Day 1
The Med cup got off to a tough start for the Ambrit boys as they faced a very strong team from Riyadh, the Ambrit team were still asleep as they conceded three goals in rapid succession within the first few minutes. It looked like the tournament might open with a massacre but after the ball hit the net for the third time the Ambrit team suddenly came to life. Laith, Giovanni and Francesco in the Ambrit defense began to get the better of the Riyadh team and the focus of play shifted up the field. What followed was a tense and hard fought match with Ambrit holding the majority of the possession, there was constant pressure on the Riyadh defense but Ambrit could not get a breakthrough so they opened their campaign with a defeat.
This performance set the mood for the rest of the day, Ambrit were tough and fought hard but were not always able to get the goals they needed. Against Bucharest International school Ambrit controlled the game and were only seriously threatened once when Zeno pulled off an excellent save, diving to his right and palming the ball away. Francesco’s head seemed to be a magnet for the ball, any attempt by the opposition to launch a ball towards the Ambrit area was met by a solid header back down the field where the ball would be inevitably collected by Sasha, Michael, Noah or Sam. However Ambrit could not convert their superiority into goals, in the end they were lucky to scrape a 1-0 win thanks to a Bucharest own goal.
Noah and Francesco scored a goal each in an excellent 2-0 win against the Geneva La Chataigneraie team, in this match Ambrit looked like a much stronger team as they started to find their form. The Geneva side had performed well up to this point in the competition and there was some apprehension in the team before the match but it proved unfounded as Ambrit cruised to a comfortable win.
Casablanca was in many ways the most frustrating game of the whole tournament for Ambrit, the two teams were level on points when they met and on paper they looked evenly matched however when the match started it became clear that Ambrit were the stronger team, the pushed Casablanca back and piled on the pressure until thanks to a moment of carelessness they were caught by counter attack and went 1-0 down. Ambrit hit chances over the bar and wide of the post and had several good attempts stopped by some excellent goalkeeping from the Casablanca keeper until Sasha scored a scorching long shot to bring the teams level.
Ambrit finished the first day of the tournament second in their group behind Riyadh level on points with Casablanca but ahead on goal difference. As a result of the other group matches Ambrit went into the Med Cup Champions competition for the rest of the tournament.
Day 2
Ambrit started day 2 with a very similar performance against BIS Cairo as day 1 against Riyadh, while still half asleep they rapidly conceded 2 goals before the game had really got going and after that it was always going to be an uphill struggle. Although both teams contested possession of the ball fairly evenly Ambrit lacked the attacking edge of the Cairo team and as a result went down by four goals to 1 with only Nicholas salvaging some pride for the team.
Monaco proved to be much less of a challenge as the Ambrit boys really started to get into their stride, Francesco opened the scoring with an excellent goal then the floodgates opened Nicholas scored a hat trick and Michael got a goal too as Ambrit proved to be too strong for the monaco team. In the end the game finished with a 5-2 victory for Ambrit.
Jeddah Prep’s A team was a very different proposition, their speed in attack allowed them to score early in the game and Ambrit began their attempt to even a deficit. Their focus on leveling the score led to a several dangerous counter attacks by the quick and dangerous Jeddah wingers until late in the game they scored again and the game finished with a disappointing 2-0 loss.
The result of these matches meant that Ambrit contested the Champions competition Silver semifinal against Wesgreen school on the afternoon of day 2.
The match against Wesgreen was the pinnacle of the tournament for the Ambrit team, they started strongly and never looked back, Sasha opened the scoring with an outstanding solo goal, he dribbled past half of the Wesgreen team and unleashed a fearsome shot into the bottom right corner of the goal. After that Ambrit showed how well they can play, Wesgreen was a good team who so far had done well in the tournament but they were completely opened up by fast, accurate passing. One twos between Noah, Sasha, Matteo and Michael as well as dangerous runs in behind the defence by Nicholas and a completely solid defense from Matteo, Andrew, Giovanni and Laith contributed to an excellent performance, Ramnath came on and looked dangerous, his pace and quick feet causing problems for the Casablanca defence. But the game really belonged to Sam.
He skipped around opposition players with ease, ran at the defense and caused them all kinds of problems and his single minded pursuit of goals led to the next three of Ambrit’s. The first was a crisp shot that the goalkeeper could do little but push away presenting Noah with an easy tap in. The second was an excellent run but he was unable to find the angle to pass the goalkeeper and was forced to pass across the face of the goal where the arriving Sasha buried it in the net. The third, a curling shot towards the corner was deflected away by a defender straight to Noah’s head which placed it directly into the goal.
The victory against Wesgreen put Ambrit through to the Silver Final which was a rematch against Casablanca on the morning of day 3. This time there were no mistakes, Ambrit played almost as well as they had against Wesgreen and two outstanding individual goals from Sasha secured the trophy. Casablanca were overcome by the same quick passing football and confident possession football that Ambrit displayed towards the end of the competition.
(Huge thank you to Martin Leavy for this comprehensive report!).
