Bella Sember, 10, was one of three girls in the United States selected by FC Barcelona coaches to train and participate in a tournament in Barcelona, Spain. Bella and her younger sister, Ruby, represented Team USA in the FCBEscola International Tournament, which started on April 14. Players from all over the world competed in different age categories. Bella shares her experiences with us below.
Bella’s Day 1 entry is here.
Day 2
We had three games. We played FCBE Vermell, a team from Barcelona first. We won, 1-0. I had the assist. They had a girl on their team, too. There was a lot of time until the second game when we played a team from Japan called Fukuoka. Our coach said that we were better than them individually but as a team they moved the ball better than us. They train together all year and our team doesn’t really know each other yet. Our third game was against Catalunya, a team from here. They played the same way as Vermell, which is a lot of give-and-gos all over the field and an occasional dribble. They start it from the back and move it up with passes. All of the Barcelona teams play this way. We did really good with a score of 4-0.
One thing I have to say is that our goalie is INSANE. We had no goals scored on us in four games. He makes the best saves. I never thought he would get to the spot where the ball was going on one free kick, but he did. This ball was left upper 90 and even he said after the game, “I can’t believe I saved that.” We had a row of Barcelona coaches at our game watching him and there’s a rumor going around that he will get picked for the Barcelona Academy. He is a sick goalie.
Every day, all of the kids and coaches go to lunch in one spot and the parents go to another spot. The kids fool around more than usual.
We got to the fields at 9am and stayed there until 8pm. The games are very spread out and in between we have snacks and we usually juggle or pass with our teammates and watch the other US teams play. Our team is the only USA team that is undefeated and our goalie is a big part of that.
Tomorrow is one more league game and the semifinal and if we win, the next day is the final. I am so happy to play with different kids and have the experience to play here in Barcelona.