PARIS 2009 (June 20-21)
H&RBFC – Under 12’s
By Mike Jewell
It was June so time to pack our bags again and head abroad. This year the Under 12’s had been invited to the prestigious ‘Didier Pers’ PO tournament in Paris as the only English representatives. The World Youth champions from Germany were there, the Brazilians, the Dutch, and a host of French academy teams including last years winners Paris Saint-Germain.
Arriving on the Friday we eagerly awaited the draw. Out came the balls – Hampton & Richmond – Group A - the ‘group of death’ – drawn with PSG, Montrouge (one of the tournament favourites) and a very strong FC Rouen side. Roll on Saturday!
Our first group game was Montrouge. It was a tight game ending 0-0 with the best chance coming our way in the dying minutes. Next up PSG. Any nerves were quickly dispelled as the boys played some lovely football and played all round the French Academy side. A disallowed goal for a very dubious ‘foul’ on the keeper and it was 0-0 again. We needed a win against Rouen to progress to the top 16 and half way through the game we got a penalty only for it to be brilliantly saved by the Rouen keeper. Then the breakthrough - Toyosi Ademiju doing what he does best – a powerful run down the right and a beautiful goal. But then tears – straight from the kick-off Rouen equalised and the game ended 1-1 and we finished third in the group, a point behind Montrouge.
So it was to be the Plate finals. Sunday saw an early kick-off against Kids Universe from India. Goals from Mohammed Sghaier, Bambam Fadahunsi, Carvell Essilfie-Conduah and an own goal took us through to the quarter-finals against Laleu La Rochelle. Another 0-0 draw and then the English heartache – defeat on a penalty shoot-out. To the boys credit they lifted themselves again. CS Bretigny were next up and goals from Luke Day and the excellent Mohammed saw a 2-0 win. One more game to go against AS Voltaire, a local team. Unbelievably another 0-0 draw and so to penalties again. This time strikes from Will Haggis and Sean Jewell saw our boys home.
What a weekend. One defeat (on penalties) and only one goal conceded in seven games despite having to use an outfield player in goal because our regular keeper was unable to travel. Stand-up James Grogan!
But they were all brilliant. Everyone worked hard together and the final position did not do them justice. H&RBFC can be proud of each and every one of them – the cast of 2009:
James Grogan, Will Haggis, Josh Wright, Sean Jewell, Matt Leyland, Mohammed Sghaier, Luke Day, Dominic Shaw, Carvell Essilfie-Conduah, Bambam Fadahunsi, Toyosi Ademiju
Hampton take on Brazil...and Barca
Hampton and Richmond’s trip of a lifetime to Barcelona to compete in the massive MIC tournament, ended with the draw that everyone wanted, a knockout match for the under 15s (with 4 ’93 birth date under 16s in the squad) against the Brazilian under 16 national side!
The under 15s had been beaten by the Aspire Dream Academy and a local team, before facing Atletico Segre (a big Catalunyan non-league team). 2-0 down in 5 minutes, the team fought back to win 3-2. An impressive enough result, with the all yellow Hampton team being mistaken for Brazil, by one of the teams coming on to the same pitch afterwards.
That evening though, the Hampton youngsters got the news everyone wanted; they would play Brazil in the first knock out stages of the under 16s MIC tournament.
And what an experience it was, with the now red shirted Hampton boys chasing the canary shirted maestros for the entire first half, with the Beaver’s
Custodian Joseph White being by far the busier goalkeeper, picking the ball out of the net twice, but still making many fine saves. The task was not made easier by midfielder Abdul Sankoh being sent off after making 3 fouls, with forward hard working midfielder Anderson Pinto being replaced by defensive midfielder Jamel Wojtczak.
The boys had defended magnificently up to half time, with Omarr Lawson coming close to putting the Beavers 1-0 up, after the Dida look-a-like Brazilian GK had finger tipped Kadell Daniel’s cross away. The other 2 forward midfielders and lone forward Mason Foster were replaced by the fresh Daniel Thompson, Saber Moumeni and Reiss Garwood, as the ten men Hampton looked for a way back into the game.
Brazil continued to press in the second half, but to no affect and after 5 minutes, Hampton, incredibly, became the better side. Forcing a corner on the right, Jamel Wojtczak found himself alone inside the six yard box at the far post, but shot straight at a defender with the GK beaten.Then Tom Lelyveld’s driven cross found it’s way to Daniel Thompson, however his header deflected wide. Then Reiss Garwood found himself beyond the Brazilian defence and one on one with the Brazilian goalkeeper but the Brazilian saved well. After this, Wojtczak clipped the crossbar and with the Brazilian defence smashing the ball over the stands, Hampton had clearly turned the tables in the final half.
However the final whistle came too early for a complete recovery and Brazil had held out for a 2-0 win. The Hampton players agreed before the game that they would have been pleased to lose 0-2, but now were upset they hadn’t at least drawn with the “Selecao”, but pleased that they had all played so well, especially having only 10 men for the last 2/3rds of the game.
The boys were complemented by the organisers for their surprising performance and the referee questioned for his over zealous officiating.
The dream was over, but with the under 13s losing 8-0 to eventual winners Barcelona under 14s (who were to beat Manchester United 7-2 in the Q/F) it was a fantasy 5 days for the fledgling youth club.
In the under 12 tournament, Arsenal were beaten 3-0 by Barcelona in the final, the under 14s saw Hampton’s conquerors Barcelona beating Atletico Madrid 4-0. Espanyol scored the only goal against Valencia, who had defeated Brazil in the under 16s, while Mexico astonished Brazil in the under 19 final by coming back from 2-0 down in the last minute, to draw 2-2 and then win on penalties.
With an invite in the bag for 2010 the boys returned to London with heads held high and along with the only other sides from the UK (Arsenal and Manchester United) knowing that good preparation might lead to UK success next year.
Hampton and Richmond are expanding their youth under 12-16s operation (whose coaches are F.A. “A” & “B” Licence level) into the South West London area, as befits their first team’s Blue Square Conference league status, and are looking to recruit players for next season (20010/11), as they always lose players to professional academies, so if you think you are a county or academy standard player and have the ability to compete at the very highest levels, please contact Paul on 07847 032 095.
Full details: www.micfootball.com
and Barcelona will play....Hampton
The kind of cup draw all boys dream about, but for 15 lucky South West London 12 & 13 year olds, the dream is about to become a reality.
Astonishingly local team Hampton and Richmond Borough Juniors (formerly Tooting and Mitcham United Juniors) , who are based in the Merton and Wandsworth area, were invited to the Mediterranean International Cup competition in Barcelona over Easter, which attracts teams from all over the world, and got the draw everyone wanted; they will face FC Barcelona’s under 14 team.
If that wasn’t hard enough, because of the different age band rules in Europe, HRBFC will be on average 7 months younger than the Catalan giants and will meet them on their home soil.
The local lads who play their matches at Richardson Evans Memorial Ground in Roehampton and train at Haydons’ Road Recreation Ground in South Wimbledon and St Marks’ Academy in Mitcham Eastfields, compete in the Surrey Youth League (which they are top of at the moment), were Surrey Champions two seasons ago and Surrey Cup finalists last season, draw their players mainly from the South West London area and are very excited by their match which will take place on April 8th or April 9th.
Manager of the team Peter Augustine, who is currently studying for his “A” Licence coaching badge and just returned from a week at Portuguese football powerhouse Benfica, said “I’m obviously very excited by this fixture. We have played Paris Saint Germain previously, in Paris, and only lost narrowly. So we feel we can “stand our ground” against them. The club’s ethos has always been to pass the ball and we teach our players to play in a continental fashion, where retaining the ball is all important, so this will be very interesting for the boys to play against the team we so aspire to emulate. There are three UK clubs playing in the tournament at the various age groups; Arsenal, Manchester United and Hampton and Richmond, which shows how highly we are regarded abroad.”
Goalkeeper Michael White is preparing himself for a busy day when he faces the red and blue maestros. He said “I’ll need to be on my toes, but it’s for days like this that we all play football for, probably never imagining it will ever happen”
The under 14 competition also includes: Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid amongst others, so if the boys can progress they may have other improbable contests to come.
Older brother Joseph White also plays in goal, for the club’s under 15s, they are travelling to the older tournament, where they will play the Aspire Dream Academy from Africa, which draws on the emerging talent from 9 countries and seeks to progress these boys on to clubs around the world while offering great educational opportunities as well.
Success for the HRBFC under 15s could result in the older boys facing the Brazilian national team, the Mexican national team, Valencia and Espanyol who are also in the same age group. Joe said “The African side will be a great experience, but we all want to do well and get further in the tournament so we can play Brazil, I bet they’re thinking the same about playing us!”
The under 15s have beaten Paris Saint Germain, Hertha Berlin (currently top of the German Bundesliga) and VFL Wolfsburg (again from the Bundesliga who beat Portsmouth in the EUFA Cup earlier this season) in previous trips abroad, so maybe they can increase their scalps this time.
It will be 5 days the boys will never forget, after all there are top professional players who will never play against such vaunted opposition and the boys are determined to represent their corner of London with pride and maybe even show the young Lionel Messis and Thierry Henrys that SW London has got talent as well.
Hampton and Richmond are expanding their youth under 12-16s operation (whose coaches are F.A. “A” & “B” Licence level) into the South West London area, as befits their first team’s Blue Square Conference league status, and are looking to recruit players for next season (20010/11), as they always lose players to professional academies, so if you think you are a county or academy standard player and have the ability to compete at the very highest levels, please contact Paul on 07847 032 095.
Previous Tours....As Tooting & Mitcham Juniors
T&M Juniors on tour
Berlin 2006
By Paul White (Junior Teams Secretary)
We received an invitation from Berlin to travel to the capital of Germany in 2006 and play in a 3 sided tournament including Hertha Berlin and local team Hertha Zellendorf (Hertha Berlin feeder team). This invite was from someone we met in London when we played another German side having beaten them 6-0. Originally we were going to play in an indoor tournament in November 2005, with Werder Bremen, FC Magdeburg, Borussia Dortmund, Hertha Berlin and SV Hamburg. Unfortunately the timing was not quite right, so it was Easter 2006 and victory against Hertha Berlin by 2-0. We then played in a tournament hosted by a Turkish club in East Berlin and beat the three top non league teams in Berlin to take the trophy.
T&M Juniors on tour
Zurich & Paris 2007
By Paul White (Junior Teams Secretary)
Having established the German connection, VFL Wolfsburg (German Bundesliga team) traveled to play us in London in the spring of 2007. We won this encounter 4-1, but it was a wonderful match and occasion. The German boys stayed with Tooting and Mitcham families and were a delight to host. We had a smaller visit to Zurich in Easter 2007, where we played a local side based in the Italian community who are a feeder side to FC Zurich, calling themselves Juventus! We were too strong for this team and won 9-1 and spent the following day bob sleighing down a local mountain, getting extremely wet but enjoying the journey tremendously. Dave Taylor (10 years a member of Tooting's first team) who has a son playing for our under 14s, organised this through a contact in Zurich.
Our current under 11s and 12s were also invited alongside Fulham, Q.P.R. and Brentford to compete against a Kensington and Chelsea select team and A.S. Cannes from France in the last two years, in a tournament in West London. Our under 12s won that tournament defeating Brentford's academy team in the final. Our under 11s lost narrowly to A.S. Cannes in last year's final.
In Paris, teams come from all over the world (Brazil, Chile, Uganda, as well as Europe).
We have played and beaten Paris Saint Germain, and FC Rouen in this tournament and we have competed (as the only representative from these shores) every year in that competition.
