The Adelaide United Youth Team have exited the MIC Tournament in the semi-finals with a 2-3 loss to local Catalan team, CE L’Hospitalet.
The Adelaide United Youth Team have exited the MIC Tournament in the semi-finals with a 2-3 loss to local Catalan team, CE L-Hospitalet.
The Youth Team opened the scoring from a quick counter attack. Keeper John Hall, found Bruce Kamau with a long pass who squared the ball back to allow for a wel-timed finish by Dom Pollock. The second goal came courtesy of a Jordan Pudler free-kick.
Hospitalet then pulled one back through a deflected free kick, they kept pressing and managed to equalise just before the half-time break.
Within five-minutes of the re-start, Hospitalet took the lead after the Youth Team-s defense failed to clear the ball. A few more good chances to equalise were created by the Youth Team, but they were let down through poor finishing.
Disappointed with the loss, Youth Team coach Michael Valkanis said, “This was a steep learning curve for our young players, having lead the game 2-0 and then eventually going down 2-3.”
“It-s disappointing. We all wanted to reach the final, but it just wasn-t to be.
“The Spanish attackers converted their few chances into goals, while we created but couldn-t covert.
“Once again, they boys were excellent in playing good football and working non-stop.
“We will learn from this experience, which will help with the development and improvement of the boys in being ready for the next NYL Season.”
Youth Team Assistant Coach, Angelo Costanzo, tweeted immediately after the game praising the boys:
@AngeloChoka4 ‘Not the result we wanted today but the style of @adelutd_fc was evident throughout @torneigmic and the boys can hold their heads high.’
Their last night in Spain was spent watching the Matchday 34 La Liga clash between Barcelona and Athletic Club Bilbao at the Camp Nou. The clash was won by Barcelona, where a two minute second half turnaround led the Catalans giants to a narrow win over the Basques, and maintained their title hopes
The Youth Team will depart this afternoon (local time), to arrive back home in Adelaide on Tuesday night.
