Sydney FC Under 18’s Head Coach Jimmy van Weeren provides us with an update from Amsterdam ahead of this weekend’s 2018 Future Cup clashes.
Sydney FC Under 18’s Head Coach Jimmy van Weeren provides us with an update from Amsterdam ahead of this weekend’s 2018 Future Cup clashes.
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Upon arrival in Netherlands we transferred to De Buunderkamp, a hotel near Arnhem that is widely used by Professional Dutch Football Clubs for preseason training camps. The hotel has its own training facilities that we are utilising for acclimatisation and preparation.
Training has been carefully planned and managed by the staff resulting in one or two sessions a day with recovery held afterwards in the hotel pool led my the medical staff.
The players and staff have been exposed to the life of a professional footballer; living together, eating together, training together and recovering together.
Acclimatisation has proven to be an interesting challenge with temperatures not being much warmer than 5 degrees for all training sessions. Despite the challenging conditions, the players quickly became familiar with their surroundings resulting in training of a very high standard. The bar has risen with each session as players are eager to claim starting spots in the team.
Preparations for the tournament went up another notch yesterday with a game against N.E.C. Nijmegen which finished 1-1. It was a stern examination for the team but one we all thoroughlly enjoyed.
The Sky Blues will face the tournament hosts Ajax in the opening game of the under 17 competition on Saturday morning before facing French giants PSG later that afternoon.
Sporting Lisbon are next up on the Sunday with the aim of qualifying for Monday’s semi-finals following the group stage format.
Sydney FC travel to face Perth Glory away on Thursday 29 March (kick off 9:30pm AEDT). Tune in on Fox Sports 501 or join like-minded Sky Blues’ fans, back the squad, and watch us make history from our Official Home Away from Home at The Star, Sydney.
