APIA Leichardt Tigers guest player Joshua Colosimo prepares for the prestigious Italian youth competition, the Viareggio tournament, with his teammates
APIA Leichardt Tigers, arrived at Rome airport on Sunday 13th February, at 7:05 am. The team were extremely tired after spending almost 23 hours on a plane, with only a brief stop-over in Singapore. 23 boys born from 1990-1993, have made the journey to Viarreggio, and only 11 will be taking the for our first competitive match against none other than Inter Milan, in only one weeks time. This is sure to make practise games and training all the more important.
Our first day involved no football at all, just a day to relax and unwind from the flight. The players and coaches decided to spend half the day in Rome, to witness first hand one of the most beautiful and historic cities in the world. Unfortunately, Rome was overcome with a negative atmosphere, due to AS Roma losing at home to Napoli 2-0. After visiting the Colosseum, Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain, the team departed Rome to begin the 5-hour trek north to the town of Viarreggio.
During the bus trip, the team, coached by former professional footballer Lince Romeo, were told of the formation we would be playing, and each player's individual role was dissected piece by piece. APIA have adopted the 4-2-3-1 formation, which featured so prominently during the last World Cup.
During the bus trip, I noticed just how poor the infrastructure in Italy is. The roads are extremely busy and buildings are quite old. However, what shocked me the most was the quality of the Serie A stadiums. Most of the stadiums have not been updated since the 1990 World Cup, and considering that Serie A is one of the world's best football leagues, this seems quite unusual.
Not much to report from Day 1, however with 4 practise games coming up in the next 5 days, APIA tigers are definitely going to need to preserve precious energy.
Until next time
