Updated: July 17, 2010, 3:24 AM ET

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By Scott French
Special to ESPNLosAngeles.com
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CARSON, Calif. -- A journey nearly 10 years in the making comes to a close Saturday evening, and if it’s not quite how this diverse collection of young Southern California soccer stars envisioned their end, it’ll have to do.

The top team at San Fernando Valley club powerhouse Real So Cal was supposed to go out on top, parading the trophy after winning the U.S. Soccer Development Academy championship for under-18 sides, but it will instead take the field for the last time in the national third-place game.

If it’s a bittersweet finish, the emphasis is on the sweet: Coach Julio Castillo and his players have achieved something remarkable even if they haven’t attained their goal. There’s is among the greatest youth soccer teams to emerge from Southern California’s fertile fields, and what they’ve experienced will stay with them the rest of their lives.

A dozen of them have turned their time in the program into college scholarships. Three have played for U.S. youth national teams. And two of them, cousins Moises and Emilio Orozco, will next be seen suiting up in the pros, possibly in Major League Soccer or maybe in their parents’ native Mexico.

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Scott French / For ESPNLosAngeles.comReal So Cal is one of the greatest youth soccer teams to emerge from the Southern California area.

All of them have professional aspirations, but playing for this team -- and the teams that fed into it -- has been reward in itself, and that’s not necessarily about soccer.

"We have people from all over on this team," says midfielder J.J. Koval, an Oaks Christian School graduate headed for Stanford University. "That makes us really well-rounded, and we all learn from each other. We’re able to put [that diversity] together -- we understand our roles and where we’re from."

That, he says, has built a brotherhood among a racially, culturally and socioeconimically diverse group of young men.

Off the field, they’re united -- "You need a brother-type team to get his far," says administrator Ricardo Argueta, who has worked with Castillo for eight years -- and on the field, they’re something else.

Moises Orozco (Oxnard HS) is the most visible player, a central midfielder with sublime touch and vision who joined the team, with his cousin Emilio, last winter.

"If I have a word for him, it’s probably ’genius,’ " Castillo says. "His average game is most of the kids’ great game."

Team administrator Chuck Gold, who sits on Real So Cal’s board of directors, calls him "as fluid a player as I’ve seen. When he’s really on, he can just dictate the pace of the game. He can calm the ball down when he wants to and really controls the middle."

He’s supported by Koval and Carlos Benavidez (El Camino Real HS), tough and gifted midfielders, and creates for a front line led by U.S. U-17 World Cup veteran Victor Chavez (A.B. Miller HS) and featuring workhorse Edwin Rios (Santee HS), Jose Monteroza (Manual Arts HS) and, off the bench, Sam Ball (Westlake HS).

Emilio Orozco (Oxnard HS), who joined Real So Cal after graduating from the U.S. U-17 residency in Bradenton, Fla., is a tough defender when employed centrally and a deft attacker at right back. Mynor Giron (San Fernando HS) is the backline leader, Ryan Malden (Loyola HS) provides grit in the middle, and Jose Cabrera (Sylmar HS) is a two-way player on the left flank.

Ben Gold and Keon Parsa (both from El Camino Real HS) share duties in the nets, and Castillo also counts heavily upon, among others, midfielders Fabian Garcia (Sylmar HS), Edgar Ramirez (El Camino Real HS) and Tanner Snedigar (Quartz Hill HS).

"Truthfully, a lot of these boys -- probably 70 percent -- were the top players in the Southern California area, a lot of them on different teams, and they’ve competed fiercely against each other," said Jeff Koval, J.J.’s dad, an important contributor to the club and the team’s official statistician. "And they all ended up on the same team."

Says Castillo: "These guys were all superstars on their teams. They had to realize their egos had to be put aside. That’s the No. 1 thing. When they realized they’re here for the team first rather than their own personal agenda, the team was going to go far."

The man in charge

Everyone credits Castillo, a Guatemalan-born Cal State Northridge grad who played and coached at Reseda High School before turning his attention to youth soccer. He’s a demanding coach who knows when he needs to bark and when tenderness is required.

"He’s got a terrific soccer mind, is extremely dedicated to the team and makes himself available to the team," Chuck Gold says. "I think the boys really love him and really respect him. He has a plan for every player, and I think he communicates his plan well. ... The guys really sense his commitment and sincerity. He’s not punching a clock. He’s really passionate about it.

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Scott French / For ESPNLosAngeles.comReal So Cal coach Julio Castillo understands how special a team he has had this season.

"He’s mild-mannered when he needs to be, firm when he needs to be, and it’s really, again, about the sincerity of the guy and the passion of somebody who loves the sport and conveys his passion for soccer. And his credibility: The boys listen because he’s got something to say.

"The boys here come from near and far to be part of it. It’s not like they don’t have choices."

Castillo began planting the roots in 2002, working with a group of 10-year-old boys with Chatsworth/Northridge-based Valley United Soccer Club.

Valley United Blast was a special group, and it won four successive California-South state titles, three Region IV crowns and in 2006 captured the U.S. Youth Soccer Association under-14 national championship.

Across the Valley floor, So Cal United and West Valley Samba, rival club powerhouses, merged to become Real So Cal in 2004. It fielded dozens of nationally competitive teams, boys and girls, and produced hundreds of college players and a handful of pros, including current MLS players Sean Franklin (Galaxy), Chris Seitz (Philadelphia Union), Chance Myers (Kansas City Wizards) and Kyle Reynish (Real Salt Lake).

U.S. Soccer, on a mission to improve player development through the labyrinth club system across the nation, about four years ago introduced the Development Academy four years ago, massively changing the landscape of youth club soccer. The Academy is about professional development: More training sessions, more accountability, much better competition and fewer meaningless cup games.

That lured Castillo to Real So Cal, and he brought the bulk of his team with him.

"The Academy: That was basically it," he says. "When there were rumors that the U.S. was going to start a new league for the best players to showcase [their abilities], it was no-brainer."

Real So Cal, like other clubs, still had teams that participated in USYSA competitions, and a Travis Kukigawa-coached under-16 team, featuring Koval, Gold, Chavez and Benavidez, reached the 2008 USYSA national final. Afterward that quartet was blended with the best players from Castillo’s team to form a super side that came within one game of reaching the Academy finals week a year ago in the U15/16 division.

Of that group, 10 players -- Chavez, Cabrera, Garcia, Giron, Monteroza, Ramirez, midfielder Ricardo Argueta, defenders Marco Pineda and Estanilao Arevalo, and backup goalkeeper Oscar Hernandez -- had played for Castillo with the Valley United Blast. Cabrera, Garcia, Mynor and Argueta have been with Castillo since they were 9 and 10.

A team for L.A.

"This team, it’s L.A.," says Cal State Northridge men’s soccer coach Terry Davila, who has served as Real So Cal’s Academy coordinator the past year and a half. "L.A. is a melting pot of several countries, and that’s what this team is, too. It’s what the San Fernando Valley is all about, what L.A. is all about."

Like L.A., the team has a a heavy Latin feel -- there are players with roots in El Salvador, Bolivia and, of course, Mexico -- but there are nearly as many -- what Castillo calls his -- "Caucasian" players playing influential roles. Some come from families that are quite comfortable if not wealthy, and a few have grown up in the projects.

"From the very, very financially challenged, for lack of a better term, to relatively affluent ...," says Chuck Gold. "There are kids from a lot of different backgrounds -- they really reflect the Southern California culture, and they have a lot of respect for each other.

"I drive one of those vans with six kids in the back, and it’s so interesting to hear their dialogue. You might have a kid going to private schools and kids at the other end of the spectrum, and they’re asking each other questions. ’You’re graduating [from high school], you’ll probably get a $50,000 car.’ And the kid, whose parents could probably afford to do that, says, ’No, it’s not expected, nor am I entitled.’ Here’s a kid of privilege and comfort, and he’s saying that he has to work hard, that nothing will be handed to him. ’I’m expected to carry my own weight.’ "

And kids whose families must sacrifice -- Real So Cal is not a free club, although there are scholarships for needy gifted players -- provide lessons of their own. Any stereotypes that might have existed have been shattered.

"I never would have met 75 percent of the guys on this team," J.J. Koval says. "And I’m so fortunate and thankful that I have."

The end is near

Last season’s team, Castillo says, wasn’t expected to do much and nearly made it to the final week, losing out on total goals after going unbeaten through its playoff group. This year’s team’s expectations were much greater, and its play reflected that.

Real So Cal came into the Development Academy U17/18 finals with a 24-3-5 record and great buzz about its flowing, attacking style of soccer.

"We always had a goal in mind," Koval says. "We wanted to achieve all we can achieve, and for us that was a national championship."

The team rallied for a 1-1 draw with Vardar, from Pontiac, Mich., in its group opener Sunday and beat Baltimore Bays Chelsea, 2-1, on Tuesday. It needed to overcome a two-goal deficit on difference to Vardar in its final group game Thursday, and found itself in position to advance to Saturday night’s final when Chavez’s goal with 15 minutes to play provided a 5-1 lead over Atlanta’s Concorde Fire.

Vardar, playing the Baltimore club on an adjacent field, wasn’t finished. A goal deep into stoppage finished a 3-0 victory, and Real So Cal pushed forward but couldn’t score a sixth. L.A.’s team’s title hopes were dead.

The boys were devastated.

"It’s a tough way to decide a sporting event, by these tiebreakers, but you have to do it some way," Ben Gold said. "We gave it everything we had. Unfortunately, 5-1 wasn’t good enough. I’ve never been more upset about a 5-1 win in my entire life."

Said Malden: "It’s heartbreaking, almost. We didn’t even lose a game. Two years in a row -- it’s like putting salt in the wounds."

So they’ll suit up one more time, for the 5 p.m. consolation against CASL Chelsea FC Academy of Raleigh, N.C., and then go their separate ways. Koval to Stanford, the Orozcos to the pros. Gold and Malden will play at Davidson College in North Carolina. Parsa is headed to Georgetown, and defenders Harrison Hanley (Santa Clara) and Craig Nitti (Loyola Marymount) will remain in California.

Four players -- Benavidez, Snedigar, Rivas and Ball -- will join Davila at Northridge.

Castillo will take over another team. He’s not sure which one yet.

"This team was special," he says. "I finally got a chance to graduate my little ones. That’s the way I look at it. I graduated those 9- and 10-year-old. We went as far as we could and almost won a national championship. It was very nice. Very special."