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Post by Everton News. on Apr 6, 2017 12:31:56 GMT
Everton Under-18s have jetted out to the United States looking to retain their Dallas Cup crown. The young Blues return to the Lone Star State a year after winning the week-long prestigious youth tournament in 2016. A group of 28 players and staff, led by coaches Kevin Sheedy and assistant Paul Tait, departed Manchester airport on Thursday morning, bound for Texas via Atlanta. Everton get their campaign under way on Sunday 9 April (6.30pm UK time) against hosts FC Dallas at the 92,000-capacity Cotton Bowl stadium - a venue used at the 1994 World Cup. They will play further group games against Israeli side Maccabi Haifa on Monday 10 April (6pm UK time) and then Monterrey of Mexico on Wednesday 12 April (kick-off TBC). If Everton progress to the knockout stages, the semi-finals take place on Friday 14 April, with the final being held on Sunday 16 April. The travelling squad is as follows: Daniel Bramall Delial Brewster Michael Collins Alex Denny Stephen Duke-McKenna Anthony Gordon Ryan Harrington Aaron Jones Sid Kerr Callum Lees Nathan Moore Liam Morris Con Ouzounidis Ben Pierce Tom Scully Mike Virtanen Tom Warren James Yates Everton FC
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Post by Everton News. on Apr 8, 2017 18:46:12 GMT
During Everton Under-18s’ stay in the United States at the Dallas Cup, a member of the team or staff will be offering a regular update. We start by enlisting the help of defender James Yates, who tells us all about the journey across the Atlantic. On Thursday we had quite an early start at Finch Farm in order to get to Manchester airport for out flight at 10.50am. It was an eight hour flight to Atalanta, which seemed to go on forever. When we arrived in Atlanta, we had four hours to go and have something to eat and stretch our legs before our connection. Unfortunately it was delayed, which nobody was pleased about! But thankfully the second flight to Dallas was only two hours. We eventually arrived at the hotel at about 10 o’clock at night – or 4am UK time. We were due to go for a light jog, just to try and get the flight out of our legs, but we saved that until the morning. In the afternoon we had our first training session. The weather was roasting – 26 degrees – which we will have to adapt to, coming from the UK. But everyone is just pleased to be out here and to have got started. There is a little bit of added pressure on our shoulders as the defending champions. Sheeds told us at training that no side had ever retained the trophy before so we want to go out and do that. But we should feel confident about it. Other teams will be looking at us as the side to beat. This is my third Dallas Cup now so I am used to it all. It seems to get better every time I come back so its great to be out here again. We thought we had a young group last year but the squad is even younger this time. That means the likes of myself and Delial Brewster, being the older and more experienced players in the group, need to keep an eye out and look after them. But they know if they are unsure or have any questions we are there for them. We train again on Saturday and then finally get our tournament underway on Sunday against FC Dallas.
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Post by Everton News. on Apr 8, 2017 18:54:41 GMT
Young Blues Ready For Dallas ChallengeKevin Sheedy has challenged his Under-18s side to become the first team to retain the Dallas Cup as they ready themselves to begin their campaign on Sunday. Everton’s youngsters are back in the United States looking to match their achievements from last year when they lifted the trophy in the prestigious youth tournament held in Texas. The young Blues kick off this season’s tournament against FC Dallas and Sheedy expects a tough opener for his charges. “It will be a tough opening game but one we are looking forward to,” he told evertonfc.com. “Dallas are the local team and they will be up for the game. But we will be ready and prepared. “I expect a real onslaught in the first 20 minutes or so. They will have the local support and will want to be on the front foot early on. So it will be a tough game but a good one to start with. The players will need to handle the occasion.” A win for Sheedy’s side would set them up nicely for Monday’s second game against Israeli side Maccabi Haifa, before the Toffees conclude the group stage against Monterrey Rayados of Mexico. Despite losing their opener in 2016 against Mexican outfit Tigres, the Under-18s still progressed all the way to the final, before beating Fulham 2-1 to lift the Cup. Sheedy hopes his current crop can emulate that success. “It is really important not to get beat,” he added. “Last year we were fortunate because, having lost the first one, we won the next two games to progress. “Usually in competitions, if you lose the first one then you are under pressure. Hopefully we can put a performance in and get a win. “Six or seven of the lads were in the team last year so it would nice for them to come back and retain the trophy.”
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Post by rugbytoffee on Apr 9, 2017 6:31:37 GMT
We seem to be growing a decent band of young players for the future. Would any manager be brave enough to regularly blood them though in or around the 1st team
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Post by Everton News. on Apr 9, 2017 21:21:38 GMT
Under-19s Beaten By DallasYoung Blues suffer defeat in opening Dallas Cup tie.Everton’s Under-19s suffered a 5-0 defeat at the hands of FC Dallas in their opening Dallas Cup group game. The young Blues are back in the States to defend the crown they won here back in April 2016, but if they are to do so, they will have to follow in their own example one year ago. Having lost to Tigres in their opening game, Everton went on to lift the trophy 12 months prior. Ahead of this game, coach Kevin Sheedy warned his players to expect a fast start from their local opponents – and that is precisely what they got. On 18 minutes, Dallas opened the scoring – Ben Pierce brilliantly denied Jesus Ferreira Castro but Shaft Brewer was on hand to tap the ball into an empty net. Everton were struggling to mount any kind of assault of their own, but did briefly threaten in the first half as Delial Brewster almost turned in Alex Denny’s header back across goal, then Daniel Bramall blasted over the bar. But Paxton Pomykal made it two when side-footing a volley into the bottom corner on 37 minutes, leaving it 2-0 at the interval. Further goals followed after the break. Brecc Evans netted from close range, before Aldo Quevedo and Castro struck in quick succession to make it five. Everton can look to bounce back immediately however, when they take on Israel’s Maccabi Haifa on Monday. Everton FC
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