Sunday 18 / May / 2025
Barcelona: Muscat Football Academy head coach Chuck Martini believes that his team are in with a chance of winning the Bronze Division of the Mundialito youth tournament if they show the same fighting spirit they displayed in today’s game.
Although his under-9s lost 3-1 to the Australia national youth development side and 5-2 to United States outfit Global Premier Soccer, which supplies talented players to German giants Bayern Munich, and his under-11s were handed a 6-0 defeat at the hands of Juventus, whose senior team are through to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s top club competition, where they will face Real Madrid, Martini feels that cutting out individual mistakes – and with a bit of luck – they will taste success.
“If you look at the game against Juventus, we actually kept the match goalless for the first 20 minutes, and you could see that our opponents were getting visibly frustrated for that period,” he told the Times of Oman. “People might point to the final score, but you have to look at the quality of the opposition. We played against mighty Juventus, and managed to keep them at bay for 20 minutes. My boys showed plenty of fight today and never let their heads drop and as long as they give it their all, I cannot ask for anything more.”
Goalkeeper Carlos Perez made a string of sensational saves to minimise the score, and he later said that facing Juventus was an honour. “It’s not every day that someone gets to face Juventus,” he admitted. “I was not scared because that will not get you anywhere. At the end of the day, they are also just another team and you have to be brave when you face them. When I make a save, I know that I have saved my team from giving up another goal, and I am not afraid. In fact, I feel like a superman and I feel like I can do anything. My team depends on me so I cannot afford to be afraid.”
It was a similar scenario against the Australians and the Americans, where MFA didn’t give up even when they were faced with greater opposition. “We brought the game back to 1-1 and then the referee awarded the Australians a penalty, which I felt was a bit unfair,” revealed Martini.
“We then scored a fantastic free kick to bring it back to 3-2 but that was disallowed because the referee claimed the goalkeeper wasn’t ready and I thought that was quite harsh because he certainly seemed aware. The player who took that free kick was very disappointed and let down and had his head in his hands I can understand he was distraught because he earned that free kick and it would’ve brought us back into the game.
“We also had three great chances against the US before they scored against us but we didn’t take them and we need to do that,” he added. “Had we taken our chances, we would’ve been three-nil up and that would have given us the confidence we needed to go forward.”
The Mundialito – Spanish for ‘junior world cup’ – is an annual FIFA-approved youth football tournament which features youth teams from some of the best clubs in the world. 94 teams are taking part in this year’s competition, including Spanish giants FC Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, Portuguese clubs FC Porto and Sporting Portugal, Turkish teams Galatasaray, Besiktas, Fenerbahce and Altinordu, English side Liverpool, Mexican outfit Club America, Italians Juventus and Inter Milan and German side Borussia Dortmund, among others.
“It is not often that our young boys from Oman get to play against such teams, but it is important to know that we are not here to just make up the numbers,” explained Martini. “I want our boys to do really well and to be heroes out there on the pitch because I want them to one day be successful. The next time MFA comes to Mundialito, I want to have seen my boys scouted by clubs from other teams and I want them to approach me and tell me that they like my players and want to sign them.
“On the pitch, it is important that we are warriors and I want to put in them that tiger-like spirit of never giving up,” he added. “Off the pitch, yes, we can shake hands with the players, eat with our opponents and tell them they played a good game, but on it, we need to give it our all and not concede anything because the other team will not give us anything either.”
