Tuesday 16 / April / 2024
Barcelona: Muscat Football Academy's (MFA) under-9 and under-11 teams have arrived at the 2018 Mundialito youth football tournament, and have set their sights on taking a trophy back home to Oman.
This is the third time MFA have made it to Mundialito – which is Spanish for 'junior World Cup' – and are hoping to go one better this time around.
Head coach Chuck Martini and his 22-strong contingent of young players arrived in Barcelona on Saturday morning, just hours before MFA's under-12 teams lifted the Manchester City cup in Abu Dhabi, beating Dubai-based Regional Sports Academy on penalties in the final, having beaten all of Man City's development youth squads on the way to that success.
Their hopes of securing a double triumph in Abu Dhabi did not unfortunately materialise, after Muscat Football Academy’s under-14s were on the receiving end of a cruel 1-0 defeat at the hands of Romanian club CFR Cluj, whose senior team are regulars in the UEFA Champions League – Europe's premier club football competition, and are coached by former Chelsea star Dan Petrescu.
Featuring more than 60 teams from across the world, this edition's Mundialito features youth teams from illustrious clubs such as Spanish outfits FC Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, UD Levante, Gimnastic de Tarragona and UD Las Palmas, to name a few.
Also turning up for this year’s tournament are Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon, Romania’s Steaua Bucharest, Mexican sides Club America and Necaxa, Greek outfit PAOK Thessaloniki, Kashima Antlers from Japan, Turkish sides Fenerbahce and Besiktas, and Cypriot club APOEL Nicosia, among others.
"I think for our boys to come from so far away and represent Oman is a great achievement," said parent Salwa Al Habsi, one of many adults accompanying the team this time. "Chuck really knows his players very well, down to how they behave, what they eat, who their friends are and what works for them, and that shows he really cares about them and believes in them.
"In return, they really trust him because they do whatever he asks of them since they know it is the right thing," she added. "The kids are really lucky to have a coach as hands-on as Chuck because he and his assistants are really dedicated and they always do what is best for the children. Don't let the big names intimidate you too much, because the players from MFA are also really up for the tournament and they will not be afraid of the teams they are facing."
MFA's under-11s made it to the semis of the silver division of the Mundialito the last time around, and their under-9s bowed out at the quarters of the gold. Martini knows doing better in 2018 will take some doing, but the former Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper is confident in his players' abilities.
"It'll take some doing, but I think that the players here really want to play for one another," said Martini, speaking exclusively to the Times of Oman. "Mundialito is like the Champions League of junior football tournaments where you have the direct youth teams of all these big clubs such as Liverpool, Galatasaray, Borussia Dortmund and so many others come to play, so for our players to come and face these sides is definitely a challenge for them, but it is one that is really going to speed up their development, because you don't get to face these kinds of sides every day."
With temperatures in Barcelona plummeting to as low as nine degrees during the day and the weather characterised by gusty winds and occasional rain, the inclement weather is not something MFA’s young players are used to.
"As a footballer, you need to learn to play in all sorts of conditions, because as you go forward, you will find that very few exceptions are made for you," added Martini. "I know that the weather will be a challenge for the players and there is no acclimatisation time for them unlike so many of the other teams, but this is why it is very important for us to prepare really well and be there for each other as a team."
