A group of Nordic Soccer Club players recently completed a 10 day football tour of England, where they trained, played English teams, watched several professional matches and experienced England.

A group of rising U13 and U14 boys as well as guest players, parents and Coach Ross Duncan flew from Boston Logan to London Heathrow where they started a busy itinerary which saw them have two training sessions with Ross and XLTravel coaches, play four matches against youth teams, train for almost three hours with an Everton FC Academy coach at the Everton training facility, watch two Emirates Cup matches (Real Madrid vs. Hamburg and Arsenal vs. Juventus), visit Sheffield United's Bramall Lane and the Sheffield Youth Academy, tour Old Trafford and join almost 70,000 people to watch Manchester United play against Juventus.

The group also had several sightseeing stops, including a tour of London's sights (Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, the Household Cavalry, 10 Downing Street, Westminster, House of Parliament, Big Ben, lunch on River Thames), visits to Piccadilly Circus and Harrod's, trips via the Underground (London's subway, usually just called "the tube"), a walking tour of the old Roman town of Chester, a stop in Liverpool and the place where the Beatles started (the Cavern Club) and riding the Millennium Eye located on the River Thames.

The team of Stiles Alpeter, Matt Brien, Brett Nelson, Andrew Akiki, Roshi Brooklyn, Ken Krupa, Danny Samardzic and Aaron Shapiro were joined by guest players Stephen Akiki (keeper), Jordy Corrales (from Florida) and Sebastian Vasquez (from Boston). Nordic parents and siblings joining the group were Geoff/Maria Akiki, Lynn Alpeter, Dave/Kathy and Alexis Brien, Dave/Janet and Karen Krupa, Mark/Kathy and Jessica Nelson, Shelagh Shapiro as well as Coach Ross Duncan. While the group was there, they met up with Nordic Coach Jim ("James") Goudie and his son Matthew who played in one of the matches.

The group's many great experiences enabled them to come back home with great memories, new friendships, many pictures and lots of new soccer jerseys. XL Travel Soccer Tours did a great job building and guiding the Nordic group on a fantastic itinerary.