Sunderland's development squad are due to fly out to Hong Kong for the start of the Hong Kong Soccer Sevens, the annual, invitational seven-a-side tournament. Kevin Ball's side have been drawn in Group B of the tournament with Chelsea, Kitchee and HKFC Captain's Select. In last year's tournament, Sunderland reached the semi-final where they were defeated 1-0 by eventual champions Leicester City. Each team plays the other teams in their group once, with the top two sides in each group advancing to the quarter-final stage, with the losers of the quarter-final entering the Shield stage and the 3rd and 4th placed side in the groups entering the Plate knockout stage. Provisional Squad* Jordan Pickford, Andrew Cartwright, David Ferguson, Scott Harrison, Thomas McNamee, Martin Smith, Liam Agnew, Connor Oliver, Carl Lawson, Mikael Mandron. *This will be updated once the squad has been confirmed. Groups Group A Newcastle United Guangzhou Evergrande HKFA U-23 Hong Kong Football Club Group B Sunderland Chelsea Kitchee HKFC Captain's Select Group C Manchester City Rangers HKFA qualifer Singapore Cricket Club Group D Leicester City Aston Villa HKFA U-21 Yau Yee League Select Schedule All games in the group stage take place this Saturday, 24 March. Sunderland vs. Kitchee (15.40 Hong Kong Time - 8.40am GMT) Sunderland vs. HKFC Captain's Select (17.22 HKT - 10.22am GMT) Chelsea vs. Sunderland (19.38 HKT - 12.38pm GMT) All the games of the Cup, Shield and Plate knockout stages will take place the following day, Sunday, 25 March and we will update the schedule for those games as soon as the results are known.
Didnt even know we entered it Squad touches down in Hong Kong ahead of international tournament. Coach Kevin Ball and a 10-man U21 squad arrived in Hong Kong earlier today ahead of the Citibank Soccer Sevens. Sunderland are regulars at the tournament, reaching the final four in each of their last three visits. And theyâll be gunning for silverware having been denied by eventual champions Leicester City in the semi-finals last season. The squad is made up of nine development squad members plus second-year scholar Martin Smith. Goalkeeper Jordan Pickford makes the trip having finished his loan spell at Carlisle, while defender Scott Harrison and midfielder Connor Oliver are back from Hartlepool. Defenders Andrew Cartwright, Tom McNamee and David Ferguson are joined by midfielder Liam Agnew, who was named in a number of first-team squads towards the end of the campaign. Meanwhile Mikael Mandron, who made his first-team debut in 2012-13, is joined by fellow striker Carl Lawson. The tournament kicks off on Saturday, with Sunderland drawn in Group B alongside Chelsea, Kitchee and HKFC Captainâs Select. Five other British clubs are also competing â Manchester City, Newcastle, Rangers, Aston Villa and defending champions Leicester. The Black Cats play all three of their group games on Saturday, taking on Kitchee at 1540 local time (HKT). They then face HKFC Captainâs Select at 1722 HKT before playing Chelsea at 1938 HKT. Hong Kong time is seven hours ahead of the UK (BST kick-off times below). The top two teams in each group will then progress to the quarter-finals of the main cup competition on Sunday. The losing quarter-finalists will join the bottom two teams in each group in a separate Shield competition. Keep up to date with the squadâs progress right here on safc.com! HK SEVENS GROUP FIXTURES Saturday 24th May Sunderland v Kitchee (KO 8.40am BST) Sunderland v HKFC Captainâs Select (KO 10.22am BST) Chelsea v Sunderland (KO 12.38pm BST)
Me neither mate, not so much for England (although I will be fully in the zone for our games), but for the likes of Argentina, Chile, the great entertainers. Interested to see Belgium, Holland, ze Germans, France if they can stop hating each other.... I reckon this will be a very special tourney indeed.
Haha, That will be ****ing daft man, I went Dubai in August once, and you couldn't walk 200 metres, you'd struggle for breath cos the air is so dry. The big FA's need to refuse to allow it in winter, ****ing our seasons up, and force the corrupt pack of ****wits to move it.
Will be a topper mate, can't see the Spanish boring everyone to sleep en route to the final like they did last time! Got a funny feeling Portugal will go far, if only because Ronaldo has become even more ridiculously unstoppable since the last one. 4 weeks of non-stop footy, with the interest of watching England team but without the risks to cardiovascular health you get with Sunderland. All coming right after my final uni exams as well. I'm personally loving the late kick off times n'all, gives plenty of time to get well-oiled ahead of the games! Can't wait.
I fancy Portugal to go well an arl mate, and I agree on Spain. In the same way as Barca, top teams know how to defend against it now, Brazil showed in the Confed, they ripped them apart. I'm struggling to see past Brazil or Argentina, Brazil seem obvious but the pressure might get to them, like it did in 1950.
**** at the back, but when you have Aguero, Messi, Higuain & Lavezzi, who gives a ****? They will be very, very close. Few teams are poor at the back, Holland, Chile, but they are generally vicious going forward. Chile look like the potential dark horse, I don't see any major surprises. As per Italy will be rock solid and any team with Pirlo in it will go to at least the quarters, it's actually a really balanced squad, if not as much quality as previously. France, players wise, are as good as anyone, but they ****ing hate each other, look at their squad man for man, and it is superb, in every department. They need to get Zidane involved knocking some heads together.
Really excited now. Think it's going to be a high scoring tournament. Argentina to win and Aguero top scorer @ 33/1 is my outright bet.
That's gotta be worth a punt that mate! Personally think Aguero is the key, he's a ****ing game changer that lad, every bit as much as Messi. Unreal movement and touch, master finisher, but even when he hasn't the ball he runs the **** out of defenders. He's superb, if he stays fit for a couple seasons and has a strong World Cup, he might get the credit he's due.
