Objective: accumulate experience

At Easter many families choose to take a few free days in order to rest and switch-off, but many also decide to make the most of this leisure time through means of sport, as it is a period full of important events for youth football. One of the most prestigious tournaments in Spain is the Oviedo Cup and, as every year, Marcet stepped up to the playing field.

Besides our Academy, many of the best youth teams from across Spain and Europe also attended the event in Asturias. Clubs such as Atlético de Madrid, Oporto, Athletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Espanyol, Valladolid, Eibar and Osasuna did not want to miss the opportunity. Marcet participated with two U-18 teams, one U-16, two U-12 teams and one U-10. Two of them managed to make it to the gold phase in their categories, while another managed to win the bronze phase.

A year after they succeeded in reaching the quarter finals of the competition, the Marcet U-18’s found themselves in some tough groups, with Athletic and Alavés as main rivals. Despite this, one of the teams triumphed in the bronze phase, beating Juventud Estadio 2-1 in the semi-final and Moratalaz 1-0 in the final. This last team is trained by the ex-goalkeeper of FC Barcelona Víctor Valdés.

The Marcet U-16’s did not have much luck in the draw either, as they saw themselves drawn in the difficult Group H, together with two other historic clubs Sporting de Gijón and Racing de Santander. After falling short against these two giants of Spanish football, the team made it to the silver phase, where they beat Gimnástica Torrelavega 2-1 in the quarter finals, afterwards facing Eibar in the semi-finals, a First Division Basque club, who won 2-0 after the Marcet side missed a penalty.

The team that shined in the Oviedo Cup were without doubt the U-12’s. The U-12 and U-11 sides each played a great role in the tournament. The first overcame all their opponents and made it to the gold phase, only getting beaten by Real Sociedad. In the last 16 round they almost defeated Real Valladolid. They reached half-time leading by two goals, but during the second half the Valladolid side dug deep and scored four goals making the final result 4-2, effectively eliminating the Marcet team.

On their part, the U-11’s did even better. They sailed through the group stages, only losing against Real Oviedo and reached the last 16 where they faced the historic club of Lugo, who they successfully defeated in a very close match that ended in a draw. A great penalty performance enabled the Marcet side to advance to the next round to play against Osasuna in the quarter finals. They were ultimately defeated by the prestigious Pamplona club, but the U-11’s left the tournament after having played an excellent part. This extraordinary achievement can be appreciated in terms of both results and sports training, since the objective of playing against rivals of such a calibre is to learn from it and harness experience for the future.