Wednesday 20th July 2011

Well this is it the last day!  We started with a 5 aside tournament and the blue team won in the Under 12's.  The Red team won in the Under 15's and everyone (players, supporters and coaches had a fantastic time).  The goals were coming thick fast and furious, it was difficult to keep score.  All in all an excellent way to end our 9 days in St Andrews.  Many Thanks to Austin MacPhee from AMsoccer and his team for an excellent learning experience.

We had a nice lunch and an awards ceremony in the afternoon and our super winger Kareem won the coaches player of the trip, which was very well deserved if you ask me, since he played his heart out in all games.

The Under 15's coaches player of the trip went to Rayan and again very well deserved since he played very well throughout.

The 1st team coaches player of the trip went to Moutaz.

In the evening the 1st team had a semi-professional match and it proved very difficult for them.  It ended in defeat, but I think they learned an awfull lot during the game.

This was a fantastic learning experience for Jeddah City Football Club and we can't wait to repeat the process next year.

Tuesday 19th July 2011

Today it rained all day, so not many photographs were taken!  The Under 12's had a great training session with Coach Lindsey, the Under 15's learned some impressive skills from coach Austin and the 1st team were practicing dead ball situations with Coach Phil.

We then played a match against Dundee.  The Under 12's were completely outclassed and easily beaten.  They did play very well with a lot of heart and I think they learned an awful lot from the experience.  Number one being to rest before a big game.

The under15's won their match although it was very difficult throughout.  Dundee were very strong from the start of the match, but our boys came through in the end with some impressive football.

The 1st team lost their match but we had 2 fantastic goals from Sean, who looked impressive all the way throughout the match.

Well done to all the teams that participated for their sportsmanship.

Monday 18th July 2011

Today is Edinburgh and shopping.  We did manage to see some sights though so here are a few photos of them.

The Under 12's also survived the Edinburgh Dungeon although coach Simon was accused of some heinous crime and decided to choose Hanging over being sent to Wales.  No photo because it was too scary for me!

Sunday 17th July.

Today was a very big day! Both our teams played a match at St Andrews football club.

The event started with some traditional Scottish dancing by a local dance school, which was very nice.  They performed the sword dance. 

There was an opening ceremony with the teams walking out onto the pitch with a piper. The Saudi National Anthem was sung by our team and a Prince's Trust representative gave some opening remarks, which were well received.

The excitement built and the Under 12's were the first to kick off. The shape of the team has seriously improved over the last few days and they played very well against a very strong opposition.

The match ended in a 3-1 defeat, but we learned a lot from the game particularly the off-side trap (in fact it's fair to say I learned a lot too!!!) Sorry but Luke's goal was never off side!

At the end of the match the teams were awarded medals.

The 1^st team played their hearts out and the game was fantastic. They ended up with a 1-1 draw, again against a very strong team. Their goal was due to a Penalty and our goal was by Sean striking the ball from a free kick scoring a brilliant goal, leaving the goal keeper no chance!

 

Well done to all four teams, who played extremely well.

Tomorrow it's Edinburgh, the official supporters club are currently suffering from shopping withdrawal and are in need of some shopping!

Saturday 16th July.

Woke up early this morning to find out that we were going to the home of Scottish Football Hampden Park.

We had an excellent tour of the stadium and got our hand on the replica Scottish Cup.

 

We the went to St Mirren in Paisley a Scottish Premier team for training with their professional coaches. The training session was excellent and the boys were taught several new skills.

 

The Under 12's played a match which ended up in a draw. Penalties were taken and the Green team won.

The 1^st Team trained hard and looked like they had a lot of fun.

 

We the went to watch the St Mirren first tean play in a local derby cup final. They played excellent and the final score was 4-2 to Sr Mirren retaining the cup for the 5^th consecutive year.

Friday 15th July 2011

Training was excellent today. The 1^st team had a day off after their great victory yesterday.

The Under 15's trained with Austin again and he showed them some great new skills.

The Under 12's trained with Lindsey and Terrance came over to give the younger team some encouragement, they really appreciated that and it was excellent. They worked on some new passing techniques and these proved very effective in the evenings matches.

 

3 Matches tonight for the under 12's against AM club.

Game 1- Ended in a 4-0 defeat.

This is not half as depressing as it sounds! Our team played really well! We worked together and passed the ball really well. Very impressive play. Daniel scored 2 goals very quickly for AM, which shook us a little bit, but we settled in and kept our heads up. Then Jack made a fantastic run and scored an excellent goal. Finally Reece slotted one in from a corner kick.

All in all a very good performance from our team and the result didn't really reflect the way we played.

Man of the Match for AM's team Daniel. Man of the Match for Jeddah City Football Club Nour.

Game 2 Ended in a 5-3 Win (I said WIN Hurrah)!!!

We started strong and Kareem scored from a great cross from Nour to make it 1 -0. Marwan our fantastic defender fought hard to keep the opposition out. Then Rowan for AM scored an equaliser on the break which was very fluid play.

Our team started strong again and Billy slotted one in making it 2-1 to us. Reece scored 1 back quickly making it 2-2. The match was extremely close at this point. Daniel ran through and scored again making it 2-3 to the opposition. Then Harry ran through to take a fantastic cross from Luke to make it 3-3.

Luke took the ball from their defender and slotted a fantastic goal in to make it 4-3 to us. Kareem crossed a ball in that Owen Hargreaves would have been proud of and Luke took it on the volley scoring the winning goal making it 5-3 to us.

Man of the Match for AM's Team Reece. Man of the match for Jeddah City Football Club Marwan.

Game 3 Ended in a 4-1 Win for us (Yup I said WIN again yipee)!

Archie was awarded a penalty and scored from the spot although Jacob went the correct way. 1-0 to our opposition. Harry equalised with some great passing through the field from our defenders and midfield. Making it 1-1. Harry scored again with some fantastic passing from our boys making it 2-1 to us. James took an amazing cross from Luke on his head and scored again for us, making it 3-1. Some great fluid play from our team allowed James to score again this time from his left foot making it 4-1 to us.

What was truly amazing was that our Scottish team members who played really well on our side were helping our boys out with their positional play and making sure that they had great cover.

Well done to both teams who showed great sportsmanship throughout these games. 

The official supporters club did their bit and the girls are working on their song.

 

The under 15's also played a match.

The final score was 3-3

Throughout the game their attitude was fantastic, they encouraged each other and had great understanding of what they were trying to do. There has been a massive improvement from all our teams.

Rayan scored Goal 1, AbdulRahman scored Goal 2 and James scored Goal.3.

Man of the match for Jeddah City Football Club Rayan.

Thursday 14th July 2011

The day started with a wonderful Full English Breakfast. Then a quick change for the Morning Training session.

The Under 12's were again with Lindsey who was teaching them new types of passing techniques. Pele's number 7 was practiced to good effect along with Messi's famous passing technique. .

 

The Under 15's were with Austin who was teaching them positional play and speed with the ball.

The 1^st Team were with Phil, who was working on dead ball situations. This proved very effective in the match later in the evening.

 

Jeddah City Football Club Vrs Celtic.

I think the best way to describe this match would be to use the word disappointing!

Jeddah City were easily beaten in a 5-0 non event really. The Jeddah city players were defeated before a ball was kicked! Ok so the opposition are Celtic and Ok they are “very good”. But guess what guys, we are Jeddah City Football Club and we are equally good, when we are playing as a team! Keep your heads up and work together next time and we will show the opposition how we can play football! The important thing to remember is that no matter who the opposition is, we can beat them with our excellent game play. Enough Said!!

 

Then the 1^st team played their opening match against a stiff opposition, St Andrews Football Club.

Jeddah City Football Club fought hard and scored the opening goal with a great shot from El Nano. The team played very well with great shape and scored` again Shair assisted from Moutaz Half time 2-0.

St Andrews started the second half strongly and scored quite early then they scored again

The supporters were behind our team and the players kept their heads up and then won a corner kick which was taken by Austin, Terrance slotted the ball in with a great strike leaving the final score 3-2 to us! Yeah a win well done boys!

In my opinion Moutaz won the man of the match for Jeddah City Football Club.

13th July - Training and Match

After a fantastic breakfast, training started at 09:30. The teams were split into their relevant age groups and assigned a professional Scottish Coach. More on this later..

The 1^st Match was announced and Jeddah City Football Club Under 12's were playing Ladybank Panthers at 18:30.

I will cover different age group games each match.

3 Matches were played.

Jeddah City football Club offical supporters were treated to some fantastic football. The cheerleaders led by Kathy (Kareem's mum) were singing, shouting and getting very excited throughout the matches.

The first game was phenomenal. Ladybank Panthers took an early 2 goal lead, whilst Jeddah City Football Club were still blowing the cobwebs away. A stunning performance led by their team Captain Robert showed them to be a strong opposition. Owen played an absolute blinder causing problems for Jacob our goal keeper with his positional play and overall skill.

Luke scored a stunning goal to make it 2-1. Then quickly scored again making it 2-2. Finley for Ladybank Panthers laid on a great ball for Robert who scored with a fantastic shot which beat Jacob making it 3-2..

Kareem put in a great cross which was laid on for Luke, who quickly passed it to Josh who scored making it 3-3.

The game ended a draw.

In my opinion man of the match for Ladybank Panthers was Owen. Man of the match for Jeddah City Football Club was Luke. All in all a fantastic performance by both teams.

 

Game 2

This match started with a lot of promise with Jeddah City looking strong in the beginning. A corner was taken and Kareem our super winger scored quickly making it 1-0. The crowd went wild. Marwan was defending for his life, but unfortunately Robert proved too strong and equalised with a brilliant strike making it 1-1.

Owen again proved difficult to read and pushed us back with his skill and control. Finley controlled the ball well to make it another impressive goal. 1-2.

Nour passed the ball quickly to Luke and with a quick one two Luke placed the ball in the back of the net making it 2-2.

Jacob was under a lot of pressure when Owen passed to Robert and he scored again making it 2-3.

Both teams were showing great ability when a home goal from one of our guest players made it 2-4.

Jeddah city kept their heads up and played some fluid football and Luke scored again with a great strike making it 3-4.

Kareem played well going wide and passed the ball to one of our guest players who scored. Making it 4-4.

The crowd led by Kathy were cheering and clapping wildly.

In the closing moments Ladybank Panthers took control and scored again making it 4-5. All in all this was a fantastic game and we should be proud of our kids performance.

In my opinion Man of the match for Ladybank Pathers was Robert.  Man of the Match for Jeddah City  Football Club Kareem.

Game 3

Jeddah city started very strongly with a very fast 2 goal lead. Luke fed`the ball through on both occasions to allow Gavin a great scoring opportunity. Both goals were scored by Gavin and Luke respectively. Ladybank Panthers showed great courage coming back strong, equalising with fabulous performances from Owen and Finley, making it 2-2.

Jeddah city showed signs of fatigue when they let Robert score an easy goal making it 2-3. In the final five minutes Ladybank Panthers took control of the game and scored again making the final score 2-4.

In my opinion Man of the Match for Ladybank Panthers Finley.  Man of the match for Jeddah City Football Club Jacob.

This was a fantastic opener with both teams showing great sportsmanship and skill.

The girls (official supporters led by Kathy), are now working on a Jeddah City Football Club team song and chant.

Tomorrow is a special game playing Celtic. More on that later.

12th July 2011 - Lock up your daughters!

Lock up your daughters JCFC have arrived in St Andrews Scotland.

After a very long and tiring journey JCFC arrived in Scotland.

 

Rooms were allocated and then we had a short walk to a very nice restaurant for a buffet dinner and an official welcome.

 

Then an early night for tomorrows adventure, which is an early breakfast and then a full training session with a professional Football coach. Then the first match in the evening against a local Scottish side.