February was quite the month for two sets of our younger Academy sides.
U12 ARSENAL CUP
Our U12 side faced off against the likes of Manchester United, Aston Villa and Arsenal in the U12 Arsenal Cup hosted in North London last month. Despite the size of opposition – the young Bluebirds cruised to victory, winning all five games, and playing some fantastic football along the way.
Group Games:
Cardiff City 6-1 Manchester United
Cardiff City 3-0 Aston Villa
Cardiff City 2-1 Arsenal
Semi-Final:
Cardiff City 3-0 Aston Villa
Final:
Cardiff City 1-0 Manchester United
All Clubs involved had 2x9-a-side teams (one in each group)
This is the second tournament this group has won this season – after taking home the Premier League Truce Cup in December. Read more about that triumph here.
Coach Tom Hutton gave cardiffcityfc.co.uk his thoughts after this achievement, saying: “Competitive football is something that we have been gradually introducing into our games programme over the last few seasons, so the success achieved by this group at the U12 Arsenal Cup comes as no surprise. From a youth development perspective, it was extremely pleasing to see the players showcase the Academy playing style consistently throughout the day, particularly when performing within the pressures that these types of fixtures can create. The success achieved by this group of players has further highlighted our belief that they can compete with Category One academies, from both an individual and team perspective.”
2009 AGE GROUP WOLVES CUP
The 2009 squad is a mix of our U9/U10 squads. They’re heading away to international tournaments in Brussels and Poland in the coming months – so coaches Lawrence Hallett & Nathan McConville saw the cup at Wolves in mid-February as great preparation – and that certainly turned out to be the case.
During the league rounds, Cardiff City won each game, bar one, only being defeated by the hosts. The Bluebirds enjoyed victories over Colchester United, Shrewsbury Town, Sheffield United and Stoke City. City had their opportunity at revenge against Wolves in the final, and took it clinically, beating Wolves to lift the trophy.
Young City star Jashayde Greenwood was named Player of the Tournament, topping off a triumphant day in the West Midlands. Following the win, Hallett and McConville shared their delight.
“This group have taken part in a number of tournaments now and have been successful at Sheffield and Wolves,” Nathan began. “We are happy with how they are progressing and coming together as a team and hope they will have more success in Europe later in the season.”
Lawrence added: “With impending European tournaments the need to compete with our year of birth squads becomes increasingly important. A number of our squads are heading to a variety of tournaments throughout Europe including Belgium, Ireland, Germany and Poland in the coming months so participation in the Wolves cup was perfect preparation. This Tournament success leaves us with an elevated confidence for the events that follow.”
We’d like to congratulate each player involved in these fantastic successes.
#CityAsOne
