ABU DHABI // Scott Sellars, the Manchester City youth team coach, said he was looking forward to the experience his side would gain from the Al Jazira International Friendly Youth Tournament.
Adam Drury volleyed a cross from Alex Henshall to give City a 1-0 win over the UAE Under 18s and revive their hopes of a semi-final spot.
"I am not trying to look for excuses but we didn't have much time to acclimatise after arriving on Saturday for a game on Monday," said Sellars, referring to a 4-2 loss to Qatar.
"We take all games seriously and obviously want to win every game we play. This is what the youngsters learn from this experience. They get an early lesson to learn to win against strong opposition and teams they don't meet so often.
"We came with a very young squad, all around the age of 16. And they were playing against older and stronger players.
"We were here last year for a similar tournament in Al Ain and we won. So let's hope we can win this as well."
Sellars complimented the quality of the youth national teams of Qatar and the UAE.
"Football is improving in this part of the world and we played two very tough games," he said. "They have invested heavily in the game in this part of the world and the improvements are there to be seen."
City went down to Qatar but their win over the UAE at Sultan bin Zayed Stadium has blown Group B wide open.
The UAE face Qatar tomorrow at 7.15pm.
Six teams are in the tournament, in two groups of three, including sides from Tunisia and Valencia, the Spanish club. The top two in each group will advance to the semi-finals on Saturday night.
The final and third-place match will be played on Monday.
"We got together two days ago and hopefully we will be better for the next game," said Eid Baroot, the UAE coach.
"I like this kind of competition. They should really stage more competitions like this or we need to participate in others.
"Obviously it helps build a strong team."
apassela@thenational.ae
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