Let the Games Begin!

Both teams spent the whole day on Monday focused on soccer training and games. It was back to the Real Madrid Academy for another 90 minutes with the Real Madrid coaches. After the practice, the boys and coaches loaded back up into the bus and headed to Burnabeu Stadium for lunch at the Real Madrid Cafe.

After a rest at the hotel, the first competitive matches were the priority for the evening. Both teams went to the Rayo Vallecano training complex. Rayo Vallecano is not quite as famous as it's other Madrid area Spanish League rivals, but the club has a reputation for developing strong talent in its academy program and selling those players to the bigger clubs.

The 13A team was up first. They played Rayo's 04 academy team, a strong physical and technical team. The game was pretty evenly matched for the first 30 minutes with an even amount of back and forth between the two teams. Thirty minutes in 13A had a handball in the box and Rayo was awarded a PK. The player converted the kick and the score was 1-0.

There was lots of holding and grabbing by Rayo and the CARA (Capital Area Railhawks Academy) boys learned to adjust quickly, though at one point or another every single player got taken down by a foul. The Rayo team also went down on contact pretty quickly, but as the boys learned at the Real Madrid training, they are coached to learn to draw the foul when they can.

After a 35 minute half, the score remained 1-0, Rayo. Coming out of halftime, Rayo wasted no time in scoring again with an upper 90 shot 8 minutes in. Just out of Davis' reach, the score was now 2-0.

The 13A was not easily defeated as they staged a comeback. Kiran had a goal 18 minutes into the half to make it 2-1. At the 25 minute mark, there was lots of good hard work by Messer to bring the ball through the midfield. He crossed in to Zaas for the equalizer; 2-2.

Unfortunately it was not meant to end in a draw. With about 5 minutes left in the game, Rayo scored putting them up 3-2. That remained the final score.

The 14s took the field at about 7:15pm for their match with Rayo's 03 Academy team. This game was less physical than the 13s was to start. The ball was in our half a lot, but Trace wasn't feeling too much

pressure yet. The Rayo players let him know they were there when Trace distributed the ball via a throw and one of the Rayo players grabbed his arm as he was throwing it. Trace completed the pass perfectly fine, but you could tell this was going to be interesting.

Kevan and Will had some early shots to test their keeper, but to no avail. However, about 20 minutes into the game CARA had a corner kick that bounced around a bit, but a cross from Aidan landed to Edge and it was David for the goal! CARA is up 1-0 and that score held for the remainder of the first half.

Starting the second half, Ethan substituted in for Trace. CARA got off to a fast start when Adam stole ball from a Rayo pass, got around the GK and passed it off to Ian who was in front of an open goal. Goal! CARA now up 2-0.

During the second half the physical nature of the game intensified as Adam and Jackson both went down hard on several occasions. Thankfully no one was seriously hurt.

All was going really well when Rayo scored their first goal to make it 2-1. Unfortunately, Rayo scored two more quick goals, and with less than 5 minutes left in the game, Rayo was now ahead, 3-2. The score remained the same as the referee blew the final whistle. The boys were disappointed to let the win slip through their fingers, but as Coach Paul said, Rayo was one of the best youth academy teams he's seen, and we proved to be a worthy competitor.

Next match is tomorrow night at 6:00pm (Spain time) vs UD San Sebastian de los Reyes.