The Babies FC had another stellar season operating on a limited budget.  The Under 12s in particular continues to be an age group that performs well in the league, with a second place finish this season.  The Under 14s were fifth while the Under 17s continue to turn in more disappointing results with an 8th place finish.

It is more than likely that the Under 17s suffer from the increased competition that arises in the older age groups.  

Next season we will be looking at ways to improve performance of the club.

Babies fight hard against the Eagles

The Manchester City Babies recorded mixed results this weekend in their game against Great Eagles, one of the best teams in the Northern regional section of the National Colts League in Ghana.  The 12s lost the first game by a goal to nil whilst the 14s revenged their juniors by defeating their opponents by the same goal margin.  The 14s only goal was scored by Farouk.  The 17s will now be playing tommorow.

Saturday 23rd January 2010 : MCFC Babies match reports

Yesterday was a great day for the Manchester City Babies as they recorded massive victories in their games against Starlets in the 12s and under 14s divisions of the Northern region of the National Colts league in Ghana.  The under 12s won by two goals to nil in the first match in the morning whilst the under 14s also walloped their opponents by three good goals to nil. 

It was really a good start for the Babies after their annual awards and party ceremony was held on Monday to award players and coaches.  The party had been thought about for some time before the Soccer Babies organisation suggested that it should become an Annual Awards ceremony for the club in order to reward the greatest achievements of the year.  The party clearly provided excellent motivation as the boys went on to great victories this weekend.  The Babies continue to make cracking progress in their first season in the league across all age groups.  The 17s play on Sunday 24th January.

The 17s of the Babies today put up a splendid performance to beat Bagabaga by 3 goals to 1.It was a game the babies dominated in all departments of the game.No wonder they were 3 goals up before their counterparts got a late consolation through a penalty.The babies scored two goals in the first halve through Amos and Issahaku in the 12th and 34th minute respectively.The third goal came in the 62nd minute through Sulemana before the bagabaga lads got a penalty after the ball hits the hand of Zakaria.After the game it was jubilations galore as we have won in all three division and we are really proud of the boys achievement.

Today has been a great day for the Babies as both the 12s and 14s won the respective matches against Bagabaga today.The 12s started it with a 2-1 victory against their counterparts.The babies where two goals up thanks to goals from Mubarik and hagai in each halve before conceeding a late goal to make the final scores 2-1.In all the match was a very exciting match as both sides played some good football.Then came the 14s in the second match who also beat their counterparts by 1 goal to nil,thanks to a first halve strike by Kwabena.Kwabena is one player who i admired so much in the 14s squad.he is the midfield general of the team and he has a great future  ahead of him.I will not be surprised to see him in one of the Ghana junior national teams very soon .the 17s will now be playing tommorow.

The Babies will be playing Bagabaga FC  this weekend.Bagabaga is a team based in Sagnarigu a suburb of  Tamale.Bagabaga is not all that doing well in the season so the babies are hoping to take advantage of that.But we have warned the boys not to be over complecent as they can be stun by the Bagabaga lads.The 12s and 14s will be playing tommorow whiles the 17s will be playing on Sunday

The babies today fought gallantly to hold Starlets to 1-1 and 0-0 draw games in the 12s and 14s respectively division matches played today at the Kaladan park.The 12s started everything in the morning when the held their host to a 1 all draw game.Both goals was scored in the second halve of the game after a goalless first halve game.After the break the host resume the halve strongly and got the opener  in the 48th minute  through a goal moth melee.The babies then fought hard to get the needed equiliser with 5 minutes remaining through Mubarik when he fired home a powerful drive in the 18 yard box of starlets to send the game to 1 all.

Then came the 14s game.In that game both teams were hoping to appease their fans with a win but the game ended up in a scoreless game.Both teams created some decent chances but good goalkeeping couple with good defending from both sides prevented a goal in the game.Now both teams are now hoping for a win tomorrow in the 17s division after draws today in the 12s and 14s division.

As they promised all before today's games, the baby blues made everybody proud today by winning in both the 12s and the 14s division matches played today.The 12s Started everything in the morning when they beat their oppnents Zaytuna By 2 goals to 1.The host Zaytuna opened the scoring in the 20th minute through Yakubu Abu.The babies responded quickly to the goal and got the equalizer five minutes later through fast improving striker Mubarik to sent the game to a 1 all draw in the first halve.When the the second halve resumes both sides lifted up their games as they all created some decent chances but non of those chances resulted in a goal until in the 62nd minute when Hagai put the blues ahead when he recieved a clear pass from Kamaldeen,the midfield general of the Babies.The blues defended the goal to send the game 2-1 in favour of the blues to the surprise of the huge Zaytuna fans at the park.

Then came the 14s who also fought gallantly to win by a goal to nil against their counterparts.The only goal came as a result of spot kick in the 71st minute when skipper Farouk Abu Nashiru was brought down in the 18 yard box of their opponents.The referee has no option than to whistle for a penalty to the blues which was scored by Kwabena.After the final whistle it was jubilation everywhere as players,officials and fans where all in a jubilant mood. 

This weekend was really a bad one for the babies as we managed one draw out of the three games this weekend. After losing the U12s division game 2-0, the 14s manage to get a goaless draw in the second match and the 17s were beaten by a goal to nil.

I  must say we really played a better side in the Juvenile league in the Region.  Republicans is a force to reckon with in the region and I was not surprised with our performance against them.  My only surprise was in the U12 division which i was not expecting us to lose at all. We will come back and prepare for our next match.  I hope we will make amends this weekend.

 The highly rated under 12s playing Tiyumba FC in May

Pre-Season Gala Tournament - Day One

It was a very exciting and busy day for the  Baby Blues.  We got to the Kaladan Park stadium at 8 o'clock in the morning to find an already crowded arena made up of players from other participating teams, and spectators who were there to watch.  The Under 17s kicked off first at 9am against Zaytuna.  Unfortunately they were beaten 2-0.  Zaytuna outplayed us and the goals were the difference.

After the shock exit of the U17s, the under 14s played next and made us proud by beating Zaytuna by 4 goals to 2 on penalties after a barren game of no goals.

Then it was the turn of the twinkle twinkle baby blues (U12s) who out played their opponents and beat them by a goal to nil thanks to a header from Mubarik in the 29th minute.  The U12s really stood above their opponents with good inter-positional passes. The U12s win brought an end to the first round of matches for us.

After the morning sessions we camped the boys in the stadium to wait for the evening sessions. The Babies were paired to meet Super Wonders Fc in the quarter finals stage.  This time around the U14s were knocked out by losing to a goal to nil to their opponents.  It was a shame to have two of our teams out at this stage, but very good to have the U14s play in the quarter finals.

Then came the twinkle twinkle little Blues made us all proud by beating Wonders convincingly by two goals to nil.  Goals were scored by Mubarik again and the second by Haggai.  It was another game where the U12s outplayed their opponents in every department of the game.  I really enjoyed watching the twinkle twinkle blues.  We really have a  lot of talents in them. I will not be surprised to see some of them in City coluors in the near future as well as the national junior teams.  The under 12s are now paired against under 12s of Sky FC for tommorow's semi-finals.More updates later.

The Under 12s proudly wearing their gleaming new Manchester City kits

Manchester City Babies

The Pre-Season Gala Weekend Preview 

The Baby Blues are bracing themselves for the Gala week this weekend.  I would like to update everyone on the gala week. 

The Gala Tournament takes place at the Tamale Kaladan Stadium and is open to all teams participating in the league.  There are 20 teams registered in the league for the new season, but only 16 have confirmed their participation in the Gala weekend. The Gala is a knockout competition with the first round comprising all 16 teams that have entered. The 8 winning teams from the first round of matches progress to the next stage which will be the quarter finals.  The first round (morning) and the quarter finals (evening) will be played on Saturday 27th June. The winning 4 teams after the Saturday evening games will be the fortunate teams to progress to the second day of matches.

On Sunday 28th June the semi-finals will be played in the morning and the Final for each age group will be in the evening.  So in all we are going to have four rounds in the Gala and it will take two days,Saturday and Sunday. Because of the short period of time available for the Gala Tournament,each game will last for 40 minutes, 20 minutes each way. 

The baby blues have been paired against Zaytuna FC in the first round of matches,which means we will be playing them in all the three divisions (U12s, U14s, U17s) in the first round on Saturday.  The Gala weekend is a big test of the boys readiness for the new league season, whick kicks off on the weekend of 4th/5th July.

We are pleased that Soccer Babies (www.webjam.com/soccer_babies) are sponsoring our Gala weekend.  More updates will follow about our progress in the Gala.