Friendly match against the U12 team! Amazing performance!

As many know, André plays for the U13s. After the Christmas break, his coaches and the U12s’ main team coaches decided to organise a friendly match yesterday (30/12). It was great for many reasons, especially to give the kids more minutes and get them back into real game scenarios after the break.

Both teams play in the Major League of their respective age groups. While André’s U13 team is probably fighting not to finish at the bottom of the table, the U12s are one of the title contenders in their league. That contrast made the game even more interesting. Many of the boys already know each other — some are classmates, others teammates in other sports, with players born in 2013 and 2014 sharing the pitch.

As the other team’s goalkeeper wasn’t available, André played the full match and it was certainly one to remember.

The U13s dominated the first half and went into the break with a 2–0 lead. In the second half, the U12s came out with everything. Despite the U13s hitting the post twice more, André had a lot of work to do and made several excellent saves that probably avoided a defeat. The U12s equalised with the very last kick of the game, but André finished the match having earned praise from everyone for his performance.

However, the best was yet to come. The coaches decided to end the day with a penalty shootout. By then, the pitch was full of parents who had arrived to collect the kids and stayed to watch it really felt like a proper cup tie.

Each team took eight penalties to find a winner. André saved five of them… and then stepped up to score the winning penalty himself. The scenes that followed were incredible, with kids running everywhere as if it were a cup final.

He received huge praise from everyone and, above all, a massive boost in confidence. He was undoubtedly the man of the match. I know I’m his father, so I may be biased but everyone said the same.

Fair play as well to the U12 goalkeeper, who was also excellent. I was really impressed with him between the posts. It’s probably the first match I’ve witnessed where both goalkeepers were the standout players, if not unique, then certainly very rare. I already regret to dont have recorded as I thought to do.

4 comments