Post by Arnold on Jun 6, 2006 20:11:02 GMT -1
Robbed from Reading Fc website -
Young Royals beat Benfica and Prague to lift trophy
6pm, Tuesday 6th June 2006
Eamonn Dolan
The Royals Academy side followed the first team's example to win a prestigious international tournament in France this weekend.
Eamonn Dolan's team defeated Benfica, Sparta Prague and Maastricht to progress to the final against hosts Grenoble, which was won in a dramatic penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw.
Goalkeeper Ben Hamer made two saves in the shoot-out, while the decisive kick was slotted home by midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Full tournament report
The Royals were invited to represent the Premier League in the tournament, and Eamonn reports, "It was really well organised and all the arrangements were very smooth.
"It was wonderful for us to represent the Premier League, and I think it's sometimes easy for us to forget just how huge and well respected the Premiership is overseas. All the other clubs were saying how they love to watch English teams play, so it was a great honour for us to be invited.
"The tournament was condensed into two days, so we had two 70-minute games on both days.
"Our first game was against Maastricht, when we played very well to win 5-0 with two goals apiece for Scott Rendell and Pierre Joseph-Dubois and one from Curtis Ujah.
"Our next game was against Benfica, which we were really looking forward to because they are such a massive club. They were a very slick team, good on the ball, but we played with an unusual diamond shape and it caused them problems.
"We kept our two strikers, Scott Rendell and Simon Church, in wide positions and it worked very well. We produced a stunning performance to win 2-0, with good work from Rendell setting up Gylfi Sigurdsson for the opener, and then Adam Bygrave volleyed the second from a set-piece.
"The following day we had our final group game against Sparta Prague. We needed a draw to top the group but again played very well and deservedly won 1-0 with a penalty from Scott Davies after brilliant work from Pierre Joseph-Dubois led to him being fouled inside the box.
"That meant we topped the group and went through to the final against the other group winners, the local team Grenoble.
"They were quite a savvy team and it was a really tough game, but we drew 0-0 so it went to penalties. Scott Davies, Scott Rendell and Jem Karacan scored and Alex Pearce was unlucky to hit the post, and Ben Hamer saved two penalties which meant that Gylfi Sigurdsson had the chance to win it with our last penalty. He put it to keeper's right to score, so we were champions!
"I was delighted with the team's performance. We only took 13 players because our under 16s were close to their exams, but everybody performed well.
"We had three under 15s to supplement our numbers, and young central defender Ashley Mitchell played every game at left back. Duane Broomes, a midfielder, and attacker Daniel Fitchett came on as subs, and all three did really well."
Team: Hamer, Bygrave, Mitchell, Ujah, Pearce, Karacan, Davies, Sigurdsson, Church, Rendell, Joseph-Dubois
Subs: Fitchett, Broomes
Young Royals beat Benfica and Prague to lift trophy
6pm, Tuesday 6th June 2006
Eamonn Dolan
The Royals Academy side followed the first team's example to win a prestigious international tournament in France this weekend.
Eamonn Dolan's team defeated Benfica, Sparta Prague and Maastricht to progress to the final against hosts Grenoble, which was won in a dramatic penalty shoot-out after a 0-0 draw.
Goalkeeper Ben Hamer made two saves in the shoot-out, while the decisive kick was slotted home by midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson.
Full tournament report
The Royals were invited to represent the Premier League in the tournament, and Eamonn reports, "It was really well organised and all the arrangements were very smooth.
"It was wonderful for us to represent the Premier League, and I think it's sometimes easy for us to forget just how huge and well respected the Premiership is overseas. All the other clubs were saying how they love to watch English teams play, so it was a great honour for us to be invited.
"The tournament was condensed into two days, so we had two 70-minute games on both days.
"Our first game was against Maastricht, when we played very well to win 5-0 with two goals apiece for Scott Rendell and Pierre Joseph-Dubois and one from Curtis Ujah.
"Our next game was against Benfica, which we were really looking forward to because they are such a massive club. They were a very slick team, good on the ball, but we played with an unusual diamond shape and it caused them problems.
"We kept our two strikers, Scott Rendell and Simon Church, in wide positions and it worked very well. We produced a stunning performance to win 2-0, with good work from Rendell setting up Gylfi Sigurdsson for the opener, and then Adam Bygrave volleyed the second from a set-piece.
"The following day we had our final group game against Sparta Prague. We needed a draw to top the group but again played very well and deservedly won 1-0 with a penalty from Scott Davies after brilliant work from Pierre Joseph-Dubois led to him being fouled inside the box.
"That meant we topped the group and went through to the final against the other group winners, the local team Grenoble.
"They were quite a savvy team and it was a really tough game, but we drew 0-0 so it went to penalties. Scott Davies, Scott Rendell and Jem Karacan scored and Alex Pearce was unlucky to hit the post, and Ben Hamer saved two penalties which meant that Gylfi Sigurdsson had the chance to win it with our last penalty. He put it to keeper's right to score, so we were champions!
"I was delighted with the team's performance. We only took 13 players because our under 16s were close to their exams, but everybody performed well.
"We had three under 15s to supplement our numbers, and young central defender Ashley Mitchell played every game at left back. Duane Broomes, a midfielder, and attacker Daniel Fitchett came on as subs, and all three did really well."
Team: Hamer, Bygrave, Mitchell, Ujah, Pearce, Karacan, Davies, Sigurdsson, Church, Rendell, Joseph-Dubois
Subs: Fitchett, Broomes
