Youth Team manager Jon De Souza thinks the disappointment of missing out on the final at the IMG Boys Invitational Cup will be a lesson learned for Brentford’s Under-18s.
The Bees travelled to Florida in December to take part in the prestigious tournament at the world renowned IMG Academy but were quickly under pressure following a 3-0 defeat to Stevenage in their opening game.
After a 1-0 win over Black Rock FC they fell just short of getting the win they needed to make the final in their last group game following a 1-1 draw against the hosts IMG Academy.
In the fifth placed final The Bees found themselves 2-0 down against the USMNT U17s before clawing their way back to draw 2-2 and share fifth place.
Speaking to Bees Player after returning Jon said his players had been taught a lesson about the pressures and demands of tournament football.
“Off the pitch were delighted with them but on the pitch we were disappointed overall,” said Jon.
“Ultimately the Stevenage game cost us: we were very poor in our application and in our quality.
“After that I felt we did ok.
“We went into that final group game looking to win to qualify for the final and we must have missed 10, 15 or 20 chances.
“It was just a lack of quality that stopped us getting through into the final.
“I have no complaints against the Stevenage result because ultimately we weren’t good enough even though we had chances in that game.
“I was really happy with the Black Rock win because though they were older than us and had a few internationals we competed with them and won the game.
“We should have won the last game against IMG Academy but a lack of quality cost us.
“I was delighted with the USA game because we watched a few other of the finals and I said to the players that, although it is about winning a tournament, it is more importantly about being a professional footballer.
“We had to see what their mentality was like and, to go 2-0 down and then to come back into the game, I was delighted with that.
“We have talked about providing the players with challenges and them overcoming those challenges before.
“The Stevenage challenge was a different challenge for them and in any tournament if you lose the first game then you put yourself under pressure.
“The players will learn that they have to be at it in every game, but especially in the first game, or they will be punished.”
One of the main aims of the Youth setup at Griffin Park is to improve players not only as footballers but also as people.
To that end Jon said he and the coaching staff were delighted to hear that, such was the behaviour of the boys on the trip to Florida, that passengers on their flight out to The Sunshine State had written to the club to commend them.
“It was a really good trip,” said Jon.
“The players to be fair to them performed really well off the pitch in terms of their behaviour.
“On the flight out there a few of the customers saw us as a professional football club and were a bit worried about 18 professional footballers being on a plane but they wrote in to the football club to say how well they behaved.
“We are delighted with that because when the players come in to us we want them, when they leave us, to leave as better people.
“Having seen them on the trip to America they will definitely leave this football club, whether it is in six months or longer, as better people than when they joined it and that is delightful for us.”
The IMG Academy is not only a venue for football teams but it some of the world’s top tennis players, weightlifters, golfers and young American football players also use it as a training base.
Being so near world class athletes from different sports gave the boys the chance to watch them train and see the dedication and hard work it takes to become a top sportsman.
Despite the poor quality of the pitches Jon said he was otherwise delighted with the facilities and that it was a real eye-opener for the boys to see the hard work put in by some of the world’s best athletes to stay at the top.
“The football pitches weren’t great and that would be the only negative about the facilities,” said Jon.
“The quality of the gym and the quality of the recovery areas was first class.
“The gym would be a world class environment for anyone to train at and they looked after us really well.
“So apart from the pitches I thought everything else was excellent.
“It was an eye-opener because we had one morning where we split the boys up into groups and four of the players went round with a member of staff and watched some of the top tennis players.
“Laura Robson and Heather Watson were out their practising and they are two of top tennis players in England and we watched them train.
“We watched the basketball team train and watched some of the world’s leading Weightlifters train.
“We were at a world leading environment full of world class athletes and our players could see just how much dedication they give to their careers.”
Jon was also pleased with the time that the trip to Florida afforded him and the other coaches to get to really know the players, especially those second-years who may be offered professional contracts in the coming months.
For Jon it is one thing seeing the boys for a few hours at the training ground but it is another entirely spending the majority of the waking day around his players.
“When the players are with us for five or six hours in a day it is hard for us to get to know the players and to see what they are about,” said Jon.
“Players can hide their personalities from us but when you are with them 16 or 17 hours a day you can really get to see what they are like when they are relaxed, what they are like when their guard is down and what they are like when they are away from football.
“That is key because if you want to go and compete at the elite level you have to be a 24 hour a day professional.
“It is coming up to decision time for the second-years now so hopefully they will get their heads down and we will look to make decisions on the second years in the coming months.”
Bees Player subscribers can listen to the full interview here.