Each summer, the Northern Ireland Dairy Council sponsors a week-long soccer tournament for U-14, U-16, and U-18 players. The tournament is called the "Milk Cup." The U-14 and U-16 teams come from counties around Ireland and from youth teams associated with English Premier League teams. But in the U-18 tournament, 5 national teams from around the world are invited to join the Northern Ireland team in the competition.
And that is how we got to see the US play Mexico in Coleraine (about 45 minutes from Derry) last Wednesday night!
The game was close and ended 1-1. The draw plus an earlier win over Israel last Monday night put the US team in the game for 3rd/4th place on Friday. Steve couldn't take the time off, but M and I drove to Ballymoney to see the US play again on Friday. We arrived early enough to catch the second half of the 5th/6th place game between Mexico and Israel, which ended regular time at 0-0. M and I got to see our first penalty shoot out tie breaker and congrats to Mexico for winning the shoot out 4-3. The US played Georgia and won 2-1. M and I were surprised at the low attendance for the game; I don't think that there were more than 100 spectators!
Friday evening BBC Sport Northern Ireland broadcast the final game between home team Northern Ireland and Denmark and we all watched it from the comfort of our living room. In a disappointing loss for the home team, Denmark won 1-0.
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