AT HAZZA BIN ZAYED STADIUM.. SLOVAK’S ŽILINA AND SPAIN’S REAL BETIS IN A THRILLING CHALLENGE TO WIN HBZ INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT TITLE TONIGHT
Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium will witness the final match of Hazza Bin Zayed International Junior Football Tournament scheduled to be held at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday 15th April 2018 under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hazza Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Vice-Chairman of the Executive Council, First Vice President of Al Ain Sports and Cultural Club, First Vice President of the Honorary Council & Chairman of the Board of Directors of Al Ain Sports and Cultural Club. The official announcement of the champions of the 10th edition of the tournament will be announced after the end of the match between Spain’s Real Betis and Slovakia’s Žilina as both teams succeeded in making strong performances during the groups and semifinal stages of the “international” tournament.
As the two teams qualify for the final, it is certain that the international tournament will witness a new champ for its current edition. Two Spanish teams, Valencia in 2009 won the title of the second edition and Athletic Bilbao won the 2017 edition. The Hazza Bin Zayed International Junior Football Tournament was officially launched in 2008, and since then Manchester City team is the team who most won the title of the tournament by winning the third and fifth editions. Indeed, the title of the first edition was won by the Senegalese Academy and the second was won by Valencia, while Al Ain Club won the title of the fifth edition, Dinamo Zagreb clinched the “sixth” title, Emirates National Team won the seventh title, Jazira won the eighth title. As for the last year’s “ninth” title, it was won by Spain’s Athletic Bilbao.
The Journey of The Two Teams
Real Betis FC was able to reach the final match after leading the second group table with a full 6 points, beating Everton 4-2 and Al Jazira 3-2, and before beating Argentina’s Deportivo Atalaya, runners up f the second group, 2-0.
Real Betis scored nine goals and classified as having the strongest attacking line in the team’s three games, while the team conceded 4 goals.
Top scorer of the team is Joaquin Delgado who scored four goals, followed by three goals scored by Abraham Lozano, while Pablo Ortiz and Daniel Romero scored only one goal.
Real Betis qualified to the final match when they won Deportivo Atalaya by 2-0 in the semi-final match where Real Betis played a great match specially in the second half and they were able to score two great goals by Otis Suarez 77 and Delgado Romero 79.
Real Betis player Rodrigo Fernando was named Best Player of the Match.
SLOVAK TASK FORCE
Slovakia’s Žilina journey in the tournament was featured by being intensity and challenges on the way to the final match as the team was able to take the lead in the group stage with 6 points following winning all three matches the team played against Argentina’s Deportivo Atalaya wining them by 2-0, winning Al Ain by 1-0 and to meet Al Jazira in the semifinals and to win the match by 4-1.
The Slovak’s team scored seven goals, while conceding one goal to become the team with the strongest defense until the semi-finals.
Žilina scored six goals by six players while the seventh was scored in Al Jazira by friendly forces by the defender of Al Jazira. The players scored for the team include: Patrick Linter, Sebastian Prasik, Matin Mozges, Adrian Kapralik, Marc Teplan and Martin Gumola.
Slovakia’s Žilina managed to beat Al Jazira 4-1 in the semifinal match on Sunday night at Tahnoon Ben Mohammed Stadium.
Slovakian Žilina player Cesc Vladislav received the award of the Best Player of the Match and was awarded the prize by Obaid Mubarak, Director of the Technical Department at UAE Football Association.
