Texas Soccer: Galveston Pirates Prepare for Kickoff Battle in Cup Final

The Galveston Pirates are edging closer to the start of the their new HFA journey in a few weeks but first they have the small task of winning their home based trophy, the Galveston Cup in Saturdays final match against Kickoff FC.
 

With new captain R.J McNair at the helm, the players of the good ship Galveston Pirate SC, found themselves in some stormy waters as they headed towards this tournament. Even the ever optimistic head coach and owner of the team Brendan Keyes must have had a pessimistic feeling about his side's chances in the inaugural tournament in his adopted city.

Sometimes boasting the youngest squad in the tournament can be a good thing, but on this occasion Coach Keyes only had a short time to merge the players together. The roster of players was mostly unproven at this level, so doubts were high on the agenda on how well they would play.

Brendan need not have worried though as the youthful squad showed not only talent but prowess in front of goal enabling the side to progress to the final after two wins and a draw in the group stages.

The opening match against Texas FC proved to be the eye opener for the Pirate supporters on show as they watched their team cruise to a 3-0 victory, thanks to goals from Osteven Lopez, Jose Alvarez and Juan Lozoya.

Next up for a test of wits were Atlas. It was recent UST freshman & Clear Creek graduate Bryan Mann who scored the first goal of the game before Atlas equalized just 12 minutes in. Lozoya was to score the Pirates second goal and this was enough to seal the win and ended up being enough for the home side to progress to the final.

Due to results in other games, the final group match against Courtidores was inconsequential and ended in a 1-1 draw.

Galveston now face Kickoff FC in the final at Courville Stadium on Saturday, August 20th with a shiny new piece of silverware up for grabs. Pirate coach Keyes had this to say:

"We had the youngest team in the tournament with 11 players under 17 and another four    under 20 so really we are playing with an under 21 squad. RJ, our captain is also only 23 but finds himself one of the old men in the team and due to the immense performance's from the players, hasn't had to work too hard at controlling the guys on the field."

Talking about the final he said:

"It’s going to be a massive game for us and for the area in general. Apart from Houston Dynamo, we are the only thing soccer fans in the vicinity have to watch the beautiful game. We want to win and we want to win bad, it'll be good for us as a team as we look forward to the new HFA season that's fast approaching and gives the players some incentive to impress me for a starting position for the upcoming season."

The Galveston Cup trophy is certainly worth fighting for. It stands an impressive near two feet tall and is valued in the region of $1500, so not to be sniffed at under any means. The trophy itself was donated by Bay Area Trophies and Coach Keyes wants to keep his hands on it with a victory on Saturday to showcase in his own mantelpiece at home.  But not before a few drinks have been downed from the cup.  A point to remember—don't do what Real Madrid did and drop it under the bus!

Tickets are available one hour before kickoff at the Courville Stadium gate and cost just $10. Concessions will be available starting at 4 p.m. 

Dare you miss the spectacle?

Marc Roseblade is a Contributor for Bleacher Report as well as Not Just Scottish Football and youth development reporter for Ayr United Football Academy. All quotes are obtained first-hand unless otherwise stated.