Hard-fought matches in the Florida heat and impressive experiences off the pitch – the U16s’ trip to Florida was full of lessons. Head coach Andreas Weinberger’s young team played a total of seven games at the Generation adidas Cup on the campus of the IMG Academy in Bradenton, south of Tampa – all of them against MLS youth teams.
The tournament, in which 40 teams competed in ten groups of four – with VfB one of nine international sides – started with a packed schedule of three matches on the first three days. After winning the first two against New York City FC (10-9 on penalties) and Inter Miami CF (2-1), the U16s went down to a 3-1 defeat to Austin FC in their final group encounter. This meant they finished second behind the Texas side in Group D and progressed to the ‘Premier Bracket’, where they lost 1-0 to New England Revolution and exited the competition at the last-16 stage.
The defeat to New England didn’t mark the end of the tournament for the Stuttgart boys, though. In the so-called ‘Showcase Matches’, the U16s took on Nashville SC (1-0), Toronto FC (7-6 on penalties) and Columbus Crew (1-3) across the final days of the tournament. Their record at the end of the 12-day trip therefore stood at four wins and three defeats. The mixed results were reflected in the final table, with VfB finishing in 19th place, just inside the top half. The winners of the Under-16 tournament were Real Salt Lake, who beat Los Angeles Galaxy 4-0 in the final.
“From a sporting perspective, it was a really well-organised tournament with good opponents – football in America is strongly characterised by physicality and hard tackling,” summarised Daniel Teufel, sporting director for the U16 to U21 age groups. “We could definitely learn from that and it shows us that we need to become greedier and more aggressive in our training in order to win the ball in direct duels. On the positive side, the number of chances we created in the tournament should particularly be highlighted – even though our poor conversion rate was certainly a key factor in how it turned out.”
Tracing Buccaneers and alligators
The team gained valuable experiences off the field, too. On a visit to Raymond James Stadium, the home of two-time Super Bowl champions Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the U16s were given some interesting insights behind the scenes of an NFL team. The group also got to know Florida’s wildlife, discovering wild alligators among other things on a buggy and airboat tour through the forest and river landscape of the ‘Sunshine State’. “The boys also learned things on a personal level: it was fascinating to see which of them immediately had the confidence to communicate in English,” reflected Teufel. “The players were also able to familiarise themselves with parts of the American way of life, which is something we focus on alongside the sporting element of these trips.”