Last weekend, the U14s accepted Newcastle United’s invitation to take part in the Black and White Cup at the Premier League club’s training ground in the north-east of England. Because youth teams in English football are divided by school year rather than age group, the VfB team (born in 2011) faced players mostly born in 2010 and talented players born in early 2011. As a result, coach Marcel Pfeiffer's team had a difficult start to the tournament with a 4-0 loss to Newcastle United.
The boys from Cannstatt improved after that and were unbeaten in the remainder of the league stage of the six-team tournament, drawing with Burnley, Rangers and Heart of Midlothian before beating Hull City 2-1. In the subsequent third-place playoff, VfB fell to a 2-1 defeat against Rangers, meaning they finished in fourth place. Nevertheless, Pfeiffer gave a positive assessment of the tournament. “Because we were playing against a lot of older teams, we primarily had to deal with a different kind of physicality,” the coach said. “The boys did that superbly. Overall, it was a great experience with a lot of useful insights into the training in England.”
U13s in Fukuoka
The U13s have also been on their travels a long way from home. At the World Football Festival, a renowned youth tournament in Asia held in the Japanese city of Fukuoka, coach Tim Kirk’s side went up against top Asian teams as well as other international opponents. VfB may have failed to progress beyond the group stage with four points from four matches, but they gained valuable experience at the tournament and also in the friendly to round off their trip against Brazilian club Santos FC. Their programme also included a city tour and joint events with the other participating teams, as intercultural networking and getting to know a new culture were also important focal points of the visit to Japan.