MUSCAT: Muscat Football Academy Under-9s and Under-11s came away from the 25th Annual Mundialito Football Sevens tournament in Costa Daurada, Catalonia, Spain, with lots to learn and a valuable experience behind them. Competing alongside 300 teams from 50 countries around the world, the Muscat side acquitted themselves well despite being up against some very tough teams.
Academies from the best professional teams including Barcelona, Juventus, Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool, Atletico Madrid and FC Porto, as well as many youth teams from across Spain, took part in the tournament.
The Under-11s were paired with local sides Club Atletic Segre and C Sant Pau Apostol, Club Atletico Argentino, Juventus and ENKFC from Korea in one of the toughest groups. The team lost three games and drew two to progress to the quarterfinals of the Bronze tournament where they will face Costa Dorada.
The Under-9 team also qualified for the quarterfinals in the Bronze tournament of their age group after facing local teams Nastic de Tarragona and CE Constanti, AFC Australia, UD Las Palmas from the Canary Islands, Global Premier Soccer from the USA. They will play local side CF Vilaseca in the quarterfinals.
Chuck Martin, Head Coach of Muscat Football Academy, said, “This has been a very tough competition with a high calibre of opposition and gruelling schedule for Under-9 and Under-11 teams, but despite this it has been full of fantastic experiences. Our Under-11 team played against a very talented Juventus team and did well, keeping them to six goals — they beat another team by 22! It was a fantastic performance by the players, and our goalkeeper Carlos Hernandez made a lot of great saves. We hit the bar and post twice in a thrilling game. We held the score to 0-0 for 20 minutes, with excellent defending by Cormack Conall and Matheus Kina, but started to tire and conceded.”
“Our Under-9 team stuck to our game plan and played very good football and dominated the play, which is great to see as a coach. Both teams qualifying for the quarterfinals in the Bronze competition is a great achievement for us and we look forward to the remaining games,” he added.
While results went against them, the experience of playing against accomplished sides from different countries will be valuable in the team’s progression, and several individuals showed enough skill and determination to be noticed by European academies with an Under-9 player being invited to tryout with Spanish club UD Las Palmas, and an Under-11 player courted by Italian sides AS Roma and Torino.
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