Adam Farley: career memories

Premier League Debut & Winning the FA Youth Cup were particular highlights.

When I was 15 years old I travelled to Italy with Everton FC Under 16's to take part in one of the best youth tournaments in the world, it was called Trofeo Nereo Rocco and we were up against teams such as AC Milan, Lazio, Borrusia Dortmund, Juventus and Argentinos Juniors to name a few.

It was the Argentinos Juniors game that I will never forget. It was a warm but wet evening and we got picked up for the game by a double decker bus, we had to sit downstairs because we were picking up the Argentinos team on the way which was very unusual, as they got on the bus in their shorts and t-shirts I remember thinking how well built the Argentinians were compared to us, they had legs like tree trunks!

The game was end to end with plenty of chances for both sides but one thing I will never forget is how gifted the number 8 and 10 were and to this day I have never come across anyone as good as those two.

With 90 minutes on the clock it looked as though the game was going to finish 0-0 when they were awarded a penalty, the silky number 10 lashed it into the top corner, we lost 1-0.

After the game we had a meal with the Argentinians and tried communicating with them, it was their number 8 who could speak the most English and was translating his team mates questions to us and vice versa.

The bus journey home was a long one and we had to listen to them upstairs singing and banging all the way to their hotel. We went on to play some other great teams but it was Argentinos who won the tournament.

The following year I was lucky enough to be in the squad that was travelling to Italy to play in the same competition, we did well again and met Argentinos Juniors in the quarter finals, we lost on penalties. The number 8 that had played the year before was again superb and amazed me with his flare and tenacity but there were no signs of the number 10. Goldfields of Ghana went on to win the tournament.

I forgot all about the trips to Italy until one day in 2008 while clearing out my parents loft I found a couple of programmes from the Trofeo Nereo Rocco tournaments that I'd played in. It had team photographs with the players names underneath and this is when I suddenly realised who those two classy midfielders were.

The number 10 was Juan Roman Riquelme and the number 8 Esteban Cambiasso.

I have really enjoyed thinking back to my time I played against those two Argentinian Legends and I am very grateful to have memories that I will cherish forever.

Adam Farley

 

Adam made his first team debut against Derby County in February 1999.

Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamFarley5

Memory added on May 17, 2013

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