Members of our U16s squad recently competed in an international tournament in Calella in Spain, proving to be a positive developmental experience.
Young players from the 2010 age group attended the F.I.T Promises International Tournament, coming up against teams from Greece, Romania, Spain and the Netherlands.
During the group stages, City recorded seven points to secure a place in the knockout stages and produced impressive performances.
The Bluebirds’ eventual exit from the tournament came through a penalty shootout, losing out to Dutch opponents FC Emmen.
City fielded a talented side in Calella with a high amount of international experience. Keano Conaty and Jacob Norris, who have both featured for the U18s side this season, reflected on how they found competing in the tournament.
“It was a great experience for us,” Jacob began. “We played against teams with different playing styles who set up differently from a tactical perspective and that gave us a good challenge. Some teams would sit back and make it hard for us but others would look to play. For us, regardless of who we were playing against, we wanted to play our way, the Cardiff City way and play attacking football.
“As a squad, we became very close. You’d have quite a lot of free time so we spent that time together as a group which helped us to show togetherness on the pitch.”
Keano added: “It was good for us to play against different teams outside of our usual games programme. The sides we faced were very physical and direct so there were challenges it was important for us to just take on the information from the coaches to get the best out of the experience. We won games by playing our way.
“We had time out there to reflect on our performances and work as a unit. I think you could see that in our performances, we improved throughout the tournament and that was a big positive for us.”