DAY 7 - Blog from Molly Cousins - 96 Girls Admin

The 97 Boys played mid-afternoon yesterday.  They had a runaway victory, but most importantly, had the opportunity to mix it up with the other players and fans.  They got out on the fields and kicked the ball around with each other, chatted, laughed and generally socialized for several hours.  The town mayor even came out to greet and welcome them!!

96 boys played in the Schule complex at a beautiful turf facility.  They had a very competitive match, resulting in a 2-2 tie.

The girls had the day off and made the most of it!  They went into downtown Cologne and boarded a ferry tour of the Rhine river.  Quite a few of them used the opportunity to bask in the sun and catch a few extra zzz's.  They spent a few hours shopping and having lunch in the old city and then came back to challenge their coaches to some 4 x 4 games.  It's up for debate who triumphed in those matches.  Despite what the coaches say, I think the girls bested them!  We then headed down to watch the 96 boys game. 

Today, we're off to Brussels!!  (instead of Liege) I'm sure there will be MANY pictures with Manneken-Pis (the Pee-ing boy)!!

DAY 5 - Blog from Molly Cousins- 96 Girls Admin

Great day! 

The boys teams had the day off on Wednesday and spent their morning in training.  I believe that the 97 Boys were treated to a training session in Portuguese and Spanish only!  Our girls did light training and then both groups headed to downtown for some sight-seeing and shopping.

Many of our players had the opportunity to tour Dom Cathedral - SPECTACULAR! 

Games for the girls were hosted by FC Cologne, on a beautiful newly built turf field.  The boys came out to watch the girls games and support their ODP peers.  We were fortunate to encounter some strong competition in our games here, challenging our girls in many ways.  Each of our girls teams produced a win and we shared some moments on the pitch as a large group at the end, exchanging banners, hugs, and smiles. 

We ended the day watching the Barcelona/Real Madrid game in the cafeteria area of our Gesthause as a large group (that was one noisy room!). 

Day 4: Blog from Gordon Miller, VYSA TD

Day 4 began with a lively training session at the all turf fields a mere 10-minute walk through the backstreets of Cologne. The players were greeted by the blue skies and another 70-degree day.

The boy’s teams ventured off downtown while the girls’ teams began their pregame preparations. In the afternoon the '96 girls team played the DJK Sudwest first and came out 1-0 victors.  The '97's then took the field and too, also came out victorious by the same score line. In the spirit of trying a new experience, 4 of our girls joined the German squad for both matches. They were made welcome by their hosts as they toiled in Sudwest colors. The other unique aspect was the game was played on an all weather clay surface.

The '97 boys played the professional U13 team from FC Koln of the German Bundesligia. The boys learned some valuable lessons as they came out on the end of a 7-0 drubbing. Their opponents are the current champions of Germany and recently defeated the famous Ajax Academy in a tournament. The boys will learn greatly from this lesson.

We visit the famed Cologne cathedral tomorrow and have changed the schedule to visit Brussels later in the week. No major injuries, other than some hurt pride, are to be reported.