Fresh from their impressive performance in the prestigious Broersen.nl International Youth Selection Tournament in Heemskerk over the weekend, the Netherlands touring India U-16 national team, represented by the All India Football Federation U-16 Regional Academy boys from Kalyani, were further put to scratch at the Club Achilles ’29 training centre in Groesbeek on Monday evening.

After a successful stay in Heemskerk were in the U-17 section (B-juniors) category, the India U-16 boys rose to occasion finishing a respectable fourth in a eight-team affair, with all the games en route their sojourn going down the wire.

The U-16 boys from the AIFF Regional Academy in Kalyani who form the core of the India U-16 national team won by solitary goals against Deportivo Saint Maickol and S.B.V. Excelsior, drawing only with FC Volendam, that too through a last minute goal after holding on to the come-from-behind lead for most part of the match.

It was in the cross final that they failed to get their noses in front against Israel’s Maccabi Tel Aviv losing by a solitary goal from the spot. Down to the third place tie, the boys again gave a spirited account of themselves dragging the match to tie-breakers (direct in case of ties except for final match) by scoring in added time after falling behind to a first half strike by AZ Alkmaar. They lost 4-2 in shootouts.

From Heemskerk to Groesbeek ahead of their match against the FC Schalke 04 U-16 boys in Gelsenkirchen, the boys trained at the Club Achilles ’29 training centre in Groesbeek.

Achilles ’29 is a second string club in the Netherlands. The bunch are training under the own Indian coaches currently. The boys had previously trained at the famous KNVB academy under instructor Ivaar van Dinteren. Van Dinteren is a coach of Dayton Dutch Lions, a 3rd Division (USL Professional Division) club in the United States backed by Dutch outfit FC Twente.

The U-16 SAFF Cup Champions will be playing against Academies of FC Twente and AZ Alkmaar along with RKTVC’s own Youth Team in the next tourney starting August 16 and 17 in the RKTVC B Top Tournament.

Besides, be playing friendly matches against the Academy sides of PSV Eindhoven, FC Schalke 04 and KRC Genk of Belgium.

Exclusive LIVE UPDATES and LIVE PICTURES from the FC Schalke 04 U-16 v India U-16 match will be available at www.facebook.com/cpd81 and www.twitter.com/CPDaniel. The match will kick-off at 18.00 CET (21.30 IST / 17.00 GMT) tomorrow (August 13.)

(Report & Picture courtesy AIFF Media)