The Hatters U11 squad traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany to take part in the Deichmann Junior Cup for the second year running.
May our U11 academy players travelled to Dusseldorf in Germany to take part in the 2005 born Deichmann Junior Cup in the nearby town of Ratingen. This is the second year we have attended this particular tournament having had a great experience last season playing the likes of Juventus FC and Hannover 96 in a tournament comprising of 150 teams. thLast Friday 13
This year the tournament had grown in size again to 180 teams spread over 7 different venues with Juventus FC, Borussia Dortmund, Schalke 04, Manchester City, Deportivo La Coruna and Liverpool FC amongst some of the other entrants.
Our academy boys started well and scored some excellent goals in the first group stages winning 4 of our 5 matches. The only dropped points came in a narrow 1-0 defeat to AS Roma of Italy following a late penalty in the dying seconds. Due to this result we finished second in the group and would have to play Helsingborg from Sweden in a play-off game to progress through to the Champions Round (The top 32 teams on the second day).
Following a hard fought game and a missed penalty from the Town early in the match we managed to clinch the game 1-0 with 2 minutes to go when Charlie Mallett reacted quickest in the box to stab home a rebound from a Jake Burger shot. This ensured our progress on day 2 to the top 32 teams of the tournament along with AS Roma, Juventus FC, Borussia Dortmund, Sparta Prague, PAOK Salonika and many more. Notable teams to miss out included fellow English sides Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC and Queens Park Rangers FC who all failed to qualify from the first group stages.
1)Luton Town v SpVGG Fueunbacher. Final score – 5-0.
2)Luton Town v AS Roma. Final score – 0-1.
3)Luton Town v FC Hoffenheim. Final score – 2-0.
4)Luton Town v Ratingen 04. Final score – 1-0.
5)Luton Town v TSV Pusvern. Final score – 7-0.
Knockout Fixture 1
1)Luton Town v Helsingborg. Final score – 1-0.
After day 1 the draw was made for the group stages of the Champions Round which consisted of 8 groups of 4 teams. In this format the top two teams in each group would progress to the last 16 knockout stages with place 3 and 4 playing for places 17-32 in the tournament. We kicked off on the Sunday with our most disappointing game of the tournament as we were to play AS Roma from Italy again who beat us convincingly 2 goals to 0. This meant the boys would need at least 4 points from their final two games to stand any chance of qualifying;
Group Stage 2
1)Luton Town v AS Roma. Final score – 0-2.
2)Luton Town v Sparta Prague. Final score – 1-1.
3)Luton Town v Malmo FF. Final score – 2-0.
Despite picking up 4 points from our last two group games this was not enough to see us through to the knockout stages as the boys crashed out on goals scored to Sparta Prague after finishing on exactly the same points and goal difference. This meant we had three further games to play for places 17-20 in the tournament as we were the second best third placed team in the Champions Round group stages.
Place Fixtures
1)Luton Town v Hertha BSC. Final score – 2-1.
2)Luton Town v PAOK Salonika. Final score – 0-1
3)Luton Town v FC Sarajevo. Final score – 0-1.
place out of 180 teams which all the boys can be extremely proud of. On another day, with another goal scored who knows what might have been had we managed to progress through to the last 16 knockout stages.thDespite a valiant effort from all of the Town players tired legs played a big part in narrowly losing our last two fixtures to PAOK and Sarajevo meaning Town finished 19
After Sunday’s fixtures were over the Town players got some early rest in preparation for tournament two of the weekend which took place in Dusseldorf on the Monday before we flew home Monday evening. The tournament also boasted a very strong line-up including teams such as Atlanta from Italy, Aik Stockholm from Sweden and FC Copenhagen from Denmark. Coached by one of our U13 and a U14 player TJ Asein and James Sheridan the U11 squad managed to squeeze through as group winners with the following results.
Group Stage 1
1)Luton Town v Atlanta. Final score – 1-1.
2)Luton Town v Langenhan FC. Final score - 2-0.
3)Luton Town v Dusseldorf 04. Final score - 5-0.
4)Luton Town v KV Mechelen. Final score – 1-0.
5)Luton Town v Dybbol FC. Final score – 2-0.
Town’s victory in the group stages on goal difference over Atlanta FC meant we progressed straight to the final against a strong looking FC Copenhagen who had also won all their fixtures in group B. After a nervy first half with chances for both teams Town finally managed to break the deadlock with a fine Jake Burger finish. Darcy Moffatt went on to add two more for the Town with some superb individual play and a late consolation goal for the Danes was not enough to deny Town the trophy.
Final
1) Luton Town v FC Copenhagen. Final score 3-1.