Fort Worth United Soccer - '71 Boys
The Fort Worth United '71 Boys team was formed in 1981 with local players born in 1971.  That group of 10 year-old boys stayed together until high school graduation in 1989.  During their eight years together, the '71 team enjoyed much success including six consecutive Dallas Cup appearances and 8 consecutive State Cup appearances.  The team returned year after year to qualify and play in the Dallas Classic League where they competed against perennial clubs such as Comets and Longhorns and long forgotten teams such as the Titans.  They routinely finished in the top three in league play and earned the Dallas Classic League Championship title in 1985.  The highlight of this team's history came in 1987 when the team reached the quarterfinals in youth tournaments held in Sweden, Denmark, and Holland (finishing with a 17-3-1 overseas record).

First stop on their historic overseas trip - the world famous Dana Cup held in Copenhagen, Denmark.  The FWU '71 boys blazed through the early rounds of play and into the finals where they suffered a narrow loss in the quarterfinals to Iraq's Junior National team (who went on to win the championship title).  During the memorable game, FWU boys noted a young player on the team with a soon to be famous last name - Hussein.  Son of the famous Iraqi dictator, a controversy erupted when word leaked that the young Hussein was too old to compete in the tournament.  Ultimately, the Dana Cup tournament committee determined that no penalty could be assessed since the Iraq player possessed a valid passport as proof of his age.

Their 1987 overseas tour concluded with with the FWU boys participating in the Gothia Cup in Gotenburg, Sweden.  Featuring over 15,000 players, 740 teams from 38 nations, the Gothia Cup featured the best of the best in international youth soccer.  The boys began training in Denmark one week prior to the tournament, during which time the FWU boys talked to many people who commented that "Americans cannot play futbol".  This became their rallying cry and the slightly shaken FWU '71's started tournament play against a tough team from West Germany.  As one former FWU player put it, "we all pictured mini Beckanbauers walking on to the pitch ."  They defeated the west Germans in resounding fashion with a dominating 7-0 win and went on to advance to the quarterfinals.   "We had little kids asking for our autographs.  We were like rock stars.  The more we won, the more we were talked about."

FWU '71 Roster (known players)
Russ Curtis (Coach - 1981-1983)
David Baker (Coach - 1982-1988)
Butch Lauffer (Coach - 1988-1989)
Jeff Ramsey (Keeper - Captain)
Paul McCarthy (Fullback)
Joe Paul Banta (Fullback)
JJ Scambellari (Fullback)
Erish Faggett (Fullback)
Todd Vance (Fullback)
Steven Jay (Halfback)
Jack Fanning (Halfback)
Mike Bosshard (Halfback)
Will Martin (Halfback)
Jamie Whiteside (Forward)
Brad Sanders (Forward)
Jason Carter (Forward)
Maki Lloyd (Forward)

Communications from the Past
Paul McCarthy - member '71 FWU Squad:
My name is Paul, I played for United '71 (84-89) The memories that I have from this club are still vivid in my mind. I still have contact with several of our players from that team, we are trying to have a reunion since we have not all been together since '89.  Wanted to say thanks for all the memories

Will Martin - member '71 FWU Squad:
I was a member of the 1971 United team. Thank you for posting the information on the website. I will send you some pictures from our Europe trip as soon as I locate them. I coached the United 95 team with Brent Hull several years back, my half brother (Conner Martin) played on the team that was mostly Country Day boys.