The Generation Adidas Cup, comprised of the best youth teams from around the world, just wrapped up, and here’s what happened. 

The tournament saw a record 49 different clubs from 12 countries and four continents competing in U-17 and U-15 tournament play at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, from April 1-9. 

The tournament followed a generic soccer tournament format, with group stages followed by a round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals. Each age group saw 10 teams that moved on from their groups having been in first place, and six of the best second-place teams from various groups moved on. 

Although the European teams were the favorites to win, given their success in club football on the first-team level, the tournament saw many European giants being defeated by MLS academies. For example, at the U15 level, Club America’s academy team, consisting of many young South American talents, was slaughtered 7-0 by America’s Columbus Crew during the group stages. Furthermore, Arsenal’s u15 academy, consisting of the strongest talents throughout Europe, was defeated 3-0 by the Seattle Sounders in the group stage. Furthermore, In the playoff stage, Arsenal was defeated again by America’s Philadelphia Union, once again by a margin of 3 goals. The final score was 4-1. Arsenal’s first team is currently number one in the premier league, which is considered the best league in Europe. 

In the playoff stage at the U-15 level, Real Madrid’s academy, whose first team was the champions of Europe last season, was defeated by Philadelphia Union. This was an unforeseen result, as the Real Madrid academy is one of the most prestigious in Europe. At the U-17 level, many upsets also occurred. For example, Manchester United’s prestigious academy was defeated 7-6 in penalties (0-0 in regular time) by America’s D.C. United. New York City’s academy also defeated Pumas UNAM 1-0. 

Throughout both the U-15 and U-17 levels, only one European academy reached the semi-finals-that team being Genk’s U-15 academy. The tournament ended with Philadelphia Union winning the u-17 bracket, and Austin FC’s side on top of the U-15 side. Many youth soccer players were surprised by these results but also made sense of them.“It was surprising to see the European academies lacking results in the tournament,” junior youth soccer player Saif Salman said. “But at the same time, soccer in America has been on the rise, especially at the youth level. I think our first teams will be on par with those in Europe in a few years.”

This tournament showed Europe and the world the potential of the youth teams of America. Although historically European and South American teams have dominated the club level, soccer in America is on the rise.