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Tweak it to make it fair? Let's see, if you play in the Premier League then you get to play Friday night and Saturday. If you finish in the top 2 in state league you play one game per day. If you finish in the bottom 2 of state league, you play 2 games on Saturday. Sounds fair to me. I guess the complaint comes if you finish as one of the top 2 teams in State League and have to play Saturday against a team that has not yet played. Do you really think that having not played is really that much of an advantage? Your playing against a team that you've probably already beaten in a State League game. In the end, the better team will find a way to win or get the result needed to advance. My question to you is how did your team prepare for State Cup? Did you play in major tournaments in which your team was one of the weaker teams in it and challenged every game? Or did you play in small local tournaments where your team was only challenged in the Championship game. You gotta come out ready to play every game regardless of the situation... that's what separates good teams from great teams.

I saw only the 2nd half. Apparently Brentwood scored their first goal off a PK. Brentwood scored their 2nd goal off a counter-attack down the right side. Their 3rd and final goal was off a free kick from the right side of the 18 yard box, with a great finish by Dana S. Other than that, Brentwood really didn't impress me offensivlely. Had some nice crosses but nobody crashing back post. They rely on speed up top and continue to dump it in behind Franklin's backs. Not much off a possession type team. Franklin had better looks and better chances, problem was they couldn't finish and hit everything at the keeper (one header hit the post off a corner). Their build-up also was much better. It could have been that Brentwood decided to sit back on their 2-0 lead (scored early in 2nd half) thus them playing a 4-4-2 and looking for quick counters. Franklin switched to a 3-4-3 with about 20 minutes to go, but should have played that way or a 4-3-3 the entire 2nd half since Brentwood plays a stopper/sweeper (Brentwood's sweeper was very good and saved them a bunch of times!)

If Tennessee teams are going to be competitive at Regionals, 2 things have got to happen: First they need to be trained at an early age to not even worry about winning or losing. They need confidence on the ball at an early age and that come from quality coaches that are more concerned with player development than results. Unfortunately we still have coaches that "coach to win" at the early age by focusing on more tactial training then technical. I'm not saying that winning is wrong at the early age, but the teams that are trying to "play soccer" by trying to work the ball around, trying moves, making good 1st touches and actually are trying to do something with the ball instead of just kicking it as hard as they can to the most athletic player on the team relying on that player to score a majority of their goals. These teams are inevitably going to lose more games then they'll win. But a few years later everything will flip-flop. Seccondly, I think someone made the arugment that population, competition, parents letting the coaches coach, etc are the reasons the Texas teams are successful at Regionals. All this is true, but in the end its the population size and competition that make them great. They have their North Texas leagues that all the great teams play in coupled with the Premier League that they play in, the new National leauge, the Red Bull League, great tourneys in their own backyard. They play great teams game in, game out. As with anything, the key to success is consistency. The only reason the Oklahoma teams are successful is called geography. By being right above North Texas and so close to Dallas, they have access to playing great teams and great tourneys. If TN was located above Texas, we'd be a whole lot more competitive, guaranteed!