Hammers youngsters impress overseas

Blue Stars

 

West Ham United’s youngsters did the Club proud at two international post-season tournaments.

Fresh from gaining promotion to Premier League 2 Division 1, the Academy sent squads to the Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup 2017 in Switzerland and the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens in Hong Kong.

Academy Director Terry Westley led the Hammers in Switzerland, where the ten-team Blue Stars competition was being held for the 79th time.

West Ham defeated host club FC Blue Stars 3-0 in their opening Group A fixture, before falling to a 2-0 defeat by eventual champions Olympique Lyon of France in their second game.

Onto the second day of competition and the east London side were held to goalless draws by Grasshopper Club of Switzerland and lndependiente Santa Fe of Colombia to leave them third in the group behind Lyon and Grasshopper.

Those results put the Hammers through to the 5th/6th place final, where they scored an impressive 3-1 victory over Benfica courtesy of an outstanding goal from Grady Diangana and two smart finishes from Toni Martinez.

You can watch highlights of that fine win over the Portuguese giants by clicking on the video box below.

 

 

Farther afield, the Hammers also sent a squad to the Far East for the HKFC Citi Soccer Sevens – a tournament in which they have finished as runners-up in each of the last two years.

U18s assistant manager Mark Phillips led the West Ham group, which included midfielder Moses Makasi, who was named on the bench for the final Premier League game of the season at Burnley, before signing a new one-year contract last week.

After drawing 0-0 with Yau Yee League Select, beating Kitchee 3-0 and losing 3-0 to French club Olympique Marseille on the opening day of competition in Group D, the Hammers were beaten 3-1 by eventual champions Leicester City to drop into the Shield competition.

There, they overcame HKFA U-23s 2-1 after extra-time before defeating Italian outfit Cagliari 2-0, with goals from Joe Powell and Jaanai Gordon, to secure a piece of silverware to bring home to England.

You can watch highlights of the Shield final victory by clicking on the twitter video below.