Manchester United Premier Cup: World Finals
- Thread starter Joga_Bonito
- Start date
(What I hope are) some pictures of our (real) squad training:
Just wondering whether Rhain Davis is in our squad?
I always wonder why clubs participate? Ok.. great for experience but ultimately it saves United money in terms of scouting. Bring the best kids around the world to you rather than fly around trying to talent spot.
Bringing the mountain to Mohammed comes to mind.
Bringing the mountain to Mohammed comes to mind.
The pictures are real sharp, good one!!
mm... seeing a Malaysian Team there is fun. Kedah is a state at the north of Malaysia.. Traditionally strong in soccer though.. The kids must be going to have real fun playing the big guys like Man Utd and Barca.
mm... seeing a Malaysian Team there is fun. Kedah is a state at the north of Malaysia.. Traditionally strong in soccer though.. The kids must be going to have real fun playing the big guys like Man Utd and Barca.
What's the actual age of these kids?
Barcelona beat us 3-0 in the first game. Unfortunately it sounds like we were completely outplayed according to MU.com.
Unfortunately not surprising - we usually have crap teams at this level
I recall in last years tournament our players were far behind other teams in their physical development.
Josh Harrop
8. James Weir
9. Daniel O'Brien
1. Daniel Atkinson (GK)
15. Omar Thompson
4. Joe Rothwell (c)
John Pritchard
Liam Grimshaw
14. James Wilson
10. Ben Pearson
Ben Barber
Nicolas Ioannou
Some of the players involved.
8. James Weir
9. Daniel O'Brien
1. Daniel Atkinson (GK)
15. Omar Thompson
4. Joe Rothwell (c)
John Pritchard
Liam Grimshaw
14. James Wilson
10. Ben Pearson
Ben Barber
Nicolas Ioannou
Some of the players involved.
I completely agree. Even when you watch the highlights from that age group, many of the opposition teams are clearly advanced physically (the Right to Dream Academy players are already like adults!).
Obviously, we don't want to use that as an excuse, and particularly as it wouldn't be surprising if Barcelona beat us 3-0 under any circumstances. But I do believe that it is worth thinking about.
Several years ago I remember either a scout or a youth coach suggested that players from certain Northern European countries, on average, develop 2-3 years later than their counterparts from Southern Europe, and certainly in other parts of the world.
That's almost certainly true physically — because the differences between largely separated gene pools grow over time — although immigration will affect that, but it's also true technically. As we have seen with the recent announcement, British youngsters are currently only given something like 5-6 hours of coaching per week, in comparison to between 15-20 in other parts of Europe, and certainly other parts of the world. If you add up how much contact with the ball that amounts to over time, the difference at 14-15 years of age is enormous.
Part of the article on youth development:
MSS Kedah 1 - 2 Manchester United
I'll update the table and scores at the end of day one.
Sir Alex was sitting in the hotel lobby not long ago and asked me how the Under-15s got on against Barcelona this morning in the Manchester United Premier Cup. He was disappointed to hear they'd lost 3-0... but not too surprised. And that's not an indictment on the current crop of young Reds. He said: "We've got a good side but we've traditionally struggled at that age. Our lads just aren't physically developed to the same level as a lot of other countries' kids."
Nick Coppack twitter
Nick Coppack twitter
barca's u15 are stronger and faster and more physically developed than ours?
I know our lads are usually smaller and more 'technical' than other british academies, but I cannot imagine us losing the physical side to spanish u15's.
now technically i wouldn't be surprised. but physically? really?
so southern european lads grow much quicker, but northern european lads when they hit their spurt end up growing larger/stronger when its all said and done?
just want to make sure I understand this right.
He never said that, it's just a general observation, as per what Joga and myself said.barca's u15 are stronger and faster and more physically developed than ours?
I know our lads are usually smaller and more 'technical' than other british academies, but I cannot imagine us losing the physical side to spanish u15's.
now technically i wouldn't be surprised. but physically? really?
With any populations that have been isolated to a certain extent, which has been the case in most countries until relatively recently, the differences will grow over time. Clearly, Southern Europeans should be closer to each other genetically because of geographical location, as should Northern Europeans.
If and why Southern European children develop, on average, physically sooner (and physically can mean many things, not just height) than some Northern European children, I can't say for sure. I could think of plenty of reasons why that might be so, but without looking in to it in more detail, I can't offer a definitive answer.
With mass migration and globalization populations are now "mixing" like never before, and that should equalize many of the differences over time, although it doesn't necessarily remove the environmental and cultural pressures which may have led to the various differences in the first place.
Barcelona lost 3-2 to Alta Loma Arsenal this afternoon so the group is wide open, with 3 teams on 3 points, and the leader with only 4 points (Sutherland Sharks).
ic. thanks for the explanation.
People have been known to lie on their birth certificates to appear younger than they really are. It is pretty rife all over the place.
1-0 now against Alta, Wilson scored after a Pearson pass.
This is a link to the live blog: Blog: MUPC 2010 - Manchester United Official Web Site
Barcelona won 3-0 this morning against Kedah so we could do with a win against Alta.
Barcelona won 3-0 this morning against Kedah so we could do with a win against Alta.
Finished 1-0, United hung on after Pearson was sent off late.
Barcelona are currently playing the Sutherland Sharks, anything other than a Sharks win will mean that we will only require a draw in our final game against the sharks to progress (by my quick calculation!)
Barcelona drew with the Sharks meaning a point against the Sharks this afternoon will be sufficient to progress, a win would mean United would top the group.
United 1-0 up in the closing stages.
Now 2-0, Rothwell.
It finishes 2-0 and United bounce back from losing 3-0 against Barcelona in the opening game to win their 3 remaining games and top the group. Great effort.
Excellent stuff. Think the only name I recognise is Ben Pearson, is he one of the younger lads that went to Malta recently (at least, I think that was where it was. Training camp somewhere anyway)?
Who's next, Porto? Or is there a draw? Cheers for the updates.
Who's next, Porto? Or is there a draw? Cheers for the updates.
Porto next, yep.
Pearson went to Malta, yeah, he's quite highly-rated. Very short (or was anyway), quite creative. Have heard good things about the captain Rothwell and Josh Harrop as well.
Daniel Atkinson, the goalie, is on loan from Leeds.
Pearson went to Malta, yeah, he's quite highly-rated. Very short (or was anyway), quite creative. Have heard good things about the captain Rothwell and Josh Harrop as well.
Daniel Atkinson, the goalie, is on loan from Leeds.
FC Porto will probably be a very difficult game, but I'd rather them than Internacional. Seven out of the thirteen previous winners have been from Brazil, and we have traditionally struggled against that mixture of athleticism and technical quality. It will be really interesting to see how Barcelona do against Internacional.
By the way, Arthur Albiston said on MUTV yesterday that the Barcelona players — and I'm paraphrasing — "we're enormous. They certainly didn't look like U15's".
By the way, Arthur Albiston said on MUTV yesterday that the Barcelona players — and I'm paraphrasing — "we're enormous. They certainly didn't look like U15's".
Sounds like the youngsters showed a lot of character after a big loss to Barcelona to bounce back with 3 wins.
Photographs against Barcelona:
Pearson stood out last year on the highlights.
Wier played last year if I remember correctly.
MSS Kedah:
Pritchard is a striker, apparently scored 60 goals or something for our u11s about 3-4 years ago. His dad is a regular in our old local (where I used to work)
Looking at the match photos, I think the training pics at the top are a different team (presumably just borrowing kit). Looks like a different set of players, and while the United players have the proper training kit on in some other pictures, that lot are wearing unnumbered match jerseys with unofficial shorts/socks.
Plus, isn't there a rule at the club that you can only wear black boots up until getting a scholarship? Or is that just an urban legend which I've fallen for?
That's a good spot. I hadn't even noticed. There appears to be some pictures of what looks like United's players in training kit. I swear that they weren't there before!
That's true as well, yeah. Nick Coppack tweeted earlier that he agreed with the 'black boot rule', so I assume it's still in place and being followed by the United boys (and they all seem to be in black in the match photos).
Alta Loma Arsenal SC:
Sutherland Sharks:
Sutherland Sharks: