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Manchester United U15s are competing in the KDB Cup in Belgium this weekend.
Organized by Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne, the tournament was created in 2016 and is held in his hometown of Drongen in Ghent.
This is United’s first time participating in the tournament and they have been drawn in a group with Club Brugge and Palmeiras.
A host of familiar names could be seen in the United ranks as the sons of former legends Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick were joined by the younger siblings of senior academy stars James Scanlon and Amir Ibragimov.
It was one of them who looked dangerous in the opener against Club Brugge when Kai Rooney crossed for Bassirou Nkoto and headed over the crossbar.
United took the lead soon after when Bassirou’s brother Douka Nkoto twisted and turned on the edge of the box before his shot was blocked in the path of Luca Scanlon inside the box and hit the bottom left corner from the penalty spot.
Jaedon Donkor, who signed from Arsenal earlier in the season, then curled one in from distance which left the crossbar ringing as it shot over.
United fans then got their first taste of new signing Silva Mexes Tyler-Earnshaw after Robert Earnshaw’s son announced his move earlier this week.
The new clarification almost made an immediate impact as he lingered at the back post as the ball worked its way in for a corner, but a goal-line clearance denied him a goal on his debut.
United secured three points in their opener when the score ended 1-0 to United, but the match was not over until Kai Rooney turned the years back in the final minutes, with an old school challenge from Wayne Rooney to clear the Club Brigg defender.
Next up, United took on Brazil’s Palmeiras, who offered a unique test that they won’t often experience.
A physical side, the Brazilian put United to the test especially keeper Darlington Osuchukwu who made some fantastic saves.
In the end, Palmeiras took the lead and held on to a 0-1 lead, while United used the time to field a heavily rotated side.
Despite the defeat, United advanced to the quarter-finals where they faced Manchester City.
In the Manchester derby to end the season, a number of United’s squad were among the Albert Phelan Under-14 Cup winning team that defeated City en route to lifting the trophy just a few weeks ago.
Looking to repeat the result, United were left hamstrung from the start by an injury to Kai Rooney in the first leg which left them without a real centre-forward presence.
It was a fierce game, but in a moment of pure quality and another strong tempo, City took a two-goal lead.
JJ Gabriel came close to pulling one back with an effort that was cleared off the line, but in the end United couldn’t do enough as the score remained 0-2 at the final whistle.
United will round off the weekend with two more qualifying matches on Sunday and finish between 5th and 8th place.
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