A trusted league birdie recently described La Squadra as a small troop of younglings who play some nice soccer. “A lot of young new teams come into Totalcampo but few can hold their own. I believe these guys can.”

RDP’s top division features an intimidating motley crew of grizzled champs and more recent success stories, including undefeated winter champs US Capolista. After dropping their first loss of the season to serial trophy raiders Cafe Victoria’s, La Squadra rebounded this week to take down Calcio D’Oro with a character-building 6-3 win.

This is the same Squadra that went 1-15 this winter, after capturing the championship in 2015. For captain Giancarlo del Re, ‘holding your own’ means counting your blessings.

“I’ve been playing with my brother now for at least four seasons,” he begins, tracing the his squad’s origins to the coming together of Samer Hassawi, Vincent Canzeri, Gabriele Folino and Bachar Damen back in 2015. “John Cevik continues to play at a high level and just recently stopped playing semi-pro. Brandon Moleirinho recently came back from playing soccer in Portugal. Goalie Giuseppe Gallo remains an absolute wall between those two posts! Lastly, we can’t forget to mention our great mentor and coach Gianni Matera. Without his expertise, we would not be where we are now.”

Have a good soccer story, pic or video to share with us this summer? You can email me, fire off a Tweet or simply follow us on Facebook and Instagram.