Edina Teams Prepping for 2011 Schwan's USA Cup

Several Edina area youth soccer teams will compete in the Schwan’s USA Cup weekend tournament on Friday through Sunday at Blaine’s National Sports Center.

Edina will have a total of 10 teams competing in a variety of age levels. The Edina Gold Extreme and Edina Scorpions will be part of the boys U10 pool, the Edina Flash and Edina Sting will both be competing in the boys U11 pool, the Edina Swarm are the lone boys U15 team and the Edina Force are part of the boys U9 division.

On the girls side of things, the Edina Gold Extreme and Edina Scorpions will be in the girls U10 pool, the Edina Sizzle are the only team in the girls U12 group and the Edina Premier Swarm are the lone girls U15 team.

The USA Cup weekend tournament hosts boys and girls teams both nationally and internationally from ages U9 to U19. There will be 450 teams competing in Blaine over the course of the weekend.

Teams from across the U.S. will compete at the weekend tournament, including squads from Minnesota, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, Texas, Iowa, New York, Missouri, Utah, California and Alaska.

Internationally, 55 teams from Canada, three from Costa Rica, two from Sweden and Puerto Rico, and one each from Uganda, the US Virgin Islands and Mexico will compete in the weekend tournament from Friday through Sunday.

The USA Cup originated in 1985 by the Sons of Norway and was modeled after the Norway Cup, and has grown from 62 teams in the first year. Combined with the week-long tournament that runs from July 19-23, 936 teams will compete in Blaine during the event.

According to the usacup.org, 917 teams and 13,300 players competed last year at the tournament. It has an out-of-state impact of $18 million per year and is the largest youth soccer tournament in the Western Hemisphere, according to the official website.

All games will be played at the National Sports Center, a 600-acre multi-sport facility that includes 52 soccer fields.