Heartbreak for Aspire as Real Madrid win Al Kass Cup

Aspire team fought to the very end against the tournament’s strongest side but fell short in the final

Real Madrid, at last, clinched the under-17 Al Kass International Cup, after defeating local favourite Aspire Academy 2-0 yesterday. Real Madrid were in the final for the third time, and having been beaten on the last two occasions, they finally held their hands on the trophy at Aspire Zone. It was a landmark night for Aspire team as they fought to the very end against the tournament’s strongest side. The second-place showing marked the local squad’s best result in the six-year history of Al Kass.
In the end, a combination of Real Madrid’s characteristic talent and Aspire’s final nerves was enough to lift the Spanish. With the game scoreless in the 79th minute, Aspire keeper Shehab Mamdouh Ellethy parried a cross from Marvin Akinlabi in front of his own goal. Defender Saleh Saeed Binhalabi hesitated to clear and his uncertain strike hit the shin of Madrid’s Jose Antonio Fernandez Simal and rolled agonisingly into the far corner of the net.
There was no questioning Madrid’s second goal. In the 89th minute, Antonio Manuel Casas Marín found space from 30 yards and didn’t hesitate. His half-volley curled into the top corner past Ellethy, a world-class goal to win a world-class tournament.
Real Madrid coach Alvaro Benito Vilarr said: “I want to thank the organisers of the tournament. They have done a wonderful job putting together such an amazing and professional event. I am thankful to my players for playing good quality football. What really makes me happy is the fact that all of them came together as a united group of professionals to win the event. Aspire Academy also played extremely well. It has been a true learning experience for my players to have played against them and the other teams.”
 Madrid’s Miguel Baez Pérez was the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, and shared the Golden Boot as the tournament’s top scorer at four goals with Franck Junior Evina of Bayern Munich and Kaito Mori of Kashiwa Reysol. Kashiwa’s Tomo Chiwata was named Most Outstanding Goalkeeper, and the Kashiwa squad won the Fair Play Award for the fewest bookings.
Bruno Miguel Nogueira, coach of Aspire Academy, was gracious in defeat, saying: “Despite losing the final game, I am extremely delighted with my players. They exhibited an excellent performance all through the tournament, especially in the final match against a very strong opponent. We have come a long way and now we are a strong team with the ability to challenge some of the best teams in the world. I am thankful to everyone who have put in their efforts to organise this tournament.”
Aspire defender Ahmed Suhail al-Hamawende was disappointed with the loss but looked at the positives. “Winning and losing is part of the game, but what is important for us is the fact that we played very well. We played as a strong team. I am happy with the way all of us played in this game. We learned a lot in this tournament from the teams participating and all of them have a number of very strong and skilled players. We are looking forward to meeting them again in the field in future tournaments,” he said.
Essa Abdulla al-Hitmi, General Manager of Al Kass Channels and Chairman of the Organising Committee of Al Kass International Cup, said: “We congratulate Real Madrid for winning Al Kass International Cup Under-17 2017. We also congratulate Aspire Academy for coming second and for the great results it achieved and the wonderful performance which characterised it and which enabled it to come this far.”
Ivan Bravo, Director General of Aspire Academy, said afterward: “Once again, we’ve successfully hosted one of the best youth tournaments in the world. More and more have come to know about the tournament, and each year the crowd gets bigger. Great talent was on display, and we watched fantastic games played by teams from all over the world. The fact that Aspire Academy reached the final for the first time shows that we have reached another great milestone in the development of our players, and one day they will hopefully represent Qatar in the senior national team.”
Mohammad Khalifa al-Suwaidi, CEO of Aspire Zone, said “We are proud of the fact that Aspire Academy has reached the final, and we knew that Real Madrid were the favourite to win, but our team was a strong foe until minute 80. I congratulate our players, and I congratulate Real Madrid for winning this tournament for the first time after reaching the final three times.”
In the third-place match, Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) defeated Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany), 4-0. Salzburg, which fell to Aspire in the semi-finals, wasted no time claiming their bronze medals, scoring four goals in the first 30 minutes. Aldin Aganovic scored two goals, and captain Benjamin Wallquist and Dominik Szoboszlai scored as well for Salzburg, who finished fourth in their Al Kass debut in 2016.
Moving down the table, in fifth place were Kashiwa Reysol (Japan), Paris Saint-Germain (France) were sixth, PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands) were seventh, and Espérance de Tunis (Tunisia) took eighth.