Al Kass International Cup: Barcelona thrash Manchester City 6-4

The Al Kass International Cup, a premier football tournament held in Qatar to provide youth teams the real international exposure they truly deserve, concludes today when Aspire International face off Real Madrid at the Aspire zone. I and Sherry Phillips got the wonderful opportunity to represent Sportskeeda as media representatives to cover the Al Kass tournament organized in Doha, Qatar.

The Barcelona youth team (U-16), rather known by their name ‘Cadete A’, thumped English giants Manchester City 6-4 to claim fifth spot. It was an action packed game for the fans and the players, as the score line received positive praise and was a marvelous advertisement for the Al Kass competition. Barcelona, who are taught the nuances of the game at the La Masia academy, kept possession and stability right from the start of the match.

Barca began their goal scoring frenzy in regal fashion as South Korean striker Seungwoo Lee struck a beautiful stooping header from Sergi Matteo’s corner to take the lead as well as his third of the tournament. The Blaugrana carried on attacking to add a second one onto the score line. Just two minutes later, Sergi Matteo received the ball and with his imposing form, he shot a magnificent 25-yard strike to make it 2-0. City Goalkeeper, Daniel Grimshaw had no chance but to pick the ball from the back of the net. That did not stop Barca from providing constant pressure on City defenders, who often found themselves unable to cope with Barca’s pacy strikers.

City prodigy Brahim Diaz, made a wonderful dribble getting past two Barca players to score before a late challenge from Eric Acre tripped the striker, only for the referee to award the penalty. City’s Zackarias Faour scored the penalty well to reduce the deficit to 2-1. Moments later, a charismatic display from Seungwoo Lee, split City’s defense wide open as he made an accurate pass to set up Adrian Aguilar, who just slotted the ball to make it 3-1. Manchester City, trying their level best to get back into the game squandered several chances only for themselves to put the blame. Just before the stoke of half time, Lee found Carlos Sayol, who made a descent run to beat Grimshaw from a tight angle.

Barca produced a stupendous show and dictated the tempo of the match right from the start of the second half. At 65th minute, Perez impressed the crowd with his neat footwork to wriggle past defender Edward Francis to make the scoreline 5-1. Concerned with City conceding more goals, manager Gareth Taylor made a substitution by bringing in Brahim for defender Myles Beeerman. The tactical change helped City to score once again through Ernest Agyiri to make it 5-2. Barca started to get impatient over conceding two goals but soon got their reward when Lee was dispatched inside the Manchester box and Carles Alena scores the penalty well struck into the bottom corner.

To City’s credit, Agyiri snapped the ball from the final third and scored his second of the night. City, certainly looked like they were going to make an incredible come back with their never-say-die attitude. Two minutes more for the referee to call the game to an end, Buckley-Rickets was taken down by Alejandro Recuenco indide the box and the referee had no choice but to point towards the penalty spot. Collins Tanor stepped up to convert the goal past Herrera to make it 6-4. The final scoreline of 6-4 set a record for the most goals scored in a single match in the Al Kass tournament’s three-year history as Barca and City claimed the 5th and 6th spot respectively.

After the match, we interviewed Andrew Howard Dando, one of the technical staff of Manchester City U-16. Here’s the link to the interview.

https://www.sportskeeda.com/2014/01/25/andrew-howard-dando-manchester-city-interview/?ref=profile_activity