The day started with the boys full of confidence, hopeful of making it through to the final stages on Sunday. It was warmer weather on Saturday and it took its toll on the boys. We needed 2 wins in games against the Germans and the poorest team in the group, the French to see us qualify as at least best group runner up.
VFB Asslar (Germany) 0 East Kilbride Youth Club 3
Goal Scorers - Sam HILL(2), Ryan KELLY
We started slowly and had James Kinniburgh to thank for 2 great early saves that kept us in the match. Tommy March then took control of the game, and a great move that Tommy started was finished off by Sam Hill and the nerves began to ease. Another from Sam Hill and a 3rd from Ryan Kelly gave us the win we needed.
Ville d'Istres (France) 1 East Kilbride Youth Club 0
We knew all that was needed from this game was a win and we would be through. The heat, amount of games played and nerves took its toll on the boys as they crashed to a shock 1-0 defeat. A wonder free kick into the top corner from the French number 7 saw us a goal down with 10 minutes to play, and to make matters worse, goalkeeper James Kinniburgh had to leave the pitch after the goal with a suspected broken wrist. Dean Arrol took over in goal, and even though we created a few chances, we never really looked like scoring. The Dutch who had turned up to watch cheered every French pass, which added to the boys frustrations. At the end of the game we failed to qualify by 2 points, finishing 5th overall from 15 teams. The Dutch, who we had let out of jail qualified from as winners from our group, and
went onto WIN the final 2-1.
We finished the day by taking the boys to the crazy golf in an attempt to get their heads up, after having the stuffing knocked out of them by such a shock result.
Fortunately, James did not have a broken wrist, however, he had a bandge placed on it and will not be available for at least 3 weeks.
