13 Oct 2016
Doha, 13 October 2016. The latest Tri-Series football tournament featuring RSC Anderlecht from Belgium, Esperance from Tunisia and the hosts, Aspire concluded on Wednesday 12th October at Aspire Academy. The teams competed in the U-13, U-14 and U-15 age groups for the tournament that run from 10 -12 October.
Speaking after the tournament, Aspire Academy U-15 coach, Arno Buitenweg stressed the invaluable experience his charges get from such tournaments, “I am pleased with the way my team has been able to cope and compete positively against two different football styles and opponents. I thought our Aspire boys handle what was a difficult game against Esperance very well. These games give us so much preparation and immense opportunities to learn how to deal with each different opposition that we can play against.
RSC Anderlecht U-15 coach, Benoit Haegeman, sang praises of the Tri-Series tournament and divulged how the club and all involved both staff and boys have a high regard for the tournament, “It’s a highlight for the boys’ season and they all enjoy Tri-Series and want to do well in it. Aspire and Esperance gave us worthy competition on the field and made us play our best. We are all pleased with the way the tournament has gone and are grateful for the invitation extended to us to participate”
Meanwhile Esperance U-15 coach Lotfi Rafraf said, “It’s not every week that you get to play the likes of the teams we faced here, Aspire and Anderlecht, so we are happy to have been invited to play here and on these beautiful facilities. I am gutted that we lost out on penalties to Anderlecht but overall l am pleased with how my boys played.
The overarching take from the Aspire staff involved with the 2002, 2003 and 2004 Generation who participated in this Tri-Series tournament was that this was more of a learning curve and opportunity to benchmark against top competent sides and vital lessons were drawn from these matches.
The Tri-Series resumes next month when, the two national teams, Uruguay and Turkey bring their 2000 Generation boys to play against Qatar while 1999 and 2001 Generation boys from Leicester City FC from England and FC Dallas from USA will engage their equivalent age counterparts from Aspire Academy from 7-9 November.