One of the world’s most prestigious youth football tournaments concluded this week in Spain’s Costa Brava.
Real Madrid, Manchester United, Ajax, Barcelona, Liverpool, Porto, Manchester City, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Boca Juniors, Arsenal and the Mexican and Brazilian national sides were among 200 teams from 34 countries who sent players aged between 11 and 16 to the annual Mediterranean International Cup (MIC).
The tournament’s alumni is a who’s who of the world’s best players, including Lionel Messi and many of his Barca teammates. Entrants are attracted by the tournament’s excellent reputation and facilities. Games are played seven-a-side up to the under 14-age group and then 11-a-side above, with two halves of 25 minutes.
Scouts, agents and parents all watched in the sunshine, from relatives of Catalan school teams who saw their sons playing against the most famous clubs in the world, to parents with higher hopes for their offspring.
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Stood alongside Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher was one-time Liverpool youth teammate Robert Walker.
The father of three was watching his son Oliver, 10, play for Liverpool. Walker’s other two sons are at Manchester City and Liverpool, but he knows all about the broken dreams of becoming a footballer.
At Liverpool until age 16, Walker joined lower-division neighbours Tranmere Rovers until he was 20 but did not get beyond the reserve team.
“I fell out of love with football and only really rekindled my interest when my sons started playing again,” he said. “They’re at good clubs who keep them grounded and emphasise the importance of education. They just have to work hard.
“You have to trust the coaches to do their jobs. If you don’t work with them, then you’re working against them.”
Carragher nodded in agreement and compared the tournament to the ones he attended as a Liverpool youngster in the 1980s.
“It’s different from when I was my son’s age. We used to play against local teams,” Carragher said. “It’s brilliant for young players to be exposed to international football for their clubs. They experience different styles and systems.
“Even if you don’t make it as footballer, as 90 per cent here won’t, it’s an experience you’ll remember for the rest of your life.
“I can remember going to Aberystwyth (a small town in west Wales) and winning a tournament with Liverpool. These boys will remember a trip to Spain with their mates playing against some famous clubs. The weather is good, the pitches are consistent, they get plenty of touches of the ball as it’s seven-a-side, and that’s conducive to making good players.”
Not all parents are as relaxed about their kids’ futures. Several approached the coaches from English clubs asking, in faltering English, if they’d like to sign their sons.
“It’s bad to generalise, but the main problem for many kids is their parents,” said Fifa agent Ivan Modia, who stood on the sidelines. “There are too many coaches in the stands who live their lives through their kids, and they can put their boys of 11, 12 or 13 under too much pressure and make them despise football by the time they’re 16.
“The reality is that two per cent of the players here will make it as a professional footballer. There are too many variables which can make or break a career. Even if you’re the best player in the world at 16, you could pick up an injury which ruins everything and, sadly, too many parents put all their eggs in one basket in the hope that their boy will make it.
“I was watching one of Malaga’s young teams recently and they had a player who the club had brought in from abroad and were paying him €3,000 (Dh11,900) per month.
“With that, he moved his whole family to Spain. The amount of swearing from the family and comments like ‘you’re playing for the future of the family’ made him cry by the 25th minute. And that’s the sad part of it.”
Modia, agent for players such as Victor Wanyama and Stephen Pienaar, was at MIC to “see the level of the non-Spanish players and how they compare against some very good Spanish teams.”
Standards of Spanish teams tend to be high.
“Maybe the teams from small villages aren’t going to compete with the youth teams of a big English club, but you have teams from small towns of 10,000 people who can,” Modia said.
One, CE Cristinen, from a town of 5,000, beat Liverpool 5-3. By the end of the week-long tournament, the names of the finalists are familiar and the schools who paid to enter have been eliminated. Barca, Real Madrid, Malaga, Atletico Madrid and Valencian team Alboraya made up six of the eight finalists who played their games in front of 4,000 at the Palamos stadium.
Qatar’s Aspire Academy were the other finalist in the 15-year-old age group and boast an excellent record in the tournament. Many of their players hail from Africa and become naturalised Qataris.
Two of their players were named among the six best players of the tournament, which goes from strength to strength.
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