The long wait was over for the Primary School’s football teams. Over the last year or more, matches have been limited to a few token visits to Victory FC. But last Saturday, sporting their beautiful new blue and white thick-striped shirts, blue shorts and white socks, the U11s A and B Teams and the U9 Team took to the field at Dulwich College Suzhou to take part in the DCSZ Junior School Football Tournament. It felt like a new era had finally arrived!!

And the Wycombe Abbey Teams gave us a show to truly remember. The U11s A Team came third in a group of 8 eager teams, and the U9s also came third after a thrilling penalty shoot-out. The U11s B Team also showed fantastic fighting spirit with many of the players being in their very first ever football tournament.

U11s A Team Match Report

The group stages for the U11 A Team was extremely positive, with hat-tricks for both L.Egervari and R. Shaikh through the morning, when the weather conditions were getting tougher and tougher to play in. With two wins and a draw, WASCZ made it into the semi finals.

Final Score: SSIS B  0  WASCZ A  7

Goals – R. Shaikh (4), A. Yang (2), L. Egervari

Final Score:  DCSZ R  1  WASCZ A  1

Goals: A. Yang

Final Score: WASCZ  3  OCAC  0   

Goals: L. Egervari (3)

The Semi Final for WASCZ A was an excellent footballing display by our boys except for the final finish on goal which somehow alluded them for this one match. Some top class goalkeeping from Nanjing International School was also a factor, especially in the ensuing penalty shoot-out.  WASCZ probably put on their best performance in terms of passing and moving the ball against the eventual winners of the tournament, but, time and time again, they could just not put their chances away. It was one way traffic for practically the whole match but a WASCZ win was just not in the tealeaves! A nil-nil finish triggered the penalty shoot-out! Debut keeper A. Cao handed the gloves to the more experienced Andy Yang. NIS fired two shots into the net whilst their keeper pulled off two magnificent saves, firstly gloving L. Egervari’s shot against the post and then diving for a strong shot from A. Hou to seal an NIS win.

It was a great irony and a big disappointment for our boys that the team which did not have one shot on goal during open play had managed to spin the result in their favour right at the end…

Final Score: NIS 0  WASCZ A  0    (2-0 pens)

It would take an awful lot of character for WASCZ to regroup to try to win the third place match after such a cruel setback. But regroup and play they had to, against Dulwich College Blue Team.

And within a few minutes after the ref’s whistle, WASCZ A were back to their flowing and passing football which they had performed all morning. With the rain now nearly torrential, the commitment and determination on both teams’ faces were beyond exemplary. With water pouring off their heads and clothes the teams resolutely played on, trying to get the advantage. WASCZ A worked patiently and methodically until it was Lukas again who pounced on his chance when it finally arrived to put our team ahead.

More persistent pressure from us and soon it was W. Yu’s turn to get himself on the score sheet – after a deft move to the side on the edge of the box, he played an inch-perfect cheeky chip that found the far corner of the net. 2-0. A. Yang also scored from distance with a scorcher moments later and then W. Yu put the final full stop on proceedings with one final goal. WASCZ A had eventually fought their way back on to the winning rostrum with a Third Place accolade!!

Final Score: WASCZ A 4  DCSZ B  0

Goals: W. Yu (2), L. Egervari, A. Yang

The spirit and style of the team is a source of great hope and optimism that Wycombe Abbey can be real contenders in all tournaments they enter this year. Each individual member of the team played a crucial role in the morning’s outcome. Joaquin Quintuna made some fantastic runs through the middle and laid off some beautifully weighted passes.  A. Chen and B. Zhou also held the defensive line admirably and showed immense determination not to let anyone breach their defense.

A great performance which the whole team should be extremely proud of! Well done Wycombe Abbey!

A special ‘thankyou’ to Miss Nascimento who organized this sports trip with Miss Ji and Miss Wen and Mrs. DeBos who provided all the photographs.

U11s A Team Squad                                     Player of the Tournament

• Cao (GK)                                                 L. Egervari
• Chen
• Zhou
• Yang

W. Yu

R. Shaikh

L. Egervari

J. Quintuna

A. Hou (C)      

Coach: E Philpott

U11 B Team

WASCZ 0-6 NIS

WASCZ 0-1  SSIS

1-4 vs DCSZ B 

Goals: T. Zeng

• Wang (GK) is the man of the tournament in the team, great performance from T. Zhang, F. Figura and A. Xia too.

U11 B Squad

• Chen
• Figura
• Jin

T. Shen

A. Wang

T. Wang

T. Zeng

B. Zhou

O. Zhu

A. Xia
T. Zhang

Coach: S Lu

U9

5 games in the groups stage.

WASCZ U9 Won 2 Lost 3

The top two in each group went to the final, with WASCZ playing for the 3rd and 4th position.

We scored a goal in the last minute and then we won on penalties!

3rd place in the tournament for WASCZ U9

Best Player: J. Wu

Great performances from: L. Baglini and R. Lin

Man of the match in the final: J. Quintuna.

U9 Squad

Joey Wu

James Wu

Leonardo Baglini

Jordi de Bos

Reda Lin

Richard Xing

Eddie Yu

Daniel Huang

Joan Quintuna

Joey Ma

Coach: J. Javier + C. Nascimento