The last day of the Kiev Training Camp has come to an end. After the Under-19 Club finished their friendlies, the Under-17 and Under-16 squads also played their last matches against their counterparts from Dynamo Kyiv, one of the most successful European sides from the Ukraine. Maccabi “Oded” Tel Aviv (U17) drew 1:1 as Tal Yagodaev scored the lone goal for the young Yellow & Blue. The Under-16 team fell 2:1 as Itay Ben Hemo was the goal scorer.
Under-17 Head Coach Eliezer Ben Aharon summed up the match and the training camp in general: “We played a good match, though we missed a number of chances. I was happy to see various things we worked on in training in the actual match and that’s encouraging. The players are learning quickly and are performing just as we demanded of them. We finished the camp off feeling very good.”
Patrick van Leeuwen, the Club’s Performance Director observed the Under-16 match and said: “The players were able to stand toe to toe with one of the great European clubs. The players were pressured a bit at the start of the game and didn’t play as they did in the previous contests like working as a team and quickly putting on pressure after losing the ball. All in all it was a wonderful experience for the guys, to be able to play against a very physical and fast club. We cut the lead near the end of the match and it gave the players motivation and energy to try to tie up the game.
It was an excellent camp, the players worked hard all week long and I believe that the camp was extremely useful for all of the department’s clubs who took part, the U19, U17 & U16. The players stood up well to the task at hand and played bravely against a very high level European side.”
Leon Asraf, one of the Under-16 professional staff members added: “Even though we were down 2:0 we were able to cut the lead and almost drew even. This was a very high level opponent and these types off matches help us continue to improve. This is one of the reasons why we had this training camp as the players have now gained European experience.”
