June 3, 2015 League 1 Ontario--ANB Futbol Begins 2015 Season With A Bang (from League 1 Ontario press release)
ANB Futbol Begins 2015 Season With A Bang . Wed Jun 3 Written By: Kelly, Tim Despite being a boy among men, Adonijah Reid is showing the adults how it’s done. The 15-year-old forward for ANB Academy already has two goals in just four league games to help pace the King City-based squad to an undefeated three-win, one-draw record in four matches. Reid, who turns 16 in August, is playing beyond his years in a league that caters mostly to 19-23 year-olds. Assistant coach Marcelo Almeida said he’s not worried about this young man’s ability to handle the tough play and physicality of League 1. “Within ANB Academy, we’ve always known that Adonijah has the ability, but physically, we needed to know he could withstand the pressures of the game. “He’s going up against men, guys who are 21, 22 who have university playing experience or even international experience and we don’t want to see him get hurt, he’s still growing. He has the skills to play at this level but he needs to be aware of what he can and can’t do, of what tackles he can go into, of where he can win the ball,” said Almeida. While Reid is one of the big stories of ANB’s undefeated season so far, he’s far from the only one. The team, which finished in the middle of the nine-team league in League1’s inaugural season in 2014, is benefiting mightily from having a second year of experience. A full year of off-season training and togetherness has done wonders to help ANB get off to a fast start said Almeida. “The core group of players is in their second year together. That’s eight to 10 to 12 players who have the experience of a year together in League1 and I think that’s the No. 1 reason we’re off to a good start," said Almeida. However, it was a decision by ANB officials not to allow university-bound players who would leave the team midway through the League1 season to play for the team this year that has also had an impact according to the assistant coach. “We wanted players who would stick around for the full nine to 10 months of the season. It’s not to say there are no university players on the team, but if they are new to the academy or to ANB and looking to just play for three months (outdoors) and leave in August, we didn’t accept them to ANB this year,” Almeida said. Last season, a number of players left to go attend and play in university in August and that changed the nature of the team from the first half of the season to the second half of the season. “The players have been getting to know each other. They’ve been training three to four times a week and we know they’re not going to the States come August, they’ll finish out the season through the end of September, the beginning of October,” said Almeida. ANB has scored seven goals and given up just two through its first four games with Jason Mills scoring twice, including the lone goal in a 1-0 win over Woodbridge Strikers in ANB’s last match, and Belrum Vartanian and Blake Jones with a goal each. “We still have some work to do. As far as attack, I don’t think there is a team in the league that can have the same positional style that we have, our speed of play is very, very fast,” said Almeida. “We want to keep it continuing, the coaches want to keep it continuing. We have had some mistakes taking place, but so far, we’ve been able to cover for them. The players have been healthy and we have had no serious injuries,” he concluded. In L1 Cup action, ANB hosts Sigma F.C. tonight (Wed June 3) at Country Day School, 7 p.m. kickoff, and visits Vaughan Azzurri this Sunday for a tough league match at McNaughton Field in Vaughan at 2 p.m.
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