Arnaldo Pereira Under-17 and Under-15 with distinct performances in the National Cups

The Arnaldo Pereira School began its campaign in the National Futsal Training Cups this Sunday, competing in the Under-15 and Under-17 competitions, with different results.

The kick-off took place this Sunday morning, at Pavilhão da Coxa, in Bragança, where the youth team lost to SC Braga by 2-6, in the 1st round of the national Under-17 competition.

The Under-15 team started the competition on the right foot by winning at Póvoa Futsal, 1-2, with goals from Rodrigo and André.

In the youth competition match, the visitors started the game with high intensity, surprising the brigantinos, who found it difficult to counter the quick offensive movements of the Braga team, being penalized with the opening goal in the 4th minute, by Daniel Oliveira, following a insistence play.

A minute later, Pedro Rodrigues made it 0-2, in a move where goalkeeper Gabriel Costa didn’t have the best approach to the Braga player’s shot. Shortly afterwards, in the 6th minute, Hugo Sousa made it 0-3 and, in the 12th minute, Tomas Oliveira exploited his technical ability to fix the result at 0-4 at half-time.

At the restart, the pace continued with Braga increasing the gap in the 23rd and 30th minutes, with goals from João Guimarães and Daniel Oliveira, respectively.

Unsatisfied, the brigantinos fought to give an image more in line with their real value and reduced the difference in the final minutes, in the 37th and 39th minutes, with Rafa and João Afonso leaving their mark on the match.

At the end of the match, the coach of Escola Arnaldo Pereira, Hugo Martins, highlighted the difference between the experience in the district and the demands of the national team. “The intensity of the Braga team is very high, combined with the ease with which they change players and there is no noticeable drop in performance, but I believe we fell short in the initial moments of the match. The National is a demanding competition in which learning is fundamental for the development of these athletes, and all my players count in this competition.”

Adding that “our reality is completely different, where we competed in the district stage with a different level of difficulty, but, in addition, the rules seem different, noting that the refereeing sometimes does not seem to keep up with the demands of the competition”.

On the other hand, the coach from Braga, Carlos Duarte, admitted that he was unaware of the Brigantine team and set his goal to reach the Final Four. “We didn’t know the opposing team, but we know our value and we expected to come here and fight for victory. It went well, but in the end we got sloppy. Our objective is to get as far as possible in this tournament and the objectives are always to be in the of decisions, that is, reaching the final four.”

In the next round, scheduled for March 23rd, the Arnaldo Pereira Under-15s will host Santa Luzia, while the Brigantine Under-17s will play, the following day, in Maia.

Photo Archive: Guilherme Moutinho