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Aston Villa's young players continue to be the one sure way of the club winning things. The squad of ten players, which included Jack Grealish and Daniel Johnson, traveled to Hong Kong to compete in the Soccer 7s tournament. They came away having won five matches and only lost one. Unfortunately, the loss came to Sunderland in the quarterfinals rather than in the group stages, and that meant Villa couldn't take home the overall championship.
The competition continues for teams that lose in the quarterfinals, however. After that, the Villa squad faced the Hong Kong FA U23 squad and Rangers, winning by scores of 3-0 and 3-1, respectively, to lift the Shield trophy. The stand-outs in the competition for Villa were Johnson and Grealish, as they combined for eleven goals across the six matches. Grealish was the club's leading scorer with six, four of which came in the last two matches.
It may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it's good to see Villa's youth still progressing so well. Let's hope that we start seeing them make an impact at the senior level soon.