Schwan's USA CUP Presented by PUMA � Tournament Edition

Few 15-year-old girls would volunteer to adopt a 13-year-old brother, but the Dakota Rev Fury team from Rosemount, Minn., jumped at the chance. When the then-U14 girls team traveled to Dana Cup No. 1 in Frederikshavn, Denmark last summer, they met Lichterfelder Berlin, a U12 boys team from Germany. "We were staying in a sports center. And then our hallway happened to be with the U12 boys team from Berlin," said Dakota Rev coach Tobi Thorsell.

The teams hit it off from the beginning. "The girls were very impressed with the boys' skills and liked to go watch them play," Thorsell said. "As the week went on, they became closer and closer friends." At the end of the week, the Dakota Rev parents invited the Lichterfelder coaches to have the boys come and stay with the girls.
"Two and a half months later I got a phone call from Andreas, their coach, and he told me, 'We are coming,'" Thorsell said. Thorsell told the team to come in July so they could participate in Schwan's USA CUP, presented by PUMA. "For the German boys, USA CUP is fantastic because they're all new teams they get the new experience. They can play two tournaments and hopefully get to play some international teams," he said.

Lichterfelder coach Andreas Statkiewicz said the boys have been anticipating the trip for at least half the year. "The last week, they were going crazy. They wanted to start the trip every minute."

The boys were supposed to arrive last week Tuesday, but their flight from Berlin to Amsterdam had to land unexpectedly because someone aboard was sick. Then they missed their connecting flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis. But the boys didn't mind. "We had an overnight stay in a nice hotel in Amsterdam that the boys loved," Statkiewicz said.

The boys made new friends there, too. "There were just around 50 girls from Mexico, about 15 years old, on the same floor as the boys. And I think the boys didn't sleep that night. I was on the second floor; they were on the first floor. I felt good the next morning, and boys felt not too bad but a little tired," Statkiewicz said.

The girls have taken the boys to a water park and to Mall of America, but a lot of time has been spent doing regular Minnesota family activites. That in itself has been a lot, Statkiewicz said. "They have big houses, with a pool, air hockey, table tennis in the house, big flat screen TV, Xbox, PlayStation, sisters, brothers, dogs, cats, llamas in the back yard."

Kay Kukowski, one of the Dakota Rev host moms, says the two German boys at her house, Ben Boehme and Florian Stammwitz, love to just play Wii with her kids and shoot hoops. "I don't know that they've ever played basketball," she said. "They were in the back yard throwing the football around and playing capture the flag."

Courtney Kukowski, Kay's daughter who plays with Dakota Rev, has been treating the boys just like little brothers, Kukowski said. "She goes down in the morning and gets them up and gets them breakfast."

The boys have been great about trying new things, but neither will really eat sweets. The first morning, Kukowski's husband made a big breakfast to welcome the boys. "He made blueberry pancakes and eggs and bacon," Kukowski said. "When they got their plates, the boys just looked at the pancakes. I don't think they've ever had a pancake." Doughnuts didn't go over very well, either. "Every morning they eat cornflakes and toast," Kukowski said.

Germany hasn't entered a team in Schwan's USA CUP for five years, so Lichterfelder was asked to do the honors of lighting the cauldron at Opening Ceremonies last night. The torch bearer, Benny, is staying at the Kukowski's. "He was so excited," Kukowski said. "We joked, 'Now don't be lighting Flo's hair on fire.'"

The boys will all switch host families this week, and Kukowski said they're sad to see Benny and Flo go. "We'll miss them. My boys already asked if they will come and visit." Hosting the German team has been a great experience, she added. "It has been very fun. I would definitely do it again."

When Lichterfelder leaves next week, it won't be the last time they see the Dakota Rev team. Plans are in the works for next year's summer soccer season. "Berlin wants to return the favor to our girls, so there's talk about [us] going to Berlin for a week to practice and play some games," Thorsell said. "And then hopefully we'll go with the boys together to Gothia Cup."

Thorsell is glad the two teams met and were able to spend time together. "That's the whole purpose of going to tournaments like that; it's to meet the kids. And it creates memories forever," he said. "You play so many games during the season where it's have to win this, have to win that. These tournaments are all about going, having fun and trying to do a lot of things outside of soccer."

The trip has been particularly special for Statkiewicz. "For me it's exciting to travel with a group of boys, to come to the United States." He acknowledges that it is a big undertaking, too. "The parents have to do a special agreement with me because the boys are very young. They trust me and they give me their boys for 14 days in another country."

Thorsell said hosting the 13-year-old boys has been no problem. "They're fantastic. All the German players are writing on the team's special guest book, 'Mom and Dad, I'm never coming home.'"

Both Dakota Rev Fury and Lichterfelder Berlin played in Schwan's USA CUP Weekend and will play in the week-long tournament, as well. Lichterfelder finished the weekend tournament by defeating the Bonivital Flames from Winnipeg, Manitoba, 7-0 in the boys U13 A Flight playoff. Dakota Rev also came out on top, winning the girls U15 A Flight playoff 2-0 over Tonka Tundra from Minnetonka, Minn.

Whether they walk away winners or losers, the trip was worth it. "I think it's a time they'll never forget in their whole lives," Statkiewicz said.

Dakota Rev and Lichterfelder photo