Last weekend, the South Melbourne youth teams welcomed Avondale FC to Albert Park for a football-filled Saturday. The synthetic pitch proved slippery and fast in the miserable wet weather conditions but it did mean that all matches could be played. Six matches would kick-off the pre-season for our youth teams.
South Melbourne Technical Director Sean Gale spoke to smfc.com.au about the day, saying “This is a great opportunity today with Avondale for some pre-season practice games. We have organised a number of Gala days like this in the coming weeks to prepare the teams for the March start to the season.”
Under 12s
The Under 12s were up first and recorded a 4-0 win with goals scored by Alex Hird, Curtis Wong, Alexander Terzakis and Yianni Panakos. After the game, smfc.com.au spoke with Dimitri Kapolitsas to gain his thoughts on the match. “I thought we played really well. We could have kept the ball a little bit more but we defended well and we attacked well” he said. Asked about the positives and what the team wanted to achieve this year, Kapolitsas said “We all know each other so we can play better. Our goal is to win the League. Our coach is fantastic, best coach in the world”.
Under 13s
The Under 13s met a strong Avondale line-up and were able to grind out a 1-0 win thanks to a first half goal by Daniel Triantopoulos.
Under 14s
The Under 14s match was a goal fest, with open free play and many opportunities for both teams. The final result was a 6-3 win to South with goals to Luke Barforosch, Chris Gregory, Noah Chinnama, Alan Fogel (x2) plus an own goal.
Double goal scorer Alan Fogel spoke to smfc.com.au after the match, saying “I thought we played well, we dominated and kept the ball. It was a bit scrappy conditions with the rain starting again every few minutes. We had a lot of breaks through their defence and finished a lot of opportunities.” We asked Fogel about his side’s strength of play and how they broke down their opposition. “Avondale were good but their defence they didn’t play it out fast so they let myself and our other wingers pounce on them. They didn’t release the ball fast enough and we had opportunities to take it off them in their defence” he said.
Under 15s
The Under 15s put on a good display of quality passing and finishing as they recorded a 5-1 win. Tristan Meaker scored one and Charly Layton, who only recently pulled on the South Melbourne shirt, chipped in with four goals.
With Charly putting four in the net, smfc.com.au spoke with him after the match. “I really enjoyed the game. I thought as a team we played well. In training we’ve been working on defensive structure and how to attack. Personally I thought I played alright but couldn’t have done it (scored four goals) without the other ten though, a good team victory” he said. Charly also shared some thoughts on the Avondale FC opposition, saying “they were a very well structured side, particularly good in the midfield, they played to their strengths. We saw the way they were playing out from the back, we capitalised on that and it’s how we scored our goals.”
Under 16s
The Under 16s had a tough fight on their hands with a solid Avondale defensive line-up. The team went down 0-1.
