Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Toronto Villa on July 01, 2011, 03:28:49 AM
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Well sort of. Good luck to our kids in this tournament. We've got a great youth system and I wouldn't be at all surprised if we did really well in this. I don't really see why we are the dark horses from England though, but maybe that's the media not having a full appreciation for our academy. That's fine we'll do our talking on the pitch.
Young Villa face Ajax, Man City tackle Barcelona, Spurs take on Inter and Liverpool play Sporting in Euro League By Simon Jones
Last updated at 10:52 PM on 30th June 2011
Ajax have been named the 16th team in Europe's mini-Champions League next season and will play England's dark horses Aston Villa.
In a coup for organisers NextGen, the four-time European champions have joined the Under 19s tournament in Group Four, along with Villa, Rosenborg and Fenerbahce.
The draw, revealed exclusively in Sportsmail, leaves Tottenham with one of the toughest tasks - against Inter Milan, the highly rated Swiss FC Basle and the other Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. Liverpool will play Sporting Lisbon, Wolfsburg and Molde in Group Two, while Manchester City face Marseille, a strong Barcelona and Celtic in the deadly Group One.
NextGen Series creator Mark Warburton, who is sporting director at League One Brentford, said: 'It is fantastic news that Ajax have signed up. They have one of the best youth academies in the world, producing the likes of Johan Cruyff and Dennis Bergkamp.'
Teams will play home and away, with the top two from each group progressing to a knock-out phase, possibly in Abu Dhabi, in January.
Group One
Barcelona
Manchester City
Celtic
Marseille
FIXTURES - Aug 17: Marseille v Celtic.
Aug 31: Celtic v Barcelona.
Sept 14: Man City v Barcelona; Celtic v Marseille.
Sept 28: Barcelona v Marseille.
Oct 5: Marseille v Man City.
Oct 19: Man City v Celtic; Marseille v Barcelona. Nov 2: Barcelona v Man City.
Nov 9: Celtic v Man City.
Nov 23: Man City v Marseille; Barcelona v Celtic.
Group Two
Liverpool
Sporting Lisbon
Molde
Wolfsburg
FIXTURES - Aug 17: Liverpool v Sporting.
Aug 18: Molde v Wolfsburg.
Aug 31: Sporting v Wolfsburg; Molde v Liverpool. Sept 14: Liverpool v Wolfsburg.
Sept 21: Sporting v Molde.
Sept 29: Liverpool v Molde.
Oct 5: Wolfsburg v Liverpool; Molde v Sporting. Oct 19: Wolfsburg v Sporting.
Nov 2: Wolfsburg v Molde.
Nov 23: Sporting v Liverpool.
Group Three
FC Basle
Tottenham
PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan
FIXTURES Aug 17: Basle v Tottenham.
Aug 31: Basle v PSV; Tottenham v Inter Milan.
Sept 14: Inter Milan v PSV.
Sept 28: Inter Milan v Basle; PSV v Tottenham.
Oct 19: Basle v Inter Milan; Tottenham v PSV.
Nov 2: Inter Milan v Tottenham; PSV v Basle.
Nov 23: Tottenham v Basle; PSV v Inter Milan.
(All fixtures are subject to change)
Group Four
Ajax
Rosenborg
Aston Villa
Fenerbahce
FIXTURES Aug 24: Ajax v Rosenborg; A Villa v Fenerbahce.
Sept 7: Rosenborg v A Villa; Ajax v Fenerbahce.
Sept 21: A Villa v Ajax; Fenerbahce v Rosenborg.
Oct 5: Rosenborg v Ajax; Fenerbahce v A Villa.
Oct 12: Rosenborg v Fenerbahce.
Nov 2: Fenerbahce v Ajax; A Villa v Rosenborg.
Nov 23: Ajax v A Villa.
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Good Luck.
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Great idea to get involved in this competition - gives the lads exposure to other styles and a higher level of football at a young age. No matter how far they go, they will benefit from it.
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Hope the scouts (do we have them?) will be around during those games.
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I was just reading about Ajax's futuristic Youth team set-up, complete with space-age type centre.
We do seem to have the best group.
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I hope we play our home games at Villa Park, I'd go and watch that, and I imagine we'd get decent turnouts.
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I am sure that the OS stated that all matches must be played in the Stadia of their 1st teams
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Correct. I'll definitely pop along to a few of these as long as they're not on weekday afternoons or anything daft.
Finals in Abu Dhabi though? Load of bollocks.
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Our young un's will do alright in this .. Its a great idea and looking forward to it .
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Finals in Abu Dhabi though? Load of bollocks.
Possibly, they said.
That is only when Barcelona faces off with Inter Milan. Or Man City.
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I hope we play our home games at Villa Park, I'd go and watch that, and I imagine we'd get decent turnouts.
Surely we would get far more at these matches than for reserve matches. If not then there is seriously something wrong with Villa supporters.
And if this competition takes off then the organisers will probably look at crowd figures as one of the criteria for entry in the future.
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Under-19's...let's hope Gary Gardner rips it up and gets into the first team on the back of his performanced.
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Anyone else think this is a double edged sword? Our players get good experience and it is a carrot with the right scouting system to bring in some exciting young kids. On the other hand, as one of the smaller fish, our players impress and they are in the shop window for other clubs.
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I think it is fanstatic as it might be the bridge between reserve and full team for our young players.
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Should this be merged?
http://www.heroesandvillains.info/forumv3/index.php?topic=43962.0