Juventus confident about their chances of entering final
KUANTAN: The Italians fired the first salvo even before the kick off of their Champions Youth Cup (CYC) campaign, saying that one of the finalists of the tournament will come from Group B.
And coach Vincenzo Chiarenza said yesterday that Juventus were good bets to make the grade.
The Italians will give a picture on whether they are good enough to get to the final in their opening match against Qatar at the Darulmakmur Stadium in Kuantan today.
“We are not underestimating any team. Qatar have a physical approach and we have to contain them but it is not going to be easy under the humid weather conditions here,” said Chiarenza.
However, he said that the last couple of days in training here under the scorching heat had helped them to more or less adapt to the conditions.
On the positive side, Juventus will not be short of experienced hands. They have Burkina Faso Under-20 international Bassaoule Yobie and Ivory Coast defender Bamba Abdoulaye. They also have attacking midfielder Daud Ayub from Somalia.
Chiarenza said that their other two opponents Paris St Germain (PSG) and Barcelona needed no introduction.
“These are two skilful sides and our matches against them will be exciting ones,” said Chiarenza.
PSG will open their campaign against Barcelona tonight and the team ambassador for the French side, Simba Amara, sees it as a final showdown.
“If the luck of the draw had been different, these two teams (PSG and Barcelona) could well be playing in the final. Anyway, it will be a cracker in the opening game itself,” said Amara.
PSG coach David Bechkoura said that the CYC would offer the right kind of preparation for his team before their domestic competition in which they would gun for a podium finish again.
“We were third last season. We want to at least maintain our ranking,” said Bechkoura, who led the team to a champions' finish in 2005.
PSG will be counting on their mastermind in midfield Partouche Maxim to bring them a favourable result.
The Star