| Copa de la Vida 2010 | | Print | |
| By Brian Douglas Gold | |
| July 26, 2010 | |
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The LA Central Region Wins the 2010 LA Church Soccer Championship.  The Central region won an unprecedented 5th Championship of the Copa de la vida, the LA Church’s annual soccer tournament by defeating the Orange County Region in a thrilling penalty kick shoot out. The teams advanced to the June 21st Chamionship game by both defeating a great Coastal team and Metro LA team 2-1 in overtime in their respective tough semi-final games. Manuel Frausto, veteran midfielder for the Central team, put in the decisive penalty shot to win 2-2 (5-3). The team was also aided by some key saves by goalie phenom Adolfo “Kung-Fu Panda” Gonzalez and was expertly coached by Erick Rodriguez. Both teams displayed great sportsmanship and good brotherly competition, aspects which have become a hallmark of these tournaments. This year’s tournament began on June 12th with the preliminary rounds and was held in the Field of Dreams soccer complex in San Pedro. Nine teams participated including defending champion San Diego, Tijuana, Inland Empire, North, East, Metro LA, Coastal, Orange County and Central. This was the 12th edition of the tournament which began in 1999. The tournament will be getting better next year as we are working on selecting a tournament board to improve organization and competition. Congratulations again to the champions, the Central Region, and to all the participating teams. See you next year. Your brother and Copa Commissioner, Rafael To see a photo slideshow of the tournament, click here. Champions by Year: 1999 – East Region 2000 – Orange County, Metro Heights Regions 2001 – Central Region 2002 – Central Region 2003 – Central Region 2004 – East Region 2005 – Orange County Region 2006 – Orange County Region 2007 – North Region 2008 – Central Region 2009 – San Diego 2010 – Central Region |