This Tuesday, a team representing Canada will fly to Morocco to play in the Danone Nations Cup. On the flight, three Impact U13 players, Hugo Spinola, Luka Vujivic and Tomas Giraldo, will live this experience for the first time.
“We are proud to have three Montreal Impact players at this prestigious event,” said Impact U13 head coach Serge Dinkota.
Slowly, it has become a tradition to be represented in this major international competition. Mathieu Choinière and Shawn Rojas, now with the Impact U16, and Benjamin Collins, goalkeeper with the U14, were also part of this event over the last few years.
“It’s a good experience. It’s a bit like our mini World Cup,” explained midfielder Mathieu Choinière. “It was weird since we were not used to play against other countries. It also gives us confidence to be selected for important events like this.”
“Last year, Benjamin Collins represented the club and was named third best goalkeeper of the tournament,” added Dinkota.
Since it’s a high level competition, the players will return from Morocco with a lot of experience gained.
“What’s good for them now is that they are with the Academy and that they are part of a privileged group of players who, at this age, are already in a professional structure,” said Dinkota. “We want them to have fun, but also to progress and enjoy this experience.”
Every year, around 2.5 million young soccer players from all around the world are taking part of the Danone Nations Cup. The competition starts at the regional level with selections from across the country, before defining a national champion when the Eastern and Western teams face each other. This year in Canada, the Eastern team qualified to represent the country abroad.
In the official draw in September, Canada was placed in group G with Romania, Indonesia and China. In a similar format as the FIFA World Cup, the 32 national teams are split into eight groups of four teams, before the knockout phase. Last year, Japan won the title.
