By Yoni Ginsberg

San Diego soccer fans, rejoice! Seeds have been planted to help make your glorious city MLS-worthy. SD Boca was started in 2009 with the intention to promote and develop youth and professional soccer throughout the San Diego area. Currently, the club is a member of the National Premier Soccer League, a 34-team nationwide league that is a competitor to the USL.

The team has already started playing preseason exhibition matches. They attracted a crowd of nearly 5,000 on Feb 13th when they played second division Mexican side Veracruz. A Cuauhtémoc Blanco free kick in the first half lead the visiting Mexicans to a 4-0 victory, but nonetheless, it was a positive showing for the San Diego squad who had never played together. Boca will try their luck again on Saturday February 20th in a closed door scrimmage against MLS side Chivas USA. The team’s NPSL home opener is on April 3rd agains Real San Jose.

SD Boca was modeled in the spirit of Argentina’s Boca Juniors

For the young team, joining the MLS will not be easy.  For starters, they plan to build a soccer specific stadium in the South Bay. The club already has architects, engineers, and project managers in place ready to build the facility.

The San Diego market is full of potential; thanks to it’s proximity to Mexico, as well as its Hispanic population, which stands at 4 million. “The community is excited just to have soccer on a saturday night” says club President Yan Skwara. As for plans for a youth squad, Skwara notes, “At the end of the day youth players become professionals. We’re building an organization to create a system where we develop youth players with potential without crossing the lines of already established youth clubs.”

For those hoping that SD Boca will eventually become a successful franchise, we say, stay positive. With such enthusiasm, an excellent target audience, and encouraging plans for the future, it’s possible we may be seeing a 2015 MLS expansion side in San Diego Boca.

*think you can ball with the pros? Open tryouts will be held February 27th and 28th – visit www.sdbocafc.com for more info…