As we reported earlier, our U12 team led by Szabolcs Földi finished second in April at a 14-team international tournament in Italy. Our academy players progressed all the way to the final, where penalties ultimately decided the outcome: after a 1–1 draw with Benevento in normal time, our opponents won the shootout 6–5, so our players returned home with silver medals.
“We have already taken part in several international tournaments, and it also helped that we did not have a match on the first day, so we could absorb the atmosphere created by the surroundings. We held individual conversations with every player about what we expected from them and what they were capable of, so they could prepare for what awaited them the following day. At international tournaments, a key question is always what you can show under pressure, and we performed very positively. We also encounter direct football at home, but this time we faced a higher-level football culture with lots of long balls, and we reacted well even though this is still an area the team needs to develop: how we deal with long balls and how the two centre-backs cover for each other. We received very positive feedback from that. The final was the only time we faced a team that played with a philosophy similar to ours.” – our head coach summarised, adding that our academy players also received a great deal of positive feedback from the organisers.
“It is very positive that we also received a lot of positive feedback from the organisers about the human side. The children were respectful and behaved as sportspeople should. How they represent their country at an international tournament is important, and I was very proud of them for that as well as for the result they achieved.”
The tournament's top-scorer award went to Knobloch Krisztofer, who scored 15 goals in seven matches. According to our young forward, he owes the recognition primarily to his team-mates.
“I scored the most goals at the tournament, and I also have my team-mates to thank because they gave me a lot of good passes and through balls, from which I was able to score several goals. Of course, the result is also down to all the training work I have done with my coaches.”
The team also enjoyed notable success in the individual awards, as alongside Krisztofer Knobloch, Kovács Dániel also produced an outstanding performance: the organisers named our defender the tournament's best player.
“This is great motivation for me and shows that I am on the right path, but I still have to work hard so that we can achieve even more success as a team.”
For an athlete, representing their country is always a huge experience and an honour. Our young players gave everything on the pitch and, although they returned home with somewhat bittersweet feelings after the final, they agreed that the tournament brought the team even closer together.
“It was great to experience being there, and I think we really became a good team. This tournament brought us even closer together. Finishing on the podium at an international tournament as a Hungarian team is a fine achievement.” – said Patrik Szijjártó.
Our captain, Pintér Gábor Zalán also spoke proudly about his experiences abroad, saying that anyone can be beaten as long as you trust one another.
“It was much easier to organise the team abroad because they could not understand what I was saying, so whatever variation I called they could not pick up on it. My grandparents and cousins, as well as my best friend at school, were very proud of me. The biggest lesson for me was that anyone can be beaten if you trust each other.”
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