The young yellows will play at La Cerámica alongside Santi Cazorla
Villarreal CF’s U12 (Alevín A) is ready for the best tournament of the season! The team coached by Iván Molés, Paco Peris, Santiago Moreno, Rafa Melchor and Carlos Saura will be the hosts of this very special edition, as it will be played at the Estadio de la Cerámica and each team will have its own legend accompanying the children on the pitch. The tournament will take place this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The Submarine will not have it easy in the tournament organised by the Fundación José Ramón de la Morena and LaLiga in collaboration with the Yellows, as they will have to get through the first phase in a group with Real Madrid, Athletic Club, Girona FC and UD Almería. After that, they will have three more rounds to go, starting with the quarter-finals if they finish first or second in the group, to try to win the coveted trophy that the Yellows have already won on three occasions.
The motivation of LaLiga
Playing in the Promises is a motivation that the Yellows’ U12s have since the start of the season every year. “It’s a great tournament at national level and I would dare say at international level. The top level youth teams come here. The boys have that motivation, plus it’s here at home, in the Estadio de la Cerámica, and we’re going to enjoy it with our fans. I think it’s going to be unforgettable and a very nice experience for all of us,” explains Paco Peris, one of the team’s coaches.
And this tournament is one of the most beautiful of their youth career. “It’s a moment they have to enjoy. We have been working all season and, although they are very young, they have to live many experiences and this one they are going to live together as a group and they have to have fun and compete because the club we belong to and the context deserve it”, added his staff colleague Iván Molés.
A top-class setting
The fact of playing in a stadium like La Cerámica, which has hosted great Champions League nights, is a plus of motivation and a great illusion for such young players. “It was the trigger for everything and a bit of a surprise. Every time they came to watch a game at the Estadio de la Cerámica they said that they were going to play there soon and they felt very identified and very happy,” Peris says with emotion.
For his part, Molés believes that it is “One more point of motivation, but also of demand,” as: “We believe a lot in what we are working on, the boys are very dedicated and we are setting a high standard. On top of all this, a lot of people will come and playing against the best teams in Spain is very nice, you have to fight and compete,” added Andreu, one of the youngsters who will play in the tournament. The youngster from Vila-real is very excited about this opportunity: “It’s exciting to think about it, but we’ll face it with enthusiasm and we’re going to fight and compete.”
A legend amongst promises
The U12s players and coaching staff visited the Estadio de la Cerámica last week as part of a reconnaissance visit. There, Villarreal president, Fernando Roig, encouraged them ahead of this important date, as did Villarreal B player Carlo Adriano, who once played in the Promises and has been in the first team dynamic in the final stretch of the now concluded 22/23 campaign.
However, these were not going to be the biggest surprises of the afternoon for the teenagers, as they discovered that Santi Cazorla was going to be the legend that would accompany them in this edition; a decision taken by the competition organisers. “Santi is a player who embodies the values of the club. He has had a lot of impact from the beginning to the end of his career and for the boys he is an idol,” emphasises Molés.
So, as hosts, in an imposing stadium and accompanied by one of the greatest players in Villarreal’s history, the U12s are ready to play in this exciting competition, which, for them, is like a Champions League.
