Football Wonderkid Scout
Football Wonderkids
NextGen Series European Under-19 Championships
Described as the Champions League for Europe's elite youth academies, the NextGen Series European Under-19 Championships kicked off tonight with Tottenham, Aston Villa, Celtic and Liverpool all in action. Such has been the success surrounding the competition before its kick-off that there are already plans to expand the tournament to 24 teams next season, with Arsenal expressing an interest to take part. With ambitious plans for the tournament, NextGen will be hoping to include Real Madrid, Manchester United, Chelsea and Bayern Munich next time around.
The tournament which includes teams such as Barcelona, Inter Milan, Fenerbache and Ajax will take place between now and November and the teams will compete in four groups, all hoping to progress to the knockout stages in the New Year. It is is here when things deviate from the traditional Champions League format when the sudden death tournament takes place in the Middle East - Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha have all been considered as possibilities in January.
The idea behind the tournament is to help bridge the gap between youth and senior football. NextGen rules permit three under-20s to feature in an otherwise under-19 ensemble. Some people have argued that the
Liverpool's Jonjo Shelvey In Action
tournament could further widen the gulf between the elite Premier League teams and the rest, with clubs able to increase their pulling power with lucrative trips to places such as Barcelona.
A crowd of 2,826 were at Anfield to see Liverpool begin their group stage campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Sporting Lisbon. A strong line-up, Liverpool included the first team experience of Jonjo Shelvey and Jack Robinson who were perhaps two of the most dissapointing players on show. After Joao Teixeira put Sporting 1-0 up after some good work with Coelho, it was left-back Robinson who was embarassed when he allowed the space for Coelho to score the second. Liverpool came out of the dressing room at half-time fired up and Shelvey, Robinson, and Morgan were taken off for Adorjan, King, and Ngoo who all impressed. With Conor Coady captaining the side and the impressive trio of Raheem Sterling, Suso and Toni Silva going forward, Liverpool were much fancied before the game and the 3-0 scoreline somewhat flattered the Portugese guests who completed the scoring through Farley Rosa with a fabulous 20-yard curling drive. Elsewhere Ajax defeated Aston Villa 2-0, Marseille edged past Celtic 1-0 and Tottenham drew 2-2 with Basel in the opening fixtures.
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