News
News from the Brazilian football tour
11 July 2008
Two days have passed on the senior football trip to Brazil and the group is well and truly at home training on Copacobana beach in the early morning sun" The group have already witnessed an electric atmosphere in the Maracana and visited the stunning Christ Statue which overlooks Rio and todays will ride to the top of Sugar Loaf Mountain in a cable car. James Norwood and Seb Hards are already green at the thought!
Yesterday saw the two teams play academy sides of the professional oufit Flamenco. The first team put up brave resistance in the searing heat but were unfortunate to go down 3 - 0 in the final 25 mins. The second team battles bravely but lost 6 - 1. The teams play again tomorrow against another two academy sides from the Botafogo club.
The squad leave Rio tomorrow heading for Sao Paulo leaving behind fond memories of a fantastic city. Having just returned from what can only be described as a unique football experience whilst watching Flamenco versus Vasco de Gama in the Maracana the squad is in high vocal spirits.
14th July 2008
Earlier in the day the first team fought out a 3 3 draw with Michelin club football, a game that they should have really wrapped up before conceding a late equaliser. The team got off to a storming start when Pat Murray and James Norwood put St Bedes into a 2 0 lead. Michelin fought back strong to level the game up. New boy Moritz Diemer then struck a 25 yard volley to restore the lead before a number of missed chances including a penalty gave Michelin the drive to push on scored from a free kick in the final minute.
Earlier this week the squad have enjoyed fantastic cultural experiences by visiting Sugar Loaf Mountain and the Corcavado 'Christ Statue' which overlooks Rio
18th July 2008
The final chapter of the tour has taken us to Santa Filomena , a purpose built training complex two hours out of Sao Paulo. We have really crammed in the football since our last update and the boys have all worked really hard to cope with the demands of playing during hot days.
The first team played out another 3 3 draw with Botafogo, Pat Murray, Michael Oluwatosin and Dan Gorringe netting in a game we really should have won. The following day both teams played at the famous Corintheans club (Where Tevez learnt his trade). Te first team won 6 1, James Norwood netting four, Moritz Diemer and Romulo dos Santos getting the other two and the second team ground out a 1 1 draw with Paul Barnes coming back from injury to score with a one on one with the keeper.
Thursday has seen a defeat of 6 - 0 for the first team against a professional U19 team. A real lesson for the boys but much to take away for sure which will help for next season. The real drama of the day was saved for the second team game where they went 4 0 and 5 - 1 behind before giving it their all and clawing the game back to 5 - 4 (Jim Ruth 2, John Ngengo 2)and having 7 clear cut chances in the last ten minutes to draw the game level. Unfortunately the glory was not completed and they went down galantly. It was however one of the true highlights of the tour so far. True team spirit!
The team are looking forward to working with some street kids on Friday and then moving onto the coastal resort of Santos for thre last few days of the trip.
