FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution’s youth development program will face will two South African clubs and one from Zambia at the 2012 Future Champions Gauteng Tournament, which will be held Monday, March 26 through Saturday, March 31, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The groups and tournament schedule was announced today by tournament organizers.
The Revolution will face the Orlando Pirates (South Africa), SAFA School of Excellence (South Africa) and K-Stars (Zambia) in group play, before concluding the tournament with two playoff matches. The elite international competition features 12 youth clubs from five different continents. The Revolution will represent North America in the tournament field.
The Future Champions Gauteng Tournament will begin with a group stage, with each of the 12 participating teams divided into four groups of three. Each team will play every other team within the group, plus one crossover game with a team from another group. The group stage matches will take place from Monday, March 26 through Wednesday, March 28 with one game each day. The playoffs and placing games are scheduled for Friday, March 30 and Saturday, March 31.
A full game schedule and group information is available below.
2012 FUTURE CHAMPIONS GUATENG TOURNAMENT GROUPS
Group A:
SAFA School of Excellence (South Africa)
KStars (Zambia)
New England Revolution (USA)
Group B:
Orlando Pirates FC (South Africa)
FC Nania (Ghana)
Nacional (Uruguay)
Group C:
Bidvest Wits (South Africa)
Aspire (Qatar)
Clube Atletico Mineiro (Brazil)
Group D:
Mohloli High School (South Africa)
Young Zebras (Botswana)
PSV Eindhoven (Netherlands)
2012 FUTURE CHAMPIONS GUATENG TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
Sunday, March 25 OFF
Monday, March 26 9:00 a.m. ET – vs. Orlando Pirates (Nike Football Training Center, Soweto, South Africa)
Tuesday, March 27 7:45 a.m. ET – vs. SAFA School of Excellence (Nike Football Training Center, Soweto, South Africa)
Wednesday, March 28 4:00 a.m. ET – vs. K-Stars (Nike Football Training Center, Soweto, South Africa)
Thursday, March 29 OFF
Friday, March 30 TBD game determined by previous results
Saturday, March 31 TBD game determined by previous results
Travel back to Boston
TOURNAMENT COVERAGE
Complete game recaps will be available on revolutionsoccer.net following each match, while blogs and photos will be posted daily on the club’s blog The Post. Live in-game updates can be found on Twitter at @NERevsLive.
NOTES
2012 Future Champions Gauteng Tournament Roster
The Revolution’s youth development program has announced its 18-player travel squad for the 2012 Future Champions Gauteng Tournament … the roster, composed of players from the Under-16 team, is available HERE on revolutionsoccer.net.
2011-12 U.S. Soccer Development Academy season so far
Now eight games into the 2011-12 Development Academy season – six of which have been on the road – the Revolution Under-18 team is now 5-3-0 (15 pts.), good for second place in the Northeast Division … the Under-16s hold a 6-2-0 record (18 pts.) and are in first place in the division.
Next Development Academy matches
Following the U16s’ return, the Revolution youth teams will resume the Development Academy schedule on the road, meeting PA Classics in Manheim, Pa., on Saturday, April 14, before taking on FC Delco in Downingtown, Pa., on Sunday, April 15.
Youth teams to play locally starting in April
After a series of road matches, the Revs’ youth teams will play their first home games of the second-leg of the Development Academy season at Gillette Stadium on Saturday, April 21, against Players Development Academy and Sunday, April 22, against the New York Red Bulls … the full schedule can be found HERE on revolutionsoccer.net.
