In February 2009 Crystal Palace Academy took players from the Under 12s and Under 13s to Italy to take part in the 7th International Gallipoli Tournament. Below is a full report from Academy Manager, David Moss.

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On Friday the 20^th February 2009, 18 Crystal Palace Academy players born on or after 1996 - (U12/U13) travelled to Italy for the 7^th International 'Gallipoli' Tournament, which is held in the south of Italy.

This very prestigious Tournament is by invitation only and we were therefore very privileged to have been selected to compete.

Teams

Please see below list of teams that took part in this year's tournament;

TEAM	COUNTRY
AC MILAN	ITALY
JUVENTUS	ITALY
INTER MILAN	ITALY
FC LUCERN	SWITZERLAND
REGGINA	ITALY
BARI	ITALY
CALCIO DE SABRINA	ITALY
FIORENTINA	ITALY
CRYSTAL PALACE	ENGLAND
NAPOLI	ITALY
CISCO ROMA	ITALY
POL OLIMPICA	ITALY

Crystal Palace were drawn in group B, which consisted of teams such as Napoli, Juventus and semi-Professional Team Calcio de Sabrina.

Group games were to be played on consecutive days of the 21^st, 22^nd and 23rd. The winners of the groups and the team finishing in 2^nd place with the highest points total would compete in the semi-finals on the evening of Monday 23^rd. The final would take place on Tuesday Morning.

Rules

UEFA European Youth Football rules govern that players are recruited by year of birth in contrast to British Football by school year. This rule determined that Crystal Palace would compete with players much younger than their European counterparts.

Due to the rules European Teams would consist of players born mainly between the months of January - March of 1996. Crystal Palace players would consist of players born between September-December 1996 and later, with six boys being born in 1997. This left our players at best 6 months younger and in the particular case of Michael Nwusu of the U12's, 18 months younger!

Players

Disadvantaged by European rules to select players we were also disadvantaged by the fact the European teams played together as a team. Crystal Palace governed by UK football rules meant we had to choose players from 2 age group teams the U12 and U13's. Therefore these players had not played together previously.

Below is a list of the tour party including staff;

U12 PLAYERS	UNDER 13 PLAYERS	STAFF
JACOB BERKELEY	HIRAM BOETANG	DAVID MOSS - ACADEMY MANAGER
NATHAN EDWARDS	REISE ALLASSANI	BEN GARNER - U13 HEAD COACH
JACK THOMPSON	ELIJAH HUGHES	ANTONIO FALANGA - U12 HEAD COACH
REISE DEAKIN	BRADLEY ROBINSON	MICHAEL EMANUEL -PHYSIO
JAMAL MUNDELL	DOMINIC LUNNON
TRAVIS ENDERCOTT	WILL PAGE
KANE BUTLER	FALZON MUSTAPHA
BRADLEY COMINS
MICHEE EFETE
ISSA CAMARA
MICHAEL NUWUSU

Facilities

Our 3 * Caroli Hotel is situated on the coast and therefore the hotel lead straight onto the beach. See above.

Facilities at the hotel included;

• 5 a- side football pitch

• Swimming pool

• Tennis court

Teams from AC Milan, Napoli and Reggina shared the hotel with us during the tournament.

The players were put in rooms with three sharing. The staff were in single rooms and all rooms were on the 2^nd floor.

Food

The staff, service and food at the hotel were outstanding throughout our stay and I cannot speak highly enough of how we were treated and looked after. Please see below players eating their meal and menu of food and meal times during our 5 days;

 

MEAL / DAY	FRIDAY	SATURDAY	SUNDAY	MONDAY	TUESDAY	WEDNESDAY
BREAKFAST - 7.30AM	TRAVELLING	COISSANTS CEREAL FRUIT JUICE	COISSANTS CEREAL FRUIT JUICE	COISSANTS CEREAL FRUIT JUICE	COISSANTS CEREAL FRUIT JUICE	COISSANTS CEREAL FRUIT JUICE
LUNCH - 1.30PM	BREAD PASTA PORK SALAD ICE CREAM WATER	BREAD PASTA FISH SALAD ICE CREAM WATER	BREAD PASTA OCTOPUS SALAD ICE CREAM WATER	BREAD PASTA KING PRAWNS SALAD ICE CREAM WATER	BREAD PASTA SQUID / PRAWNS SALMON SALAD ICE CREAM WATER	TRAVELLING
DINNER - 7.30PM	BREAD PASTA SEAFOOD POTATOES SALAD FRUIT SALAD WATER	BREAD SEAFOOD RISSOTO BEEF POTATOES SALAD FRESH FRUIT WATER	BREAD PASTA STEAK POTATOES SALAD ICE CREAM WATER	BREAD PASTA SWORD FISH POTATOES SALAD ICE CREAM WATER	BREAD PASTA STEAK CHIPS SALAD ICE CREAM WATER

The food was of the highest quality, extremely healthy and perfect for the modern day athlete.

Chips were served on the last night as a well deserved treat to all players after all the games had finished.

Many of our players due to their differing religions had special dietary needs and excellently catered for by the professional staff.

Venues

The games commenced on Friday 21^st February and were played at two separate venues. We played our games at The Stadio 'A. Bianco' in Gallipoli on a 3^rd generation football pitch.

Our 1^st game was versus Napoli with a 9.30am KO. Each game was played over three periods lasting 18 minutes each. The rules of the tournament stipulated that all substitutes from your squad and not selected for the 1^st period were to play in the 2^nd period. The 3^rd period was left to the coach to decide his team. This rule ensured each player played for a minimum of 18 minutes from the 54 minutes.

As Academy Manager I decided all players would play exactly the same time 36 minutes apart from four players: Issa Camara, Reise Allasanni, Hiram Boetang and Elijah Hughes. These four players were deemed our better players and, already at a disadvantage due to recruitment rules, we felt that we needed to keep our side strong. No other team took our 'fair approach' to players and therefore players of other teams played only 18 minutes or less of some games.

As we took Head Coaches Ben Garner and Antonio Falanga I decided to give them both the opportunity to manage the team rather than one being an assistant to the other. This they both accepted and worked together well.

I picked the teams to play the games and the strategy to give the players equal time. This would give me as Academy Manager the opportunity to see all the players in as much playing time as possible playing against excellent opposition.

Games

Napoli

Our 1^st game was against Napoli of Italy on Friday 21^st February.

We started the game very well but missed three excellent chances to score with one of the chances being an open goal. Unfortunately we didn't defend as well as we should have and conceded two goals in the 2^nd and 3^rd periods. Over the three periods of the game both side were pretty even but Napoli took their chances when they came.

Pro Calcio Sabrin

This team were the amateur team in our group and lost their 1^st game 0-7 to Juventus. Having lost our 1^st game we knew we had to score more goals than the seven Juventus scored in the event of us being level on points with them.

We told the players to attack with pace and pass the ball quickly as the amateur team would not be able to match our athleticism and technical qualities. The players did exactly as asked and scored 15 goals, playing extremely well, albeit against weak opposition. Reisse Alassanni of the U13's scored four goals.

Juventus

If we had any chance of qualifying from our group we would have to beat Juventus and hope Napoli dropped points. The players knew this would be a very difficult game but we told them to attack exactly as they had versus Pro Calico Sabrina in the previous game - with pace and power. However, due to the quality of opposition their defensive organisation and qualities would have to be better.

The team and all the players individually were fantastic and it gave me more pleasure as I have had as a Manager/coach in my career to date. Issa Camara scored two and Hiram Boetang the other.

We therefore finished the group on six points out of a possible nine and finished three points behind Napoli.

Unfortunately Reggina from group C finished on seven points and therefore qualified as the team with the highest points tally in 2^nd place.

The four teams left in the competition were AC Milan, Inter Milan, Napoli and Reggina. The semi finals were: AC Milan v Reggina and Napoli v Inter Milan.

AC Milan and Inter Milan won their semi-finals respectively and concluded the final with AC Milan winning on Penalties 5-4.

FC Luzern

Having a free day on the Tuesday we arranged a friendly game prior to the final, playing against FC Luzern of Switzerland. We won the game 1-0. Issa Camara scoring the only goal of the game.

Conclusion

Having been on many tours this was by far the best when taking into account the whole event i.e. facilities, food, organisation, transport, location and quality of opposition.

The experience and benefits our players will have taken from this tour, whilst with the Crystal Palace Academy will stay with them forever I am sure.

From my perspective as Academy Manager the tour has given me the opportunity to watch, to be with and get to know the players in a way I would never have known without the tour. This information is invaluable when making decisions on players as highlighted previously.

As well as getting to know the players better it was also an ideal chance to do the same with the coaches and physio. This for me was also very beneficial. I have seen qualities in them all I would not see watching them coach in the evening sessions.

Crystal Palace Academy has gained many admirers from some of the biggest clubs in Europe. The performance against Juventus and in the other games was to be admired and they knew, as we did, that we were very unfortunate to lose the 1^st game preventing us progressing. If we had qualified by winning or drawing that 1^st game against Napoli we would have had an excellent chance of winning the tournament. The fact we even came 5^th out of 12 teams in itself is a great achievement considering our players were 6-12 months younger due to the European rules.

Overall as Academy Manager I would like to thank the club for allowing this and the other tour in January to go ahead. The benefits to the Academy in terms of the player's development will be immense.

I recommend we as an Academy attend as many tours as possible within budget and even raising monies through sponsorship, as the benefits to the Academy at Crystal Palace and its players is invaluable.

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Whilst writing this report please see below email I have just received from one of the parents;

Dear Antonio and David
I would like to thank you very much for taking Travis to the tournament in Gallipoli. As a teacher myself I am well aware what a responsibility it is to take a group of youngsters away and appreciate the time and demands it puts on you all. He has had such a good time and is full of all the experiences and I'm sure we will be hearing very detailed reports from him for many weeks to come and something he will remember for a lot longer.
Please can you also pass on my thanks to Ben and Mike.

Regards
Gillian Endeacott

Continued;

Please see below a selection of other pictures from the tour;

Prepared by David Moss Academy Manager