Introduction
This week SIA Academy took a group of its top Cadetes (U15), Juveniles (U19) and winter camp participants to a friendly match against one of the U.D. Alziras Juvenil teams. The match took place in Tulell, one of Alzira’s training grounds, and featured several outstanding performances from SIA Academy’s players as well as some of the SIA Academy’s winter camp participants.
Match Overview
SIA Academy took to the field with its best starting eleven, which included a mixture of U19 and U15 players and Cristobal V., a winter camp participant who had been showing significant promise throughout his time training at the academy. Although it was a friendly match SIA Academy came out strong dominating procession and keeping the ball away from their goal box for the majority of the early game. Moving together as a unit, SIA Academy was able to constantly find quick passes through the middle then dish the ball out to its wingers to open up space in front of goal. This strategy worked well for them since around the 20th minute mark a ball was dished out to the left wing where Leon M. was able to dribble past two defenders and shoot a cross goal to open up the score for SIA Academy.
With the score now open, both teams were more fired up than ever. The game became much more competitive in the midfield as both teams kept pushing for a goal. Not long after the first goal Alzira C got a chance at a quick counter, as SIA Academy jumped in to defend, they changed sides and tied the game. Not looking to leave things as they were, the SIA Academy players began playing their quick pass and move style of football which made it difficult for the opposing team to properly pressure any individual player. Once again SIA Academy were building their plays from the back line and moving together to bring the ball up. After a series of quick passes down the left side of the field, SIA Academy got themselves in an advantageous position in their opponent’s defensive quarter. Two of Alzira C’s defensive players came out to cover Anercio C., who quickly passed it out to Daleen S. and then to Gabriel L, who did not miss his one-on-one chance with the goalkeeper.
The second goal appeared to give the SIA Academy players even more confidence as they began to take more chances at dribbling past their opposition. This change in tactic caught Alzira C off guard and led to several dangerous chances being created for SIA Academy. Some got saved by the goalkeeper and others got stopped just before the final shot, however right before the half time whistle Michael O. received the ball in the midfield and with a quick turn beat his defender to create an empty space between him and the goal. Unable to be caught by any of the opposition’s players Michael O. had time to see where the keeper was standing and put the ball on the opposing side of the goal to finish the first half with a more secure lead.
The second half started with both teams giving their bench players some playing time. The fresh SIA Academy players were able to maintain the same rhythm of play as their teammates had established in the first half even though Alzira C were constantly fighting to get back in the game. Having put in a few of their less experienced players, SIA Academy’s pressure dropped back slightly and that gave Alzira C more space to come up with the ball. The opposition took advantage of the extra space to create more opportunities on goal and, just before the final whistle, were able to tie up the game.
MVP
Out of all the SIA Academy players there were 2 whose performance stood out from the rest. Hollins E., a SIA Academy Cadete (U15) player, played as an attacking midfield for the majority of the match. In this time his offensive and defensive movements constantly put him in ideal positions to either steal the ball back or make a run for goal. Michael O. was another influential player throughout the game. His speed and strength allowed him to hold up play and burst through the defensive lines to constantly create scoring opportunities.