The New York City FC Academy will travel to Madrid, Spain for the 1st Internacional e-Soccer Cup which takes place on Feb. 24-27. The tournament will feature some of the most renown academies in Europe as well as national select teams from Japan and Spain.
RELATED: New York City FC's Academy Trip to Bolivia
The Academy is coming from a strong performance in the XXI Mundialito Tahuichi Paz Y Unidad 2016 tournament that took place in Bolivia.
New York City FC Youth Technical Coordinator Rodrigo Marion discusses the difference between the two tournaments.
“In this tournament we are going to be facing European clubs and national teams, these teams are going to be very different than the ones we played against in Bolivia,” said Marion. “The trip to Bolivia was excellent for our players because they learned how to compete in a tournament environment and adaptation was key for us. We can take the momentum of this experience as an advantage for this trip. The teams we are going to play against are more tactical and have more experience playing international games year round. The teams we will be facing in Spain play with a similar style to our team. We are going to play in an environment that we are used to and that will be an advantage for us. Our objectives for this trip will be to continue playing our attacking style while looking to reach the finals."
PHOTOS: NYCFC Academy's trip to Bolivia
Before the tournament, the NYCFC Academy will play in a friendly warm-up match against Real Madrid leading up to the beginning of the tournament. In addition to their matches, the Academy will visit the Spanish National Team Museum and Real Madrid’s Museum.
