10 October 2008
Youth Team League kicks off Sunday
After the longest pre-season phase in living memory, the Youth Team are finally ready to play an official match. After a summer spent at the Chiusa Pesio training camp, several training sessions in Vinovo and a series of tournaments all across Italy, now it's time to get serious again.
Indeed this weekend the League kicks off and the Bianconeri will play last, as the debut match against Livorno has been selected to be the televised Sunday game and will be shown live on Italian satellite TV channel Sky Sport 1. Kick-off is at 11.30 pm at the Chisola ground in Vinovo.
This game will also be Massimiliano Maddaloni's first official match as Juventus' Youth Team's coach. A moment he's been waiting a long time for, just like his boys have been waiting to play: «It's finally time to go on the pitch. We had a long training period and so we’ve been eagerly anticipating this moment. I myself am curious to see the results of the work we've done so far».
The game against the team from Tuscany will only be the first in a season that, as always, is set to be long and tough. The Bianconeri will try and fight to win the three different honours: League title, Italian Cup and the Viareggio Tournament. The premises are good and Maddaloni knows he can count on his players: «We have a good squad and the lads are all quality players, we're convinced we can do well. We can win something. I have almost everyone available for Sunday's debut, apart from Iago who's injured. The League? The usual 4-5 bigger Clubs will fight to win it, and we're one of them. When all is said and done, I think the teams are more or less as strong as they were last year».
juventus.com