The Yellows lived their experience in the United Arab Emirates like a World Cup
“We lived it like a World Cup”. This is how Villarreal U16s (Cadete A) coach, Jon Errasti, explains his team’s experience at the Al Ain U16 International Tournament in the United Arab Emirates. Beyond the excellent sporting results, this competition was a new and interesting experience for the Submarine’s promising young players.
The team had never before faced such a long journey, practically 24 hours. “We left Vila-real on 31st March at 3 in the morning to catch the bus to Barcelona. The flight from Barcelona to Abu Dhabi took about six-and-a-half hours and there we had a lot of time to spend with the boys beyond training. Then we had two hours to Al Ain, the city where we were staying. Counting the two-hour time difference, we spent a whole day travelling,” explains Errasti about the trip to the Arabian Peninsula.
However, a few of the boys did have a similar experience in the past when they played in another of the international benchmark tournaments, according to the coach: “We had five boys who had played LaLiga Promises International in the same city. In fact, we had the hotel next to where they played.”
In addition, as Errasti says, “We went in the middle of Ramadan and during the day there were many restrictions, so the tournament was played at night, at eight, ten or twelve o’clock.” This was one of the differences compared to the regular competition in Spain of this six-team group in which in the event of a draw, an extra point was played in a penalty shoot-out.
