Sunderland U18s are in California today.

Kevin Ball and the squad are being hosted by the Pacific Soccer Academy, who have a relationship with the club.

The young Black Cats will face a PSA XI on May 16 before taking on Stanford and Santa Clara Universities on May 18 and May 21 respectively.

"We have some difficult games ahead of us but I have to say the facilities over there are absolutely magnificent," Ball told safc.com.

"We're really looking forward to playing the games and we'll be taking the players into the San Francisco area, too.

"The trip includes a visit to Alcatraz - and yes, I have thought about leaving one or two of them there!

"There will be some good downtime but we have the importance of the games too. I want the players to enjoy it, but they are expected to go about things well football-wise."