Dutch trip for Academy lads

Academy assistant director Ian Smith is going Dutch again, writes David Vincent. He takes a squad across to Holland for an U18/U19 age group tournament today at VV Doetinchem near Arnhem, which will also involve the likes of Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, FC Twente and NAC Breda.

Ipswich reached the semi-final last year but had not intended going this time, because of the cost.

However they have stepped in at short notice after a team from the USA dropped out.

Also in the party are recruitment officer Malcolm Moore and academy administrator Helen Broughton.

Mrs Broughton said: "We have stepped in as it is all expenses paid. It is a great opportunity for the lads a couple of weeks before their season starts.

"We will have to take plenty of sunscreen, hats and water with high temperatures forecast."

Ipswich squad: Peat, Hogg, Okay, Morrow, Atay, Barron, Flack, Manning, Mitchell, Nash, Reid, Sobolewski, Craig, Krause, Lordan, Croll, Knights and Kamara.

FA Academy U19 league fixtures begin on August 23 with Town visiting Stoke City.

The Collins family, from Chelmsford, have seen more than they would have liked of hospitals recently. Sixteen-year-old centre-half Aidan Collins may be out of action for a week recovering after having his tonsils removed.

And his younger brother Jordan, an U15 player this year, had an unwanted start to the season when he suffered a broken leg in a pre-season friendly against a visiting Japanese team.

Jordan, who has been training with Ipswich since he was nine years of age, was playing left-back in that game but can play in several different positions including midfield and as a striker.

Staff are hoping the injury will quickly heal and he will be back in training.

Ipswich Town were invited to step in as late replacements for the Rey Cup youth tournament in Iceland and a proud team of under 13s/under 14s returned to Suffolk with a trophy won in front of a large crowd in the main Reykjavik stadium.

Coaches Ken Goody, Tony Humes and Richard Hall took the party across and found very different weather to the heatwave back home.

Town took the changes in their stride, winning their group games 4-0, 2-1 and 3-0, then defeating another Icelandic team 6-0 in the quarter-finals and winning their semi-final 3-0.

The final produced a 1-0 win over Cambridge United with Liam Barrett grabbing the Ipswich goal.

Academy assistant director Goody said: "It was worthwhile and a good experience for the lads.

"It was a big event out there with the final televised live and lots of local publicity.

"We could have played a bit better in the final possibly.

"The standard could have been a bit higher overall but you can only go there and win. And it was free for the club so we were happy to take up the offer."

The boys had been good ambassadors for their club and their country, he added, and had to have the self-discipline to rest when they got the chance and pace themselves.

"We arrived at 2am on the Thursday and had our first game at 11am the next morning. We had two more games on the Friday and two on the Saturday.

"The weather was pretty grim; not like we have had here, and it was light for 24 hours a day."

Even though it is the close season the academy coaches and players have been busy with plenty of coaching, practise and trial matches being arranged.

Some academy scholars have featured in first-team and reserve friendlies and many schoolboys have been getting extra coaching in their summer holidays.

Regular Saturday coaching for the regular schoolboy squads begins again tomorrow with their season kicking off on Sunday, September 7.

Ipswich Town's latest player to win international honours is 16-year-old left- back James Krause, from Clare, who has been away with England U17s competing in the Nordic international tournament in Norway.

Krause, who has joined the club full-time this summer, played most of England's first group game, which was a 3-0 win over Iceland.

The coaches decided to completely change the team for the second game, against Denmark which ended as a 3-0 defeat. Krause did get on as a late substitute.

The third group game was a 1-1 draw with Norway which sent England to a 5th/6th place play-off against Sweden which the Swedes won 3-1.