The Adelaide United Youth have narrowly gone down 1-0 to Spanish giants FC Barcelona in their second game at the 2015 Mediterranean International Cup (MIC).
It was a very tight encounter, the Young Reds not only competed but challenged Barcelona, a team who has one of the best youth systems in the world.
The first half was even for both teams, where each had their share of possession, but neither was unable to break the deadlock.
Just after the break, the Young Reds were caught with a long pass, which was questionably offside, where the Barcelona winger took a cross into the box and hit a low drive, which was deflected into the opposite corner of the goals.
This early goal sparked a change in formation (to 3-4-3), and the Young Reds then controlled the game forcing Barcelona to only play on the counter attack. Unfortunately, they couldn’t break through and were unable to get the result they deserved.
Even though it wasn’t a good result, Youth Team coach Michael Valkanis was very happy with the team’s performance.
“We risked, pushed and tested ourselves against the best, but unfortunately to no avail,” said Valkanis.
“It was a good performance by our team, one to be proud of. However, we left that game with a thought and belief that we should not have dropped points.
“We now need to concentrate on Palamos CF to win and secure a spot in the quarter finals.”
Class A – Group A
FC Central Los Angeles (USA), Palamos CF (Spain), Barcelona FC (Spain), Adelaide United FC (Australia)
Results
Wednesday 1 April 2015
Adelaide United FC 4 (Trimboli, Gerard, McGree, De Donatis)
FC Central Los Angeles 0
Thursday 2 April 2015
FC Barcelona 1
Adelaide United FC 0
Remaining Fixtures
Thursday 2 April 2015
Kick-off 5:00pm (local time) (2:30am ACDT)
Palamos CF v Adelaide United FC
