After the visit of the young players of the Korean Football Federation at the WOSPAC facilities and the subsequent tour of the New headfield of Cornellà, they were prepared to play games against the youngsters A and C of UE Cornellà.
The Korean Football Federation has an interesting sports project for young players between 10 and 13 years. Year after year they travel around the world to learn football. This year the destination was Spain and, among others, the UE Cornellà teams were their rivals.
The Korean expedition had more than 50 players. They formed 4 different football teams. They played 4 games of an half hour. First they thought it was 7 against 7 on a half field, but eventually they played football 11.
The first game started at 20h at night and from the first minute it was a very even match. Although the home team approached the goal of the Korean team several times, they could not score a goal in the first minutes. The reason was that the Korean team defended like a team. This changed in the 18th minute of the game, when Worki (player of the youngsters A) after good team play, beat the Korean goalkeeper.
The first line of the Korean Federation was fighting continue. They were getting closer to the goal of UE Cornellà. After a pressure of the Korean players, that caused an error in midfield, the Koreans took their revenge. After a somewhat confusing play, with a rebound and imprecision by both teams, the striker Jung Jiho stood for an empty goal. The match ended 1-1.
The second match was a completely different game. The youngsters C of UE Cornellà were superior and after 10 minutes they had scored 2 goals, both goals from a striker, Xavi. After 14 minutes, a great shot from Iker outside of the penalty area did stretched the Korean goalkeeper, 3-0. Ue Cornellà kept on scoring. The game ended with 7-0, the goals scored by Emilio, Saul again Miguel and Xavi, the man of the hat-trick.
For the third game, the Korean Federation changed its gear, going from blue to red and trying to get their first win. It was a very even match. There were a few chances for both teams but most of the game the teams played in the midfield. The Korean tried to surprise the UE Cornellà team with a counter attack, but that wasn’t effective. The match ended in 0-0.
At 21: 30h the last of the 4 games was played. Perhaps the most vivid of all odds. There were many chances for both teams match but both goalkeepers were magnificent. In the 12th minute Iker scored the 1-0 for UE Cornellà. This time there was a quick response of the Korean team. The Korean team equalized five minutes later. The beautiful game ended in 1-1.
A great experience for all the boys and I hope all members of the staff of the Korean Football Association enjoyed this trip. It will be a pleasure to welcome them again.
