FC Barsa Go South...and Beat the Brazillians!

In another one of the soon to be famous FC Barsa tours, a slightly light version of the FC Barsa squad found themselves driving down to sunny bournemouth on friday the third of august, after a long drive, Chris, Oli, Joe, Matt, Ben.F , Adam, Nick and Ben.H all arrived outside the accommodation. Richard and Sue soon peeled off to their slightly classier digs and left the eight players in the charge of Kevin. It was late, too late for food but, despite everyones long tiring journey, an impromptu 'Pro Evo' tournament was arranged, a fitting start to what was to be an exiting weekend for all those involved.

After limited sleep, mainly due to us trying to sleep in what felt like the centre of a club, the players awoke to a beautiful saturday morning, and a breakfast of eggs, toast and honey. Which some of us barely had the energy to eat, quick showers and 'essential' male grooming later and we were on our way to Bournemouth University's sports centre where the Futsal was to be played, arriving at nine, an hour before kick off, spirits were high, even though energy levels were not! We were first on, playing against a team put together from the university, we did not know what to expect, knowing only that the team had a limited knowledge of futsal.

The hosts were not embarrassed by us, despite the final score, they put up a good fight when you consider that they had never really played the game before. The final score of 11-0 was a nice way to ease our way into the day and find out feet a little, J.Dixon claiming his first hat-rick for the club and the first of many, and Adam Fawcett making his debut for Barsa, narrowly missing out with numerous chances. Another pleasing factor was keeping a clean sheet, which was more difficult that the scoreline shows.

An hour or so later, after a break and something to eat, Barsa were back in play, this time against a team that was full of seasoned Brazilian futsal players, and it did not start off well, barsa going into the second half 3-1 down, after some words of inspiration from Kevin, the boys emerged, we knew what we needed to do, the game was there to be won from the first half and we had to take it to them. We worked hard, passing and moving for each other, and through some awesome passages of play from both the team and individuals, we pulled the game back, and then scored that all important fourth goal. Two minutes on the clock, defending was the order of the day, and boy did we defend!! We came off the pitch knowing that we had worked for the win, and won the game as a team, spirits were definately high, more so when we were informed that the team we beat were seen as the best team there!

Our next game was against one of the three brazillian teams at the tournament, all from the same club, divided into three teams, the third team were all young lads, around sixteen years old, but very well coached by one of the older players, going into this game with the idea of getting our goal difference up, it didnt quite work out that way, the young lads were energetic, confident and brave, 9-0 to Barsa was the final score, which was a pleasing result, and some of the goals were superb (mr dixon's overhead kick will go down in barsa legend!) the main thing we took from this game, besides the booking of B.Fox was the thought that if a team this young could play like they did at this age, then what would the future have in store for these boys who throughout the day had spells of brilliance that would make even the harshest critic sit up and take note.

Going into the final two games, Barsa still had a lot to do, at this point, our best chance of winning was by taking the full six points from our last two games, if we were to draw one, then it would all depend on the result of our nearest opponents, but its never nice waiting to see if another team can do you a favour or not...

The penultimate game was against the Brazillian first team, who were also yet to lose a game that day, barsa could not lose, and in the first half, the pressure showed, and the first half ended with Barsa 3-1 down, again, some inspiring words were needed, and they came, Barsa came out of the blocks hard, moments of brilliance from both teams kept the game exiting and with barely a minute to go, J.Dixon popped up with an equaliser from range, the keeper fumbled it into the back of his own goal, it was too powerful for him to handle, and the look on joes face said it all..."i thought i'd shanked that one!" The game ended with the brazillians being awarded a few corners on the bounce, Barsa managing to keep the ball from the net and holding out for a 4-4 draw.

Barsa now needed the brazillian first team to lose their next and final game to give us a shot at winning, all i can say is that it happened...in a heated affair that contained everything, goals, fouls, a giant ruck...the lot! That isnt what mattered tho, the result meant that all barsa had to do was to win the final game and the tournament was theirs.

'The Bournemouth Eight' had a job to do and they stepped onto the pitch with nothing but winning on their mind, the brazillian second team was by no means any kind of second team, they had merely split a team in two and named the halves...we had a challenge ahead of us! As always, the game did not start well going 1-0 almost straight away from a hellish deflection, for a few moments, it did not seem like it was to be our day! But as with all the other testing encounters of the day, Barsa came through strong, and despite conceding a sloppy goal from the half way line moments after B.Fox scored at the other end, and countless efforts to be muscled out of the game, FC Barsa triumphed, and the game finished 7-2, the scoreline by no means illustrating just how competitive the game was.

We worked hard for the win and most definitely deserved to come out on top, every single individual did a job and was outstanding for the club. It was a pleasure playing with you boys. And to those teams that we played against, it was a pleasure playing against you, thanks for turning out. Thankyou to the organiser too, obviously without you there would have been no tournament!

Final thanks on behalf of the players go to Richard and Sue Black and Kevin Barr for making the whole trip possible, we could not wish for better support than what we get from you guys, and we thank you for everything you do for us.