After another quality breakfast in the Meteor Estate, Chef Antoine wished the group a fine bon chance (good luck) as they made their way out to the door on their journey to Chateauroux.
After the hour and 1/2 trip through the country side and a few quaint French towns, the boys arrived at the Regional Training Centre of Chateauroux. This seven field complex of grass fields, turf fields, indoor fields and locker rooms accorded the players the experience of a professional football center where their opponents live and train. Upon arrival our hosts treated the boys to a fine lunch of poulet et legumes avec a desert of chocolate parfait.
The '97's took the time to prepare for their match whilst the '98's got an opportunity to site see for an hour in the magnificent little town of Chateauroux. However, once the matches began, that superlative of magnificent could also to applied to the performance of our host teams.
The speed and technique of the French teams completely caught our boys off guard as our, same aged, but far superior opponents, dominated the game in every facet. The '97's lost 4-2 on goals from Fadduol and, Magill while the '98's came out on the short end 7-1 (Taitague the lone scorer). It was a good lesson for our Virginia teams as they would have never seen such a quality opponent in the US, either in the past or likely to see in the near future.
We come to gain these experiences, but we now will see who will take the lessons and apply them to their next games. Another difficult game awaits them today as they take on the youth teams of the professional club FC Tours at the Tours 10 field training centre.
Aurevoir!
