Day 1

We arrived safe and sound. It is beautiful weather here. 60's and sunny. We met up with the Arsenal team and mixed our players with their's. We created 6 teams of 6 players+1 keeper and then played small sided games. Both the Arsenal girls and ours had a great time. I think our players learned a little bit that the English girls just LOVE TO PLAY the game. Both groups keep the adults on the side lines laughing too.....both sides standing firm that each other has "THE ACCENT". Hope you like the picture.

We have changed our Sunday schedule a bit. The Arsenal womens team is playing in a qualifying league game on Sunday and invited us to watch the game. We felt that we could not pass up this opportunity to see a women's game. More to come after the mens professional game tomorrow....

We attended the Spurs vs Watford game yesterday and had a great time. The spurs fans were VERY into the game. Enjoy.

Day 3

went well. The weather was cold and windy. The girls had practice for about an hour and half in the morning. We headed into Bristol for the Arsenal womens club game and stopped at a motorway for lunch. Did you know they sell "disposable toothbrushes" in the bathrooms? That was the topic of conversations and laughs. The game was a bit slow in play. We sat through 30 mph winds, rain and wind chills in the 30's but it didn't stop us from having a good time. Since it was covered seating, we didn't get wet. On our way out, the concession man was enchanted by our girls and gave them a full box of meat pies, pizza pies and sausage pies. We were invited to the Arsenal "after party". After a 2 hour trip home in the rain, and a bite to eat, we snuggled in for some sleep!!!! Tomorrow we head to London for "SHOPPING and SIGHTSEEING".

Day 4

We had an awesome day. We went into London for a day of shopping and sightseeing. Once we got into town, we watched the changing of the guards....in the snow! It was a bit chilly but that didn't stop us. We walked and walked and walked. Some went to picadilly circus and some went to Covent Gardens. I think all can say we had a great time. We rested and had a pre game meal before leaving for the Beckham Acadamy. We were all suprised at how big it was. The girls of course, had to have their picture taken with every picture of Beckham. We split the girls into 2 teams with Mike Moynihan coaching one, and Brad Evans the other. Mikes' team won 3-1 and Brad's team won 1-0. The only shock to us about the Academy was that it was not heated, so what ever the temperature is outside, it was even colder inside. After arriving back to the hotel after 12:30 we went to sleep for an early travel day tomorrow.

Day 5

We arose at 8 am for breakfast which consisted of bread, croissant, ham, cheese, cereals/milk, hard boiled eggs, coffee and juice. Mike met with his team from Monday night’s game and Brad met with his team. Then together they discussed today’s matches. We then loaded up for a bus sightseeing tour of Paris, quick shopping and lunch. Some went to see the Church of the Sacred Heart while other shopped. We took a team picture at the “photo” spot for the Eiffel Tower. We loaded and headed to Compiegn to play our first game at 3:30. On the road it hailed, snowed and rained. We all hope it quits when the games starts. Once arrived, Brad took his team int o the locker room for a quick chat and then to the field. We won 2-0 with goals scored by Vanessa DiBernardo, IL and assisted by Amber Fry, IL; and Victoria Bailey, MI, assisted by Kayla Mannino, MI. After the game we were served sandwiches and headed to our next game against Region Picardie. The game field was moved to our in the country so it was a bit further out but the sunset was beautiful. Mikes team had a quick talk and took the field. This is a Division I team in France, and older then our team but our girls held their own. The first goal was an own goal off a throw in from Fatima Nassar, MI which was collected by the other team, back passed to their keeper who missed it and it rolled in the net! Our second goal was unassisted by Niki Read, MI. Region Picardie team scored once so game ended US 2 them 1. We each received our own pizza after the game then headed to the bus for a 2 hour trip to the hotel.

Thursday was a very long day for us all. We loaded the bus and headed out for the day. We had lunch on our way to the Castle de Chambord located in wine country. What a breath taking experience! You will have to ask your daughters about "the black coats". (a nickname we did not want) All ended up okay-just a learning experience...the hard way. The castle is over 600 years old and has 440 rooms and 365 fireplaces. (no bathrooms)-another story. Along the way, there were several gypsy camps that brought back memories of the old song "Gypsies, Tramps and Thiefs". We proceeded to our games against Tours Futbol club. This complex was awesome and we got to play on a brand new artificial turf field. The first game was against their reserve team which we beat 8-0 (I think). I lost track after 6 and was tending to an injury. The second game we lost to the full Tours Womens team 2-0. (We split our teams evenly-and the girls learned alot from that experience). We then had sandwiches with the French team and the staff had to share a champaign toast with their staff. Then we were off for a long trip to the hotel.

Day 7

Friday we had a free day. We took the girls on the subway to the Eiffel Tower (raining and cold) then back on the subway to Notre Dame. We instructed the girls on shopping and sites and challenged them to the "Great American Region II Race" to the hotel. Gave each a subway ticket, a map and directions to the hotel. We wanted to see if they could make it back on their own by 6:30 and which group chose which route. (little did they know, it wasn't but a mile to the hotel) It was a great experience for them. I arrived back at the hotel first to wait and see. First group of three arrived back at 5:15 they chose to walk. They said it was the best time they had ever had. Shopped the whole way back. (After seeing what they bought, I should have been with them). We plan on a nice sit down dinner tonight then tomorrow our trip home. I hope your girls have enjoyed this soccer trip and hope they value their time here and friendships they have made. Enjoy the pictures!