Ahead of Saturday’s semi-final showdown between FC Golden State Force and Flint City Bucks, here’s what the players and coaches of both clubs have on their mind before the big match.

On preparing for the semi-final...

“At the beginning of the season we had one thing in mind and that was to get here. Whoever was in front of us, we just took it one game at a time. We treated every game like a championship game, and we just took advantage of the opportunity that we had to move forward and be one of the best teams in the nation. I feel like us coming together as a family, you have so many different cultures here. Us just coming together and playing the game that we love, it just brought us to where we are.”

Alex Culwell, FC Golden State Force defender

“We know we’ve played some really good teams, not just Des Moines and Kaw Valley, but like we said in the division Chicago was an incredible team this year, and Cincinnati, Dayton, West Virginia all were incredibly challenging. We’ve had so many difficult games this year, so for us it’s just a matter of trying to fine-tune the things we want to try to do and the way we want to play, and trying to pay as much attention to the details in that as possible.”

Demir Muftari, Flint City Bucks head coach

“I have a saying, “If you don’t cheat the game, the game gives you the reward.” For me, that’s always what I go based on. Do whatever I have to do to get ready for my upcoming event.”

Daniel Trejo, FC Golden State Force forward

ON THE MENTALITY going into the match...

“I think it’s status quo for us, I mean you know we wanted to get a good week of training under our belt and definitely be ready to go for Saturday. But at this point in the season, we’re not going to implement anything new. Things have been working for us, and obviously we’ve gone down in a few games but we’ve been able to come back. It’s the same route for us. We’re not going to plan on coming down this game and we’re on our home field, so nothing’s going to change for us.”

Charlie Booth, Flint City Bucks defender

“For the guys coming here, it’s just to keep that hunger. Keep that hunger, keep that mentality that they’ve been having this whole season. They feel unstoppable and they’re believing in it.”

Salvador Moran, FC Golden State Force assistant coach

“We never give up. Even if we’re losing, we keep chasing and anything can happen. As I said before, if you don’t lose your focus, if you keep playing, you’re going to find your chance.”

Yuri Farkas, Flint City Bucks midfielder

“Just play your game. Play calm. These guys say ‘tranquilo’ all the time, it means just calm. Play the game calm and when they say that they really mean it and we just start knocking the ball around.”

Alex Culwell, FC Golden State Force defender

on support from the flint community...

"Now that we’ve attached ourselves with the community of Flint, I think the people of Flint have really got behind us, a bunch of young men that are out there as warriors and representing the city of Flint. I think you can see the way that we play, we’re a perfect reflection of the city. We’re ‘backs-to-the-wall’, we roll our sleeves up and we get on with it, we come back and we fight hard."  

Andy Wagstaff, Flint City Bucks associate head coach

“Filling this stadium, like 5,000 people per game, I’m expecting them to come next game and just support us. If we are at the semi-final of the national championship right now, it’s because of the support of our fans. I think here at home, we’ve probably lost just one game and we’ve been doing a pretty good job because of their support and everything that we have around Flint.”

Gustavo Vasconcelos, Flint City Bucks goalkeeper