(2/2)

       On Saturday night at the Danny Jones Compex in North Charleston Real Miraflores captured the Madra Rua Trophy as the champions of the inaugural Copa Charleston (a 16-team world cup style event). They met Apaseo, one of the tournament favorites, a team of mostly Mexican players (except for 2 Gringos) in the finals and came away with a 8-4 victory. 

It was a match of two halves. Apaseo came out aggressively as always and Real Miraflores played more cautious. Carlos "Pajara" Flores got Apaseo on board first 8 minutes into the game and then again 5 minutes later putting them up 2-0. Not until 21st minute did RM score on a blast from "Paco" Miranda (from Peru) making it 2-1.  Ian O'Shea (the tall Gringo on Apaseo) followed with a goal to put Apaseo up 3-1. As the first half was coming to an end Paco scored again, 3-2 at halftime.
     The second half was ALL Real Miraflores. Paco began by earning his hat trick to tie the match at 3-3. It was then that the (Trinidadian) connection of Jason Duncan and Collin Phillips took over scoring 2 goals apiece over the next  15 minutes to take a commanding 7-4 lead. During that time Apaseo scored as well. Renato (from Brazil) scored on a breakaway at the end of the game for a final result of 8-4.
Real Miraflores was captained by Juan Carlos Velez (from Peru), an MD at MUSC, and the team represented the true essence of what the Copa Charleston was all about. The team included (3) South Americans, (2) North Americans, and (4) Trinadadians. Jason Duncan was selected as the MVP for the championship match. Paco Miranda won the tournament's Golden Boot with a total of 27 goals. Congratulations to all. 

The tournament was organized by LC Soccer and hosted by the City of North Charleston's Recreation Department  The event was sponsored by the Madra Rua Irish Pub and Lloyds Soccer Sports. 

2008 COPA CHAMPIONS