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EXCELLENCE EXPECTED AT COBHAM
Posted on: Thu 21 Aug 2008
The countdown has begun to Saturday's Cobham Cup, which will mark the
opening of our new Academy and Community Pavilion.
Eight under-16 teams from around the world, including the Blues, will take
part in the competition which runs over the Bank Holiday weekend, and
expectations are high.
As well as our own Academy team, sides from Bayern Munich, Ajax and River
Plate will be in attendance. In addition, sides from Lebanon, Russia,
Korea and the USA will be competing in a competition that underlines the
global attraction of the club
Al-Nejmeh Sporting Club, hailing from Lebanon, will represent our global
charity partner Right to Play. They are widely regarded as the country's
strongest and best-supported team, and in 2005 became the first Lebanese
side to reach the final of the AFC Cup.
From America, there will be the Disney Soccer Showcase All-Stars, a squad
picked from the country's most prestigious youth football tournament,
sponsored by Chelsea. Their 18-man squad have been selected by a panel of
America's top coaches, and represent 15 clubs across 11 states.
Suwon Samsung Bluewings will be a name familiar to Chelsea fans, as
opposition we faced in last summer's pre-season (a 1-0 win for the Blues).
Founded in just 1995, the club has developed quickly into one of Asia's
finest, with a host of domestic and continental honours. They were winners
of the AFC Champions League in both 2001 and 2002.
FC Tolyatti, currently in the second division of the Russian League, were
developed from one of the leading academies in the country. The Youry
Konoplyov Football Academy currently has more than 30 players representing
their country in different age groups.
Last season four graduates signed professional terms with the Russian
Premier League giants CSKA Moscow and FC Spartak Moscow. The Academy
receives sponsorship support from Roman Abramovich's sports charity
foundation, the National Academy of Football.
River Plate are one of South America's post prestigious clubs, boasting
over 30 domestic titles in Argentina. In addition they have produced some
of the finest talent Argentina has ever seen, including in recent times
Claudio Caniggia, Ariel Ortega, Pablo Aimar and Javier Saviola.
Their under-16 side will be guaranteed to entertain, much like the Ajax
team, highlighting the Dutch setup revered around the world. Household
names Johan Cruyff, Dennis Bergkamp, Edgar Davids and more recently Wesley
Sneijder are just a few to have graduated through the Amsterdam club's
production line.
Like Ajax, Bayern Munich have won Europe's top trophy four times, and can
also lay claim to producing some of the continent's top talent. Sepp
Maier, Franz Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were all products of
the club's youth system in days of yore, and now they are breeding the new
generation, to be seen at Cobham this weekend.
All of these sides will be up against the hosts, and the Academy is our
vision for the future of Chelsea Football Club, developing young English
talent as well as the best young players from abroad.
Over 70 per cent of Chelsea's Academy are English and it boasts 18 current
English internationals between the ages of 16 and 21 years old, as well as
a further 20 from around the world.
Last season the Chelsea Youth team also reached the FA Youth Cup Final for
the first time in 47 years and Jack Cork was also named captain of the
England under-19 team in the European Championships - today he sealed a
loan move to Southampton as he looks to continue his development towards
Luiz Felipe Scolari's first team. In addition, 18-year-old goalkeeper Rhys
Taylor earned his first call-up to the full Wales squad this week.
Chelsea Chief Executive Peter Kenyon is looking forward to the showpiece
tournament. He said: 'Everybody at Chelsea is delighted that we are
celebrating the opening of our Academy and Community Pavilion by staging
the Chelsea Academy International Tournament this weekend. This tournament
is a true reflection of Chelsea.
'It demonstrates our commitment to developing and celebrating top young
players and our local community, and the calibre of teams participating
shows the global standard Chelsea now competes in and with players from
the USA, Lebanon, Russia and South America, the international appeal of
the club is there for all to see.
'We look forward to a great weekend of entertaining football played in the
spirit of fair play.'
Tournament Setup
================
The eight teams will be split into two groups, playing each other once
over two days. The top two sides from each group will progress to the
semi-finals, played on Monday.
There will also be playoff games for the third and fourth-placed teams,
meaning each team plays a minimum of four games at the tournament.
The final will be played on Monday with a scheduled 5pm kick-off time.
Group 1 - Chelsea, River Plate, Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Al-Nejmeh
Group 2 - Ajax, Bayern Munich, FC Tolyatti, Disney Soccer Showcase All-Stars
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以伊露維塔的名為證發誓 — 若有誰敢奪取屬於我們的藍色之魂，不論對方是天使
、惡魔、男人或女人，包括尚未出生者，若有任何的生靈，不論偉大或渺小，是善
還是惡，我們都將懷著復仇與憎恨之心直追到天涯海角，直追到世界結束之日。
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※ 編輯: JamesCaesar 來自: 118.171.0.228 (08/23 13:17)