than the lack of finances to keep the team running and kicking its way to glory. So the 13-to-18 year-old competitors have launched their own GOFUNDME campaign because only a handful of parents can afford the fees and equipment costs. Team expenses are scraped up from fans, supporters and even the head coach — a young, surrogate dad.

“Our greatest strength is that we have been together for eight years,” said Coach Francisco Lopez, 37, who has sculpted many of his players into a steam-roller since they were little boys. Their home field is Watson Park, a canine paradise near Jackson and North 22nd street. And while they have made it to tournaments before, they have never made it as far as this season.

“The team is made up of Latino, low-income kids, mostly from the East Side who never take anything for granted,” said the coach, whose son Alex plays on the team. “They work hard, practicing four times a week, because they know what they need to do, to achieve their goals.”

Lopez often reminds his charges that most successful youth soccer clubs have plenty of discipline and scientific diets. He sometimes has to feed his squad on Costco pizza. Other teams have sophisticated training systems, first-class uniforms, footwear and equipment and also have secured scholarship offers for many of their players who travel to national tournaments in comfort.

The PAC Indios have almost none of that, but still they took the crown at the National Premier tournament in Westfield, Indiana on Monday — 1-to-0 — from the New England Elite team. And the team has a great spirit that includes supportive parents.

“Our parents may not be able to afford much in the way of money, but they are dependable about making sure we get to all our practices and doing as much for us as they can,” said Rodrigo Reyes, 17, a goal keeper. “Our team is tight. We’ve know one another since we were little kids and now we joke around a lot and we love each other like brothers.”

Following the Indiana triumph, the team could not afford to fly back to San Jose and then on to Tulsa for next week’s U.S. Youth National Soccer Championship. Instead, they are still in the Midwest, staying six teenagers to a hotel room.

The first plan was to drive (instead of fly) the 657 miles from Indiana to Oklahoma in a pair of rented vans. That idea went awry when the team found out it would cost $1,000 a day. Instead, Lopez shopped around, bought a 13-year-old yellow school bus for the snail ride to possible glory. He hopes to sell the vehicle after the tournament which begins on Tuesday.

Exhausted from the first championship run, the team went to Chicago for a few days of rest, but by mid-week they found themselves searching for a spot for practice.

“We were just driving around looking for any park that was open,” said Lopez on Wednesday. Then they spotted one. “And with no permission or anything, we just got off the bus and went to work.” In the famed Lincoln Park, of all places.

Because California produces two tournament teams, the Northern California Indios are expecting to meet an excellent example of a primo, youth soccer team — the one from Santa Barbara, the reigning US Youth Soccer champion. Beating Santa Barbara is a long-shot, but the Indios believe they have a celebration coming to them.

When the San Jose players won the Premier League title, the team had no chance to do any silly dancing, jumping, screaming or hugging. Instead, a raging, black-cloud quickly descended, threatening the windy arrival of something California boys knew little about — a tornado. Everyone was ordered off the field, immediately.

“Sure would be nice,” said Aoun, who made it to Tulsa before the team, “if we get a chance to finally celebrate by winning a second national championship.”

Contact David E. Early at 408-920-5836. Follow him at Twitter.com/DavidEarlySr.