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Tulis
Boys Held In High Regard With FC Barcelona !
Burnaby’s
Roman Tulis European Soccer School of Excellence’s
U-12 boys were honored to be among the world famous soccer
clubs who took to the field proudly carrying their countries
flags in front of a crowd of more than 8.000 people during
July 2002 Donosti Cup Tournament’s opening ceremonies
held at Anoeta Stadium in San Sebastian, Spain.
The
boys returned home with their heads held high after competing
against some of Europe’s top youth teams and proving
themselves to be worthy opponents to their European counterparts.
Coaches for the eventual winner
of the U-12 Division, FC Barcelona, complimented the Canadian
boy's skill and commitment and told reporters that the “Tulis
teams was the only team who gave us a good game!”
The
boys played seven-aside soccer at this very prestigious
tournament, and opened with a bang against a strong Spanish
team from Madrid, A. D. Complutense. The boys felt somewhat
jittery in the first few minutes, but soon gained control
with quick, accurate passing and strong team play. The Madrid
players showed a high level of skill, but by half time the
Tulis boys led 2-0. The high tempo and end-to-end action
continued in the second half. The Tulis players continued
with their excellent team play and were able to capitalize
more often on their chances, and prevailed 6-1 for a hard
fought win against the players from Madrid. Day two brought
them an equally strong team from North-Eastern Spain, San
Ignacio from Navarra. But the Tulis boys came on very strong
and were able to dominate the game, which resulted in a
5-1 win.
On
the final day of the group one phase, players now faced
their most difficult opponent, F.C. Barcelona. Two short
weeks ago, the F.C. Barcelona team won the National Spanish
Soccer Championship for this age group and were last year’s
Donosti Cup champions. In F.C. Barcelona’s first two
games of this tournament, they scored 31 goals and were
not scored upon. Understandably the Tulis boys were a little
tense before the game but responded extremely well. They
played a very organized, space-depriving first half, and
were able to launch a number of quick, effective counter-attacks.
Throughout most of the first half, F.C. Barcelona led 1-0,
but just seconds before half time; Barcelona scored one
more goal on a deflection. The Tulis boys pulled together
a very strong second half as well, with the Barcelona team
trying to probe our defense with their superb passing, but
they had no success. Tulis players continued to counter
attack successfully, and there were many closely fought
midfield battles. Finally in the closing minutes, Barcelona
scored two more goals. The Tulis boys left the field confident
and proud knowing that for much of this game they had evenly
battled one of the best teams in all of Europe for this
age group.
The
next opponent for the Tulis boys was the Valencia team from
Spain who had easily come through their round robin games
with a score of 9-1. The Tulis boys started out this knock
out phase of the tournament very well and scored an early
goal. The game went back and forth with many chances on
both sides. Valencia scored two more goals only to have
the Tulis boys come back to tie up the game 2-2. The game
was decided in penalties, and the Canadians came short by
one goal and lost 2-3 in a heart breaking shootout.
FC
Barcelona, who in their U-12 division has a player already
being paid $45,000 per year plus other expenses to play
with the team, went on to win the tournament beating Peru’s
premier club Cantalao 12–0 in the semi finals, and
Aviron from France 9-0 in the final game. Last week Cantalao’s
U-12’s won the Alpen Cup Tournament in Austria and
just today they won the Gothia Cup Tournament in Denmark.
FC Barcelona finished the Donosti Cup Tournament with an
overall score of 85-1 from their 8 games. The Tulis boys
are very proud to have held them to a score of 4-0 and consider
that feat a great victory!
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