|
Norwich City Under-14s travelled to Belgium at the weekend for the Overijse International Tournament near Brussels. In the end a dubious penalty was all that stood between City and a place in the Final, with the Canaries then ending the tournament in fourth place. Darren Bloodworth has recently returned to the club as Education Officer and Under-14 coach and the trip gave Darren the perfect opportunity to assess his new charges. With the continental qualification date of 1.1.94 Darren and Academy Assistant Manager Dean Rastrick were able to add two players from the Under-15 squad to the travelling party. City started the tournament Saturday lunchtime with a game against host club Tempo Overijse. Darren’s warm up routine (Photos from the warm up) certainly got the players up and ready for the match and they responded with a convincing 4-0 victory against the local club side. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
 Photos Gallery from Match against Tempo Overijse |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Please view the photos from the match against Overijse by clicking here or on the photo above. The next two games during the afternoon were against Belgium Juliper League clubs Mouscron and Charleroi and were to prove real tests for the young Canaries. Against Mouscron City faced a physical side employing a big striker up front. Nevertheless Norwich twice went into the lead but came under pressure themselves throughout the 35 minute match which ended 2-2. If anything Charleroi looked an even tougher nut to crack and indeed the Belgians took the lead. City however kept their composure and forced several chances. The equaliser came from a header from a well delivered free-kick with the match ending 1-1. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
 Photos Gallery from Matches against Mouscron and Charleroi |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Please view the photos from the matches against Mouscron and Charleroi by clicking here or on the photo above. It had been a good day’s work for Norwich and with scoring draws counting two points the Canaries won their group on Saturday and went into Sunday’s games playing for places one to six. After a morning swim Norwich faced two 30 minute games in quick succession on Sunday afternoon against Lyngby from Denmark and Waalwijk from the Netherlands who had also topped their groups on Saturday. Against Lyngby Norwich failed to produce a good performance, lacking bite and passion from start to finish they were lucky to come away from the match with a 0-0 draw. Waalwijk had already been identified as a physically strong side and Dean Rastrick made an impassioned plea for more will to win as the team headed into the match needing a victory to reach the final. City reacted well to their coaches and recovered from the disappointing performance against Lyngby to dominate the first twenty minutes against a surprised Waalwijk side. They matched the opposition in all departments despite being the younger and smaller side. City’s lead from a superb 20-yard strike was fully deserved. The team needed to dig deep as the game entered the last ten minutes but Norwich held firm until the referee gave a more than debatable penalty, allegedly for handball. City conducted themselves well despite the huge disappointment as Waalwijk scored from the spot to secure the place in the final. Indeed the Dutch side went on to win the tournament. |
|||||||||||||||||||||
 Photos Gallery from Matches against Lyngby and Waalwijk |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Please view the photos from the matches against Lyngby and Waalwijk by clicking here or on the photo above. The game for 3rd place against Lierse SK from Belgium was somewhat of an anti-climax and Norwich failed to find the energy to worry their opponents who ran out 2-0 winners. All in all Norwich had played a very good tournament as one of the younger sides in the competition and with a little more consistency and luck would have gone all the way. As it was they were awarded the fair play award from the tournament organisers. I wish the team and coach all the best for a successful season! |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Michael Clunan, Remy Matthews, Matthew Meacher, Sam Westley, Zac Turner, Harry Toffolo, Reece Hall-Johnson, Stuart Garrod, Rian Carroll, Harry Barker, Robert Clement, Callum White, Jacob Murphy, Matthew Brown, Josh Murphy, Luke Thacker. Staff Dean Rastrick (Academy Assistant Manager), Darren Bloodworth (Coach), Anthony Rosevear (Physio). |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
Report and Photos from Paul Standley. |
|||||||||||||||||||||