Laos Youth Team Mazda GB Beats Barcelona Academy to Win Youth Tournament
Listen to the story
A young football team from Laos, called Mazda GB, has won a youth tournament, surprising many football fans. Laos is ranked 185th in the world by FIFA, the international football organization, which makes this win even more impressive.
In the final match, Mazda GB faced a team from FC Barcelona's youth academy, which trains talented young players. The Barcelona team took the lead first, with an 11-year-old player named Nishiyama Shinta scoring a powerful goal from around 25 meters away.
Despite falling behind, Mazda GB managed a dramatic comeback, scoring several goals to win the match. This kind of victory, where a team turns a loss into a win, is called a comeback.
Throughout the tournament, Mazda GB defeated several teams connected to Japanese football academies, known as J-academies. In four of their five matches, they kept a clean sheet, meaning they did not allow the opposing team to score at all.
The only goal scored against them came from a defender named Kuwabara, who plays for the Chiba regional training squad. Over the whole tournament, Mazda GB scored an impressive 13 goals while conceding just one.
This victory marked the team's first ever tournament win, known as a maiden title. After the final whistle, players and supporters celebrated joyfully, treating the win as a major achievement for a team from a country not usually known for football success.
Vocabulary7 words
- tournament
- a competition with many games between teams
- FIFA
- the organization that manages world football
- academy
- a school where young athletes train and improve
- goal
- a point scored by putting the ball in the net
- comeback
- a win after being behind earlier in the game
- clean sheet
- a match where a team allows no goals against them
- maiden title
- a team's first ever championship win
Quiz
Answer key
1. They are ranked very low by FIFA 2. With a shot from about 25 meters 3. True
Fill-in-the-blank listening
Play the audio again and fill in the missing words as you listen.
A young football team from Laos, called Mazda GB, has won a youth _____, surprising many football fans.
Laos is ranked 185th in the world by _____, the international football organization.
In the final match, Mazda GB faced a team from FC Barcelona's youth _____, which trains talented young players.
An 11-year-old player named Nishiyama Shinta scored a powerful _____ from around 25 meters away.
Despite falling behind, Mazda GB managed a dramatic _____, scoring several goals to win the match.
In four of their five matches, they kept a _____, meaning they did not allow the opposing team to score at all.
This victory marked the team's first ever tournament win, known as a _____.
Discussion questions
- Why do you think a low-ranked team like Mazda GB could beat a strong academy team like Barcelona's?
- How do you think the players felt after scoring the winning goals in a comeback?
- What does this story show about young players from smaller footballing countries?
- Have you ever watched or played in a game where a team came from behind to win? What happened?