On July 10th, the  San Francisco Seals U16 Boys will embark on the club's "EuroTour V 2011", playing in the Dana Cup/Denmark and then take on the prestigious Gothia Cup in Gothenburg, Sweden. Coach Shani Simpson, whom has been on the Seals' tour as both youth player and coach, will head the combined U16-U15 team.

The Gothia Cup is touted as the "Youth World Cup". In the U16 Boys category alone, they boast around 120 competing teams, representing 70 different countries! In the first round Group Stage, the young Seals will first face a team from Brazil, to be followed by games with Norwegian and Swedish teams. The competition will be "world class" and great fun. The Finals average 26,000 spectators in Gothenburg's Gamla Stadium while the games are broadcast on Swedish television and in other parts of Europe.

In one prior Seals EuroTour excursion, Coach Shani, playing on the youth team, made it to the semi-finals, only to be knocked out by a Barcelona FC Youth Academy team! Shani can't remember if Xavi or Iniesta were on that Barca youth squad.

Besides the great competitive world soccer experience ... half the fun will come from lodging and rubbing elbows with players from Brazil, Germany, Spain, Ghana, Japan, India, Egypt, Argentina, Russia and Mexico, among many others .. and exchanging shirts and other "barter" w/ new-found friends.