Day Out

The Italian Job

James Morris and Rich Williams go to watch Wrexham take on, erm, Juventus

JAMES: 

When I mentioned to the editor of RP that I was attending this fixture, he informed me that it may well be the only time during my career as a budding reporter that I would get to review the mighty Juve. And, almost certainly, I should imagine that this will be so. But it will also go down as definitely the only time I will report on a Wrexham side completely outplaying the Italians in every department and recording a 3-0 win.

The reason? That this fixture took place as a part of the inaugural North Wales Under-21 Tournament. 

The tournament, it seems, arose out of the efforts of our Academy Director Jamie Digwood. Through his efforts, WFC sent two young sides over to Italy last summer. Upon registering a pair of victories in Turin, the Italians were impressed enough to ask Digwood and Wrexham to organise a tournament in which one of their youth sides could compete. The end result was the setting up of this first Under-21 round-robin tournament, which also included the Academy sides of Premiership giants Aston Villa, and the Keegan-championed Man City. Tough going for the lads from Wrexham's recently established Academy, but clearly a set of games which would provide a worthwhile learning experience. In comparison, the sides fielded by Villa and City included players with both first-team and international experience. 

So, after a couple of defeats for the young Dragons at the hands of the slick Villa side, and the physical City youngsters, came the glamour fixture with Juventus. I have to say that the lack of publicity surrounding the fixture, and indeed the tournament itself, was nothing short of appalling. If this is what we are supposed to be paying Rhodes for, then something, somewhere is going wrong. But there was a half-decent turnout for the match, which was a corker. The Italian side was certainly skilful, as one would expect, and the match was fluid, exciting, end-to-end stuff. Juve had the best of the early encounters, but were swept aside by the Dragons in a quite awesome second-half display. Indeed, in the end we were to run out 3-0 winners. The first goal was scored by Gareth Williams, with a remarkable piece of skill straight from Serie A itself, rounding the keeper after a smart turn. The second ended a mazy dribble from left-back Dabbs, and young Williams again struck the winner, this time from the spot. A deserved win, made even more pleasing in that the Italians, like their elder counterparts, proceeded to flail around in mock agony on the ground after almost every challenge.

So it was a fine win to round off a very worthwhile tournament for the Reds. And it seems likely that next year Juventus will send over their full Under-21 side instead of the Under-19s they sent this year. In fact, many of their youngsters were kept back in order to gauge how they may fare in the fist team, which is a measure of the quality of the Turin youth set-up. Given that Liverpool have already expressed an interest in participating in 2002, hopefully this tournament will become a regular fixture in the North Wales sporting calendar.

RICH:

Pre-match state of mind? Lazy Sunday afternoon game against the Italian giants' young stars; hope suspended LT and MC would play.

Rain or shine? Dull all the way through, showers at times.
Team news? Slightly disappointing as no first teamers were present, but Mold Alex trialist Chris Boulton was given a chance to be given a permanent deal. 
Sum up the game in one sentence… Very impressive, a confident, direct performance by the Young Reds.

Pick out (a) one significant incident and (b) one bizarre incident during the match… (a) I think the first goal was a turning point as it gave our lads a chance to pass the ball rather than the early period of the game where we were a little panicky in our play. (b) Juventus' No.2 squealed as Chris Boulton nudged him ever so slightly in the back. Boulton even laughed afterwards! That said the majority of the Juventus side lacked strength and we completely dominated them throughout the game. Many of the Italians did what they are famous for on a number of occasions - diving. And it sure was humorous to see the young Juventus stars so blatantly doing it! 

Tell us about the goals… Talented youngster Gareth Williams broke the deadlock with a neat bit of skill to control the ball and coolly flick it past the young Juve keeper. Matthew Dabbs added a second in the second half, a fine run and finish from left back. Williams secured the win from the penalty spot after impressive trialist Boulton was brought down and Gareth scored with a sublime finish.

The opposition - any good? Even though Juventus' youth team clearly have flair and skill, they lacked determination, strength and commitment. Not impressive at all.

Our best player? Although many of the lads impressed a lot, Gareth Williams stood out for me as a player who can easily make the grade. Very similar to Bryan Hughes and Dave Brammer, he controls the midfield and goes forward at every opportunity. He has a bright future ahead of him. Right-back Mark Evans also looks a smashing prospect. I hope we sign Boulton as he impressed a lot with his Faulconbridge-esque technique in the air.

Off-pitch happenings? Not much. The Juventus coach was quite animated on the touchline, often shouting what sounded like 'ravioli' to his young players! Not much talk about the Oldham game either, probably and hopefully a forgotten memory now.

Your verdict on the ref? 6/10. Didn't do that much to upset, didn't do that much to win applause.

Describe Wrexham's performance in three words… Direct, promising, authoritative.

If you were BF what would you have said to your team after this match? I don't think he was even there! Probably having Sunday lunch back in Burnley. JJ was definitely there, and I'm sure he'd be extremely pleased with the Academy's performance.