Manchester City thrashes Cuba to take U-15 cup
Manchester City under-15 squad after winning the tournament
(CNS): Manchester City FC won the 2016 Cayman Airways Invitational Youth Football Cup with an emphatic 8-0 victory over the Cuba National U-15 team at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex on Sunday, 15 May. Dominating the ball from the get-go, the youngsters from Manchester City took the early lead thanks to a third-minute strike from Bobby Duncan and never looked back.
Duncan added another goal minutes later to double the lead. Taylor Richards kept up his impressive play from earlier in the tournament, scoring his ninth goal of the competition to make the score 3-0. Keyendrah Simmonds added two goals in the opening period to give his team a 5-0 advantage at the half.
Alain Portales Bastos made his team’s challenge even greater when he collected a red card in the 25th minute. Duncan added two second-half goals, while Callum Hulme also joined in the scoring to bring the final score to 8-0. The two sides met earlier during the tournament in their final Group A match when Manchester City won 5-2.
The English squad also took home all the personal awards: Duncan, the captain, edged teammate Richards in the scoring race, 11 goals to nine. However, Richards was named the tournament’s most valuable player and Curtis Anderson won the golden glove award as the best goalkeeper of the competition.
Earlier on Sunday, LA Galaxy beat Seattle Sounders FC in the third-place match. Efrain Alvarez drove home his fourth goal of the tournament to give Galaxy the lead in the 23rd minute. The score remained the same up to the break. Defender Togo Nakumura added to the tally in the 43rd minute before Azriel Gonzalez scored seven minutes later for Seattle to cut the lead to 2-1. Seattle’s Gianluca Busio narrowly missed the equaliser late in the game and Galaxy held on for the 2-1 win.
The other under-15 teams participating in the tournament were Swindon Town FC (England), Cavalier Soccer Club (Jamaica), Club Deportivo Victoria (Honduras), Academy Sports Club Select (Cayman Islands), IMG Academy (US/Florida), Houston Dynamo (US/Major League Soccer), Orlando City (US/MLS), and DC United (US/MLS).
For more information and to see footage of the final day of the tournament, go to the Cayman Youth Football Cup website
