Everton Under-16s Head To Abu Dhabi Tournament

Everton’s Under-16s will receive an unforgettable cultural and footballing education as they take part in the Al Ain International Juniors Tournament which kicks off in Abu Dhabi on Friday.

The young Blues flew out on Wednesday for the competition, which will see them play five 80-minute matches in eight days in a league format.

The tournament, which will be held at Tahnoun bin Mohammed Stadium, home of Al Ain FC, will see Everton take on FK Partizan Belgrade (Serbia), Pafos FC (Cyprus), Gremio (Brazil), Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan) and Al Ain (UAE).

As part of the competition, the team will also be engaging in educational workshops, learning more about the local culture and embarking on team visits, something Under-16s Assistant Coach Jose Baxter believes Everton’s youngsters will benefit hugely from on and off the pitch.

“We were invited to the tournament back in March and there’s a real calibre of opposition waiting for us,” said Baxter.

“It’s going to be all about learning. We’ll be playing teams who play in different styles and we’ll have to factor in the heat.

“Some of the teams we’re playing will be more acclimatised to the heat over there, and our lads won’t be. So they’ll get a test in terms of different formations, structures and how the opposition play the game, which is slower than our lads are used to.

“It’ll be a great test for them, playing the game at a different pace themselves in a climate where you can’t be at it 100 per cent all the time.

“It becomes more of a possession-type game. It’s a cliche but that old adage of ‘letting the ball do the work’ becomes true, especially in late 30s, early 40-degrees heat.

“We’ve shown the lads a presentation around how it looks in a different country with different rules, in terms of how you speak to a referee, the heat and the importance of eating right and getting rested with the two-day turnaround in games.”

The Club’s emphasis on player development and education will always be a priority, Baxter says, but the Everton Academy graduate wants his side to build a winning mentality heading into the tournament.

“First and foremost we want to develop the players in getting them through to a real game,” Baxter added. “But I’m not shy about talking about winning on the same stage as development.

“If you have a player in the Under-16s at that age group and you quickly go from developing to playing a real game, with centre-halves and captains breathing down your neck, and that’s your first example of learning about importance of a loss, that’s too late for me.

“That’s something I’ll be letting the lads know quite early on, how tournament football looks different to Saturday football.

“We want to put this football club on a map and we’ll be hammering this message home.”