The Final Stretch
The Galaxy Academy's England Tour is drawing to a conclusion with the
group scheduled to return to Los Angeles on Monday evening.
This
afternoon, coaches Kenny Arena and Matt Mennell will each lead teams
that are comprised of both U-16 and U-18 players against Ipswich Town,
the club at which former Galaxy coach Frank Yallop rose to prominence.
Then
after a final night's sleep in Norwich, the team will get on the bus
Saturday morning for the drive south to London where they will face West
Ham in the final games of the trip.
Following a lunch at the
training ground, the team will head to Wembley where they will watch the
FA Cup semifinal between Chelsea and Aston Villa before checking into
the third hotel of the tour, this one in the heart of London.
Everyone
will then be given Sunday off to explore the capital before heading to
Heathrow Monday afternoon for the long flight back to Los Angeles.
While
many of the players would love to stay here a bit longer and train and
play against more of the nation's top Acadamies, they have to get back
in time to recover for their important league game against Real So Cal
at Calabasas High School on Sunday afternoon.
England Through My Eyes - Galaxy U-18 Defender Joe Kearney
After weeks of hard work and anticipation, our U-16 and U-18 Galaxy squads prepared for an exciting ten-day trip to England. Arriving at the airport on Friday, April 2nd, I had few expectations and many hopes of what the trip would provide as an individual and for my team. I expected to play games, train, and tour the cities in which we sojourned. I hoped to gain unique experiences in a foreign country, and I thought these affairs would make our team closer and stronger in preparation for a meaningful stretch of games to make the playoffs.
After an aching, dreary flight, we spent the majority of our first day in England on route to Manchester via bus. Our coach Matt Mennell instructed us not to sleep, as it would completely throw off our sleep schedules. Some adhered to the advice, while others craftily found ways to evade our coaches intruding stares and admonition. One even found the bus floor as a temporary mattress for the ride.
After finally arriving in Manchester, we had a team dinner and spent the rest of the night relaxing and recovering. On Sunday, we headed off to the Everton Academy for a training session and later, a match between Everton and West Ham. I greatly appreciated the different techniques and lessons Everton Youth Coach Mick had to offer, and I was very excited for my first Premier League game. The old-fashioned stadium amazed me. The tightly packed fans all cheered and booed different referee decisions, and the West Ham and Everton fans were not shy to poke fun at one another.
The experience was like no sporting event I've witnessed before; I could only imagine how passionate the FA cup semi-final would be later in the week.
The next day, we headed off to the Blackburn Rovers Academy after defeating our first opposition--a failing bus. We were unprepared for the Blackburn side, who rudely awakened us to English Youth soccer. After resting for the evening, we prepared for two practices with the Manchester City Academy the next day. These two practices focused on individually on defensive and then offensive techniques and they surely proved that I know far less than I thought about the game.
I felt honored to work with two coaches with loads of Premier League experience and they bestowed boundless knowledge and advice within two, two-hour sessions. After solid training sessions, we had high hopes for our match against Manchester City, another powerful squad. We combined players from the U-16's and U-18's to play the match, and integrated all the ideas we had learned in practice. After a scoreless half, we knocked in a goal to take the lead. Unfortunately, the pressing Manchester offense found the holes in our defense twice, to take a 2-1 victory. I was very much satisfied with my own and the teams' endeavors, as we fought hard, and the game could have gone either way. We ate lunch with the Manchester City team, and learned how much alike our players are. We found out that we had played against three national team captains and players from as far as the Ivory Coast. We then boarded a bus on route to Norwich, where I stay now in a supposedly haunted hotel (which I believe is still to be determined).
I approached the hotel with little trepidation, until the fire alarm went off at midnight and all the doors were shut in the halls. Some of our team members showed their true spirit in the hallways, possibly waking up the rest of the hotel.
I can't wait for what England will unveil throughout the rest of the week.
