U21s Touch Down In Hong Kong For Soccer Sevens
Leaving their Seagrave base early on Tuesday morning, following a final UK-based training session on Monday, the young squad have made the near 13-hour trip across from England to East Asia, landing in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Acclimatising to the humid conditions ahead of the seven-a-side tournament getting underway this weekend, City are training in the Hong Kong heat on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, as they also look to get to grips with the unique competition rules.
Played out in two fast-paced seven-minute halves, only three of the 10-man squad have played for the Foxes at Soccer Sevens previously – Brad Young, Brandon Cover and Wanya Marçal.
Coach Ben Petty is no stranger to the tournament, however, having led both Leicester and former club Aston Villa into the competition on several occasions. He is looking forward to returning to the Causeway Bay district and contesting for the Main Cup title once again.
He commented: "It's a great end to the season for the team and, for the whole Club, it's been a brilliant few weeks. We've come out here with a really strong squad to try and put some silverware on the table as well.
"It's a very big pitch for seven-a-side so you need very fit, mobile players - which we've got. Playing on the 4G is an adaptation that they need to make really quickly. We've trained on it for the last few days.
"This is tournament football, you need that little bit of luck and clinical finishing. We're hoping for the full package this week."
Leicester have twice lifted the trophy, with current First Team stars such as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Hamza Choudhury captaining the side to glory but lost out in the quarter-finals in 2023, before being beaten in the Shield competition final.
This year’s edition is almost upon us, as Hong Kong Football Club gets set to host a weekend of football action which also includes women’s and masters tournaments, alongside the men’s competition, where seven British teams are battling it out against local sides from the continent.
Singapore Cricket Club are Leicester’s first opponents in Group D on Saturday afternoon, followed by a meeting with fellow Premier League 2 opposition Newcastle United – who City also met at the same stage last term – before concluding the day and the group by taking on Tai Po of the Hong Kong Premier League.
Results and placement in the group will determine which cup the Foxes compete in on Sunday, when the knockout stages commence.