Competition. Integrity. And a very hard lesson

Mark Abboud was a soccer star at Rochester Mayo High School, broke the all-time scoring record for the Macalester Fighting Scots and played professionally in Florida, France and Belgium. Some say he is one of the state's best soccer coaches, perhaps even one of the nation's best girls' soccer coaches. His kids, by and large, love him. So do their parents.

But on May 17, Abboud, age 38, jeopardized it all on a field full of 12-year-old girls. He did something contrary to his competitive spirit, contrary to his ego, and contrary to the best interests of the kids he adored, not to mention his own career.

Now Abboud has been banned from coaching in the state youth championship series for this year and next. Though he can coach in league play, that could change as more sanctions are expected. His employer, the Minnesota Thunder Academy, expects to announce disciplinary action as early as today.

Two weeks ago I wrote about how Abboud told his players to "tank" their game against the 13-year-old team from the same soccer club so that the "best" team could move on to the state finals, a decision he immediately regretted.

With the score tied 1-1 against an older, more skilled team, he looked at this players and told them something remarkable: You are going to lose.

They did as told and, instead of trying to score on penalty kicks, gently passed the ball to the opposing goalie.

Late last week, the league disqualified Abboud's team from further play. They also disqualified the "winning" 13-year-old Thunder team, a favorite to take the state, and issued similar sanctions to that coach, Andy Kaasa.

The majority of the parents of Thunder players still probably support Abboud, Daley admitted, but the MYSA represents 140 clubs and 80,000 players and reaction from them is "by far very supportive of the action we've taken."

As this story unfolded, it has caused heated debate, thoughtful discussion and even soul-searching across the state and even nationally.

After all, this is not really a story about sports as much as a story about some of the basic components of life: Honesty. Competition. Integrity. Parenting. The value of success, and failure. Punishment. Forgiveness.

Barry Neal, MTA president, just sounded weary and sad.

"I think he overthought it and really believed he was doing a good thing," Neal said. "It's sad because [Abboud] has done so much for soccer in this state. But it was a poor decision and the club has to take some sanctions of our own."

If true, however, Kaasa is not the only innocent victim of a poorly conceived plan by Abboud to protect his team from a drubbing in the state finals, or as some suspect, put the club's reputation above his girls.

Players from both teams were denied a shot at the title. The teams that played for the championship in place of the Thunder -- Eden Prairie and Edina -- were denied the right to brag without an asterisk, without someone wondering if they really beat the best team.

"Both teams in the final deserve to be considered the best," Daley said. "They are every bit as skilled as the teams that were disqualified."

As for punishing the Thunder kids for poor decisions by adults, "young people are dependent on the unfortunate actions of adults every day," she said.

As for the state championship, Eden Prairie won in a spirited battle. After overtime. In a penalty kick shootout that both teams tried valiantly to win.