U-17 Academy Team playing in USA

[stuartb]

Our U-17 team is in Atlanta, GA this week playing some dodgy American side who is 6 years above them (U-23)

http://www.lfcinusa.com/pdf/exhibition_silverbacks_2008-05-07.pdf

I live here so will definitely be trying to get to the game, work and traffic permitting but im not familiar with any names to look out for in this squad.

Anyone seen any of these kids play and have some thoughts on who might be a good one to watch (other than all of them )


Edit*
I just pulled this from the offal. not sure if its the right list or not?

Astrit Ajdarevic 2nd Year
Mattone Awang 2nd Year
Michael Collins 2nd Year
Gary MacKay-Steven 2nd Year
Shane O'Connor 2nd Year
Ben Parsonage 2nd Year
Michael Scott 2nd Year
David Amoo 1st Year
Dean Bouzanis 1st Year
Nathan Eccleston 1st Year
Sean Highdale 1st Year
Steven Irwin 1st Year
Alex Kacaniklic 1st Year
Joe Kennedy 1st Year
Chris Oldfield 1st Year
Marvin Pourie 1st Year

[Jayesh87]

http://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=41327

[stuartb]

http://www.est1892.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=41327

Perfect - theres already a thread with tons of stuff on them. Thanks

[Matt]

Some good prospects amongst that lot.

[stuartb]

Some good prospects amongst that lot.

Interesting that you say that because...

I got there early and chatted to the coach who was very friendly. Im originally from Southport so I told him it was great to see them over here etc etc. Now I dont claim that what he told me is gospel in any way - just passing it on but he did say the following (dont shoot the messenger)

They beat a local kids team 3-0 on Sunday and he said we were shocking

When asked if there were any prospects in the team for the future he said absolutely not - not one of them will make it

The Gaffer doesnt look toward the kids in any way and would sooner get a cheap foreign option than give them a chance

Someone has placed 40,000 UK on Mourinho to be Liverpool manager at the start of the new season and he thinks its an inside job as DIC will be putting Jose in if they can get the club

On any transfer prospects such as Barry or Bentley he said that he doesnt know butwe arent going to win the league with squad players

Carragher payed a visit to see the kids a few weeks ago and told him that given the current setup he didnt think hed ever have gotten through given the lack of attention on the youth team

The best the current lads can hope for is something like the kid currently on loan at Bolton (sorry - forget his name) or Mellor - the best theyll ever do is Championship teams or at best doing a Warnock and going to an average PL team

That being said he did think that the current money focus means its a different ball game than it was years ago and that the chance of another Gerrard coming through anytime soon was one in a million

We got beat 2-0 by some 23 year olds. Both scrappy goals but goals nonetheless. Our best players on the night were (forgive me for not getting all the names) #3, a Scottich lad, Hammil (know him) was head and shoulders above the rest and #7 - A long distance Babel lookalike.

Just passing this along

[ronanm]

Interesting that you say that because...

I got there early and chatted to the coach who was very friendly. Im originally from Southport so I told him it was great to see them over here etc etc. Now I dont claim that what he told me is gospel in any way - just passing it on but he did say the following (dont shoot the messenger)

They beat a local kids team 3-0 on Sunday and he said we were shocking

When asked if there were any prospects in the team for the future he said absolutely not - not one of them will make it

The Gaffer doesnt look toward the kids in any way and would sooner get a cheap foreign option than give them a chance

Someone has placed 40,000 UK on Mourinho to be Liverpool manager at the start of the new season and he thinks its an inside job as DIC will be putting Jose in if they can get the club

On any transfer prospects such as Barry or Bentley he said that he doesnt know butwe arent going to win the league with squad players

Carragher payed a visit to see the kids a few weeks ago and told him that given the current setup he didnt think hed ever have gotten through given the lack of attention on the youth team

The best the current lads can hope for is something like the kid currently on loan at Bolton (sorry - forget his name) or Mellor - the best theyll ever do is Championship teams or at best doing a Warnock and going to an average PL team

That being said he did think that the current money focus means its a different ball game than it was years ago and that the chance of another Gerrard coming through anytime soon was one in a million

We got beat 2-0 by some 23 year olds. Both scrappy goals but goals nonetheless. Our best players on the night were (forgive me for not getting all the names) #3, a Scottich lad, Hammil (know him) was head and shoulders above the rest and #7 - A long distance Babel lookalike.

Just passing this along

Nice one.

If the coach thinks "absolutely not" - none of them will make it then that really isn't a good sign considering the £££ being spent on youth. Carra putting his oar in - like it! He is everywhere that guy.

Mourinho is an interesting one too.

[dww]

Is that sort of attitude the thing that Piet Hamburg wants rid of if the rumours of complete overhaul are true? That sort of defeatism seems to be unlikely to help players and I would think that the money invested indicates that Rafa does care about young players coming through. There is no particular reason why any coach would be able to see the big picture which has to be about the long term - say 4-5 years along the line rather than say the next season or two.

On the other hand it is depressing to see a coach rate our players so poorly.

[Guest]

Interesting that you say that because...

I got there early and chatted to the coach who was very friendly. Im originally from Southport so I told him it was great to see them over here etc etc. Now I dont claim that what he told me is gospel in any way - just passing it on but he did say the following (dont shoot the messenger)

They beat a local kids team 3-0 on Sunday and he said we were shocking

When asked if there were any prospects in the team for the future he said absolutely not - not one of them will make it

The Gaffer doesnt look toward the kids in any way and would sooner get a cheap foreign option than give them a chance

Someone has placed 40,000 UK on Mourinho to be Liverpool manager at the start of the new season and he thinks its an inside job as DIC will be putting Jose in if they can get the club

On any transfer prospects such as Barry or Bentley he said that he doesnt know butwe arent going to win the league with squad players

Carragher payed a visit to see the kids a few weeks ago and told him that given the current setup he didnt think hed ever have gotten through given the lack of attention on the youth team

The best the current lads can hope for is something like the kid currently on loan at Bolton (sorry - forget his name) or Mellor - the best theyll ever do is Championship teams or at best doing a Warnock and going to an average PL team

That being said he did think that the current money focus means its a different ball game than it was years ago and that the chance of another Gerrard coming through anytime soon was one in a million

We got beat 2-0 by some 23 year olds. Both scrappy goals but goals nonetheless. Our best players on the night were (forgive me for not getting all the names) #3, a Scottich lad, Hammil (know him) was head and shoulders above the rest and #7 - A long distance Babel lookalike.

Just passing this along

Thanks for that mate but I just think that this sounds like a disgruntled soon to be sacked coach.

[Reece]

So we have no prospects amongst our "kids"? Bearing in mind the best ones have been fast tracked into the reserves, and have thus won the league, I'd say we certainly do have some young prospects.
No offence, but I find it pretty hard to believe that the coach of our youth setup would tell a complete stranger that he didn't think any of the kids under is command would ever make it.

[Harv]

why would Rafa spend the amount of money he has on these youth players....only to never test them. It sounds like crap to me. If you didnt care about the youth set-up, you wouldnt invest in as heavily as we have. That coach sounds a tad bitter to me....could be one of the coaches Hamburg's getting rid of.

[Harv]

Eccleston, Amoo and Pourie are class

at least one of them will make it to the firsts

[Guest]

So we have no prospects amongst our "kids"? Bearing in mind the best ones have been fast tracked into the reserves, and have thus won the league, I'd say we certainly do have some young prospects.
No offence, but I find it pretty hard to believe that the coach of our youth setup would tell a complete stranger that he didn't think any of the kids under is command would ever make it.

I just thinks that this coach will soon get the sack anyway. And he knows it, cue his 100% negative outlook on things. FFS, he's a coach, and he's saying the players he's trying to develop aren't great.

[Reece]

why would Rafa spend the amount of money he has on these youth players....only to never test them. It sounds like crap to me. If you didnt care about the youth set-up, you wouldnt invest in as heavily as we have. That coach sounds a tad bitter to me....could be one of the coaches Hamburg's getting rid of.

Exactly. Rafa obviously does care about the youth setup as we've made big efforts to sign some of the best youngsters from around the world. It don't make no sense man.

[Reece]

I just thinks that this coach will soon get the sack anyway. And he knows it, cue his 100% negative outlook on things. FFS, he's a coach, and he's saying the players he's trying to develop aren't great.

Good point - what does it say about his coaching skills

[Matt]

Interesting that you say that because...

I got there early and chatted to the coach who was very friendly. Im originally from Southport so I told him it was great to see them over here etc etc. Now I dont claim that what he told me is gospel in any way - just passing it on but he did say the following (dont shoot the messenger)

They beat a local kids team 3-0 on Sunday and he said we were shocking

When asked if there were any prospects in the team for the future he said absolutely not - not one of them will make it

The Gaffer doesnt look toward the kids in any way and would sooner get a cheap foreign option than give them a chance

Someone has placed 40,000 UK on Mourinho to be Liverpool manager at the start of the new season and he thinks its an inside job as DIC will be putting Jose in if they can get the club

On any transfer prospects such as Barry or Bentley he said that he doesnt know butwe arent going to win the league with squad players

Carragher payed a visit to see the kids a few weeks ago and told him that given the current setup he didnt think hed ever have gotten through given the lack of attention on the youth team

The best the current lads can hope for is something like the kid currently on loan at Bolton (sorry - forget his name) or Mellor - the best theyll ever do is Championship teams or at best doing a Warnock and going to an average PL team

That being said he did think that the current money focus means its a different ball game than it was years ago and that the chance of another Gerrard coming through anytime soon was one in a million

We got beat 2-0 by some 23 year olds. Both scrappy goals but goals nonetheless. Our best players on the night were (forgive me for not getting all the names) #3, a Scottich lad, Hammil (know him) was head and shoulders above the rest and #7 - A long distance Babel lookalike.

Just passing this along

Cheers Stuart, very interesting.

Obviously it's a needle in a haystack job finding a kid that'll be good enough to play for a club like LFC but there's no shame in not quite making that grade.