Prestigious Friendlies For Athlone Town FC
Thursday, 15 July 2010
ATHLOW Town FC has confirmed it has lined up Middlesbrough FC and Port Vale FC for two upcoming friendlies.The games are part of a Festival of Football being hosted by the club, which also includes a glamour friendly against Spanish La Liga giant, Villarreal, on Saturday, July 24, at 7pm.
Both clubs will bring their first team squads to Athlone, with the visit of Middlesbrough FC, under Gordon Strachan and assistant manager Gary McAllister, first up on Monday, July 19, at 7.45pm.
The club was in the Premiership as recently as May 2009 and its first team squad is packed full of household names, including former Arsenal striker Jeremie Aliadere, ex Rangers striker Kris Boyd and Celtic forward Scott McDonald as well as Irish players Willo Flood and Jay O'Shea.
Fresh from the World Cup is New Zealand striker Chris Killen, while Julio Arca, Gary O'Neil and David Wheater have also strong Premiership experience.
League Two side Port Vale, under Mickey Adams, will visit Lissywoollen, the following night, Tuesday, July 20th.
Both sides are visiting Athlone as part of their pre-season programmes.
Ticket prices; Middlesbrough Adult €15. Students/Oap €10. Children accompanied by adult €5
Ticket prices: Port Vale Adult €10. Students/OAP €5. Children accompanied by adult free.
Special two-match ticket for adults attending both games €20. Adults who retain stubs for both matches will be entitled to free admission to the next home Airtricity League game (v. Wexford Youths on Friday, July 23)
Tickets can be purchased online at www.athlonetownfc.ie and collected on day of match. Tickets for the Middlesbrough and Port Vale games will also be available at a stall in the Golden Island Shopping Centre, Athlone, from 5pm to 7pm, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evening and from 11am to 2pm, Saturday.
It has also been confirmed that Athlone will host one of La Liga's top clubs, Villarreal CF, which will bring a host of top internationals to play Athlone Town on Saturday evening July 24th.
Villarreal finished in 7th place in last season's La Liga standings and was runner-up to Real Madrid as recently as 2007/08. The club will bring a full strength squad to Athlone with the exception of Joan Capdevila who played in all of Spain's seven matches in South Africa.
The travelling party will include captain Marcos Senna, a member of the Spanish side that won the 2008 European Championships and the former Manchester United star Guiseppi Rossi, who has 14 caps for Italy to his name.
Several players who featured in the World Cup Finals will also be in Athlone. These include the talented Brazilian forward Nilmar, who has won eight international caps and the United States international Jozy Altidore who impressed for the USA at the Finals in Africa. Diego Godin was part of the impressive Uruguay team that reached the semi finals in South Africa.
The squad also contains some of the brightest young talents playing in Europe right now with the precocious Brazilian teenager Tiago Dutra the standout youngster. At just nineteen years of age he has already amassed a total of eighteen caps for the Brazilian under 19 team.
Commenting ahead of the game against Athlone Town, Villarreal Manager Juan Carlos Garrido said, "Recent years have been great for the game in Spain with the European Championship win and success in the various UEFA club competitions now capped off by this magnificent World Cup victory. La Liga is increasingly competitive so it is vital that we get off to a strong start when it re-commences and our match against Athlone Town is a very important part of our pre-season preparations".
Head of Football at PLATINUM ONE, Eamon McLoughlin said that football fans throughout the midlands are in for a treat on July 24th, "The Spanish style of football seen at the World Cup is the same with the top La Liga clubs like Villarreal and anyone who enjoys open attacking football should come to Athlone Stadium to see Villarreal at 7pm on July 24th".
Tickets for the match are available online at www.platinumonegroup.com and www.athlonetownfc.ie as well as the following outlets:
Athlone:
• Croughan's Centra
• Kilmartin N6
• Keenan Sports
• The Palace Bar
• Music World
• Midland Sound Equipment
Moate:
• Harten's Gift Store
Mullingar:
• The Crossbar
• Buckley's Supervalu
Ballinasloe:
• Stronges
Roscommon:
• Roscommon Sports
Tullamore:
• Mick Farrell Menswear.
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