The young talents of the FC Bayern World Squad did not have much time to acclimatise to their new surroundings before already having to stand their ground. On the second day of their nine-day trip to Brazil, the team, coached there by Christopher Loch and Bayern legend Zé Roberto, faced real top-class opponents. Immediately after getting to know each other, the newly formed team played against Vasco da Gama's U20s in Rio de Janeiro.
Here are the match highlights:
"We had one day of training before the match, that's two sessions" explained Loch. Due to the long journey, the first of those was solely dedicated to regeneration and activation, meaning there was little time to prepare for the strong opposition. In the circumstances, the result - a 3-1 defeat - can be seen in a different light, and the coaching team emphasised the positives.
Good impression in spite of defeat
"None of them should be hanging their heads," summarised Loch. "If you discount the first 10 to 15 minutes, the boys produced a great performance. They came more and more into the game and we can really build on that." Indeed, the team settled after an unfortunate opening period, in which the World Squad fell 2-0 behind after six minutes through a Manuel Peña own goal (4') and a Paixão goal (6'). Hiromu Chiba (16') reduced the deficit for the international Bayern side, who from then on made it a more open contest. Only Wendell's 80th-minute strike wrapped up the result for the hosts.
Coach Christopher Loch gives the team their final instructions for the match in the dressing room.
Zé Roberto also praised his charges: "I'm pleased with the boys' performance. We played against a strong team. Vasco have a lot of good young players with a lot of potential." After all, the young talents born in 2004 and 2005 were up against an under-20 side. "You can tell, that was men's football," said Loch of the well-drilled opponents, who had just finished their league season as unbeaten champions. Therefore, the coaching team do not need to build up the team for a long time after the defeat. The players will now receive feedback and get the chance to reflect on the game together so that "they can take all the impressions and experiences at this level into the next games. We want to work that out bit by bit and develop together," Loch continued.
The team's next challenge awaits on Monday. "Now we have to prepare for the second match against Flamengo, who are a bit of a step up from Vasco," warned Zé Roberto. So the time is short for the team to gel more ahead of the next difficult task - but that's not overly worrying the coaches. Even Vasco coach Igor Guerra was apparently impressed by how in tune the World Squad players were after one day of training. "The new boys have slotted in seamlessly. That's what we wanted and also what we expected because of our experience from last year," added Loch.
Team coming together
"It's nice to observe that there are 17 different nationalities and yet they're managing, even if they don't speak the same language, to communicate with each other," revealed the World Squad boss. "They all find a way, which is nice. And on the pitch it's easier anyway, because football is a universal language." After just a few days together, it's already apparent that a real team is coming together here.
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