Overnight, the Adelaide United Youth team lost 1-3 in their first game at the international Cup 2014 (MIC) tournament, against Second Division B side Unió de Futbol Base Jàbac i Terrassa.
Overnight, the Adelaide United Youth team lost 1-3 in their first game at the international Cup 2014 (MIC) tournament, against Second Division B side Unió de Futbol Base Jàbac i Terrassa.
The scoreline was not a true reflection of the game where the team enjoyed good possession in both halves. The Young Reds completed 198 out of 268 passes (74%) and Terrassa 90 out of 140 (64%). All three goals were conceded in the first half from free kicks outside the penalty box.
The players did very well to keep playing the style to get back in the game. The only goal came late in the game with Alec Maiolo and Bruce Kamau combining well on the right side, Kamau cleverly cut back for Maiolo to finish well.
Youth Team coach Michael Valkanis overall saw positives with the game, saying “I was happy with the dominance, how we played out from the back and how we controlled the ball in the middle of the field as the statistics indicate.
“An area we have to improve in is the attacking third where we need to improve our decision making and finding the right time to play the killer pass and penetrate and take risks to create scoring opportunities.
“It will be a good learning experience conceding three identical goals from set pieces. I am sure it won’t happen again.”
Youth Team Assistant Coach, Angelo Costanzo, also tweeted straight after the game explaining his disappointment with the loss:
@AngeloChoka4 ‘Disappointing way to start the tournament going down to Terrassa but have a chance to redeem ourselves tomorrow’
Bruce Kamau commented after the game, “I thought we were asleep in the first 10 minutes and we slowly worked our way back in the game. It was a great response in the second half.”
The Youth Team-s next match is against local Catalonia club Hostalric, which kicks-off today at 11:00am local time (6:30pm ACST). This will be followed my their final group game against La Liga heavyweights Athletic Bilbao, which also kicks-off today at 6:00pm local time (1:30am ACST).
