FC Bayern Youth Cup: India finish fifth

The final of the inaugural FC Bayern Youth Cup was played yesterday (May 24) at the clubs Allianz Arena infront of 800 mainly school students with teams from Austria, China, India, Italy and host nation Germany taking part. The FCB Youth Cup is for boys in the 14 to 16 years age group with country/regional qualifiers held over the last few months to decide who would represent their country at the finals.

The format of the FC Bayern Youth Cup finals was round robin and teams of eight players out of squads of 10 took on each other with each team playing four matches of 20 minutes duration each. In the end the Italians won ahead of the Austrians, who both finished on the same number of points. China, Germany and India finished in third, fourth and fifth respectively.

The Indian team finished last following two draws and two defeats in their round robin league matches though the Indian boys played a good tournament, but after losing 0-1 in a close encounter against Germany they drew two-all against China. A talented India missed numerous scoring opportunities in the tournament which in the end resulted in the Indians finishing last, but the experience should help the boys in their overall football development.

The Indian representative team was put together from close to 1,100 boys who showed themselves to the FC Bayern Munich scouts at the Indian-leg of the FC Bayern Youth Cup in New Delhi and Mumbai last year before the best 10 were chosen from a 11 A-Side match ahead of the India vs Bayern Munich friendly on January 10 in New Delhi.

The FC Bayern Youth Cup has been made possible by FCB partners and sponsors adidas, Audi, Lufthansa, Trentino, UniCredit and Yingli Solar.

Germany trash Austria 6-2 in Oezil show

Former champions Germany qualified for the 2012 European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine with a convincing 6-2 trashing of neighbours Austria at the Arena auf Schalke in Gelsenkirchen. Star of the day for Germany was not only due to his two goals Real Madrid midfielder Mesut Özil.



Germany made a quick start into the game and was 3-0 up by the 28th minute with coach Joachim Loew once more playing a more attacking 4-1-4-1 formation.



Germany opened the scoring in the 8th minute when Mesut Özil took a volley from the edge of the area and it went in off a deflection from Miroslav Klose. Mesut Özil got his first of the night in the 23rd minute when he ran through the middle, played a double with Klose and rounded the keeper to push the ball in. Germany continued with their attacking game and in the 28th minute it was the turn of Lukas Podolski to score after Holger Badstuber had moved up on the left flank. Thereafter Germany reduced their trust and allowed Austria one chance in the 42nd minute from which Marko Arnautovic would head in. It remained 3-1 at the break.



Germany once more started the second session with a bang. In the 47th minute after a defensive clearance Thomas Müller found Mesut Özil on the break on the left, who beat Austria captain Christian Fuchs and off his deflection the ball went in. But Austria would hit back once more when Martin Harnik scored in the 51st minute after Germany allowed the Austrian striker unnecessary space.



Thereafter Germany did have chances to score their fifth, but for the first time in the match the team looked somewhat clueless on how to break the Austrian defence. Coach Loew would bring in Andre Schürrle and Mario Götze with the duo scoring two late goals for Germany. First Müller played a one-two with Klose before Schürrle would score in the 84th minute and then Müller got another assist for the night, when a minute from time his chip was put into the net in style by young Götze.



It ended 6-2 for Germany and it was party-time in the Arena auf Schalke with another convincing game by the young Germans.





MATCH STATS



Germany 6-2 (3-1) Austria - Goals: 1-0 Miroslav Klose (8'), 2-0 Mesut Özil (23'), 3-0 Lukas Podolski (28'), 3-1 Marko Arnautovic (42'), 4-1 Mesut Özil (47'), 4-2 Martin Harnik (51'), 5-2 Andre Schürrle (84'), 6-2 Mario Götze (89')



Germany

1-Manuel Neuer; 3-Benedikt Höwedes (46' 20-Jerome Boateng), 5-Mats Hummels, 14-Holger Badstuber, 16-Philipp Lahm [C]; 7-Bastian Schweinsteiger; 13-Thomas Müller, 8-Mesut Özil, 18-Toni Kroos (85' 19-Mario Götze), 10-Lukas Podolski (74' 9-André Schürrle); 11-Miroslav Klose

Unused Substitutes: 12-Tim Wiese, 6-Simon Rolfes, 17-Per Mertesacker, 23-Cacau



Austria

1-Christian Gratzei; 17-Florian Klein, 22-Franz Schiemer, 4-Emanuel Pogatetz, 5-Christian Fuchs [C]; 13-Ekrem Dag, 14-Julian Baumgartlinger, 8-David Alaba, 18-Daniel Royer (73' 9-Erwin Hoffer); 7-Marko Arnautovic, 19-Martin Harnik

Unused Substitutes: 23-Pascal Grünwald, 3-Thomas Schrammel, 6-Manuel Weber, 10-Zlatko Junuzovic, 11-Jakob Jantscher, 20-Christopher Dibon



Referee

Paolo Tagliavento (Italy)

UAE prepare for India matches in Austria

The United Arab Emirates are preparing for their 2014 FIFA World Cup - Asian Round 2 home-and-away qualifier against India in the Austrian Alps in Europe. The UAE are in Austria for over two weeks to prepare themselves in the best possible way for the qualifiers.

For the UAE coach Srecko Katanec from Slovenia the weather in the two matches is a major issue, be it the heat in the UAE and the monsoons in India. On his insistence the home game has been shifted from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain's Khalifa Stadium on July 23 as in Al Ain the weather is cooler then in the capital. The return-leg will be played on July 28 but the AIFF still has to finalise a venue for the game.

"Yes we are the favourites, but only on paper. India are not one of the tougher sides in Asia, but football is such a game that you cannot underestimate anybody. You have to play a match on the field and until you win you can never say," said Katanec to UAE's Sport360.

The UAE are in a rebuilding process after a weak 2011 AFC Asian Cup in which they where eliminated in the group stage, but their Under-23s are a strong side as they reached last years Guangzhou Asian Games final and last week they qualified for the next round of the Asian qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics.

Talking about his 24 probables Katanec said, "This team has a good mix of youth and experience, and some of the Olympic team players have shown they are good enough to play for the senior team. We have to prepare well for the matches with India and it's a matter of staying focused and working hard to get the right kind of results and make the next round."

While in Austria the UAE will play three friendly matches against club sides. They first face Austrian second division side SV Groedig on July 2, then Romanian side Dinamo Bucharest and then Russian Premier League side Dynamo Moscow on July 10. The UAE return home on July 14 and face Lebanon in their final friendly game on July 17 at the Khalifa Stadium in Al Ain.


UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Probables

Majed Nasser, Saeed Al Kas (both Al Wasl); Ali Khaseif, Khaled Sabeel, Abdullah Mousa, Subait Khater (all Al Jazira); Yousuf Jaber, Zeyab Awana, Amer Abdulrahman, Mohammed Fawzi (all Baniyas); Waleed Abbas, Mohammed Ahmed (both Al Shabab); Fares Jumaa, Mosallam Fayez, Ali Al Weihibi, Omer Abdulrahman (all Al Ain); Mahmoud Khamis, Mohammed Al Shehhi, Ismail Matar, Salem Saleh, Adel Al Hosani, Hamdan Al Kamali (all Al Wahda); Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (both Al Ahli)