The draw of the groups for the International Cup 2014 (MIC) tournament was held last night with the Adelaide United Youth Team handed an all-Spanish group.
The draw of the groups for the the International Cup 2014 (MIC) tournament was held last night with the Adelaide United Youth Team handed an all-Spanish group. Two of the teams in the group are from the Catalonia region, the same region from which Reds Head Coach, Josep Gombau hails.
“I am very familiar with this tournament obviously because it is held in Catalonia every year. Some very big name players have played in it such as Messi, Fabregas, Piquet and Neymar just to name a few”, Gombau said.
“This tournament provides our youth players with a very good opportunity to keep learning the style and to play against very good players from all over the world”.
The young Reds, competing in The International Cup 2014 (MIC) for the first time, will play against La Liga heavyweights Athletic Bilbao, Second Division B side Terrassa and local Catalonia club Hostalric.
The Reds NYL coach Michael Valkanis knows that despite being drawn a difficult group that his players will be up for the challenge. “It’s a challenging group and these first three games will be tough for us, but from our perspective we know we’ll be well prepared for it,” Valkanis said.
“This tournament provides a terrific opportunity to play against teams such as Athletic Bilbao who have a great youth academy set-up. The group has a Spanish flavour with the other two teams being from the Catalonia region. Our boys will be able to keep learning and playing the Adelaide United style against some of the best Spanish youth sides which will help with their development as well as give them a clear picture of comparison against international players of their own age”.
Adelaide United-s participation in this tournament along with previous youth team trips to China to play in the prestigious Weifang Cup tournaments confirms it-s commitment to providing a strong development program for the best young players in the state including competition against the best youth players in the world.
For more information on the tournament, visit: www.micfootball.com
Class A (1995 Born) – Group E: Athletic Club Bilbao, Athletic Club Hostalric, Adelaide United FC, Unió de Futbol Base Jàbac i Terrassa
