Vasteras IK had the most difficult game in the U16 boys’ category at the Lisbon Football Youth Cup, which brought to Lisbon crowds of many places in Europe, especially Sweden and Ireland.
The U16 team from Vasteras IK, a Swedish club founded in 1913, in the city of Vasteras, located at 100 kilometres from Stockholm, faced the Real Sport Clube de Massamá, one of the strongest Portuguese youth football clubs. Full of talented players, and with a cheerful and handsome football, Real attacked from the beginning until the end. Short, fast die, unblemished triangulations, and powerful goal shots.
A few minutes after the match started, we could clearly see that Vasteras IK is a strong team. The Swedish boys soon realized that they did not have Real’s skills and that their strength was in their unity and intelligence.
And it happened. Vasteras IK finished the match with great tactical skills and great solidarity among the 11 boys. At decisive moments, when a Real player was dangerously isolated or had a good angle for a fatal shot, there was always a young Swedish boy who was able to disarm him or prevent the deadly shot.
By the end of the match, Vasteras IK's players seemed to think the job was done and acted more defensively, just waiting for the referee to blow the final whistle. The players never lost their concentration and they had a fair final result: 0 – 0.
