They were named the ‘Young Godlike Canaries’.
They come from the poorest slums of Brazil.
They are top footballers.

From 12-18 April the ‘Young Godlike Canaries’ come to Belgium. They will be looked after by the board and the youth training team of K.Lierse S.K during their stay. They will come here to train, relax and play a few matches.

Centro de Treinamento de IBISS
Amongst the thousands of youngsters who spend their days kicking round a football in the dangerous favela’s, there are certainly new Romario’s and Ronaldo’s. The place where they play is too far away and too dangerous for scouts from the top Brazilain clubs to venture to though.

For years young talented players play their football at the ‘escolinhas de futebol’ of IBISS. IBISS is a Brazilian development organisation which has fought for 20 years against the social exclusion within Brazilian communities. To help young players, who would normally not get the chance, to develop and fulfil their talent, IBISS has set up the Centro de Treinamento. At the CTI they learn how to tactically read a match, how to manage as a professional footballer, and how to win matches, as well as just playing attractive football. Alongside football, attention is paid to discipline, self-fulfilment, and how to cope with money and success, and disappointment. The plan is that within two years, the first youth products will be brought to professional clubs in Europe.

This is the first overseas visit of the ‘Young Godlike Canaries’. The training sessions and matches of the 17-strong squad of 17-21 year olds are open to the media, and we invite you to talk with the players at the end of a match or training session. A translator will be on hand.

K.Lierse S.K and partners of Wadi Degla Holding decided to financially support the CTI-school and get them to come over to Belgium, to give them a taste of European football, and to get a measure of the level of these players. The objective is, as in the tradition of the JMG school, to push through the very best ones,and offer them a future in our club.

Programme
14-April: training and a match in Holland
15-April: training and at 19.30 a match against Lierse reseves in the Herman Vanderpoorten stadium.
16-April: training and a tourist trip to Antwerp
17-April: training, a tourist walk around Lier, and at 19.30 a friendly vs FC Kempen, at the Doelvelden in Belaar.
From 18-April the group will travel to Holland to finish off the rest of their itinerary.

The exact training times and match kick-off times can you find on www.ibiss.info under the heading Latest News. Check this site before coming to a training session or a match.

IBISS
The CTI is linked to IBISS. This development organisation aims to produce a ‘healthy community’, in which everybody has access to public services. Diseases such as leprosy and tuberculosis are combatted, social injustice is fought and human rights are respected.

After the 0-4 win at Beveren, Lierse.com sought an initial reaction from Jurgen Cavens, who redeemed himself after his weaker match against Tubeke.

Jurgen, the 0-4 win at Beveren is a boost after the poor showing against Tubeke, also for you personally because you had an excellent game, in which you provided 2 assists:

Cavens: “That was expected from me, particularly after Wednesday’s match, which was indeed below par. Luckily the Beveren game came only 3 days later. The group reacted very well on the pitch, it could even have ended up 0-7 or 0-8, if we had finished better. But the most important thing is that we have provided a good response to the poor performance of last Wednesday.”

Even though you were played a bit out of position on the left wing:
Cavens: “That wasn’t really strange for me as I’d played in that position in the past with Twente and Germinal Beerschot. It was the best solution to create balance in the team, the trainer got it tactically correct. We were able to keep a clean sheet, and rediscover our efficiency in front of goal. But most importantly, we got three points!”

In the run in to the play-off, Beveren has got weaker?:
Cavens: “Indeed, I spoke to Karel Snoeckx after the match, and he said it’s really going downhill with his team. But that’s not our concern of course. Finally we we able to still have a good feeling after a match, also for me. I have to maintain this level, because with my experience and qualities, I have to be one of the better players every week. Consequently I’m very happy with this performance.”

At Lierse they prefer not to speak about the play-offs anymore, but after this win there’s still a chance to get the 5th place:
Cavens: “There are still 6 matches and that’s 6 finals for us. We’re going to try and win them, but we’re still dependent on other teams slipping up. We mustn’t concern ourselves with that. We have to work week after week, play our game and see where we end up. Let’s just say that we’re secretly hoping to make the play-offs.”

You can watch the full interview on www.lierse.tv