Andalusian Corner: La Cantera. How important?

July 4th was, in addition to burgers and hot dogs, full of futbol for me. I watched one of the Under 17 World Cup game. Watching the youngsters play, I remembered how important the enhancement and promotion of younger categories is in futbol in order to create a good base (cantera in Spanish).
As a decent Sevilla FC fan, I am delighted that Luis Alberto recently renewed his contract until 2015. We know how relevant he can be as a left winger that joins the attack with ease. We have seen players like Cala and Jose Carlos moving to Greece looking for minutes. Currently, Sevilla FC has several players representing the Spanish National Team in different categories. For example, Campaña is in Bucarest for the Under 19 European Championships. Luna will be on his way to Colombia for the Under 20 World Cup. In addition, we all know Capel plays with the Under 21 while Navas has become a regular for Del Bosque.

Nowadays many teams form their line-ups with experienced players and more and more often this is resulting in the inability of a younger player to come through and demonstrate his value. The immediate results in futbol determine the length of stay for a coach and it is hard for coaches to “gamble” with youngsters when their clubs can afford “well-known players.” Arsene Wenger has admired Sevilla FC’s cantera in the past and he continues to build Arsenal with a median age very low compared to other Premier League teams.

When "La Masia" closed its doors it was all over the news in Spain. After all, world class players have developed there with a style of play that has benefited Barcelona greatly over the years and with this, added talent to the Spanish National Team. Sevilla FC’s youngsters are part of one of the most important canteras in Spain without perhaps the big institutional structure.

The future of a national team rests on the junior categories and how we help them improve so they can contribute to the most fabulous game.

Selling Cesc Fabregas

The Sun tabloid in England are reporting that Arsenal are set on selling Cesc Fabregas in the summer, and despite reports that Real Madrid and Inter Milan have both come knocking on the ex-La Masia midfielder, the player is adamant that he will only move to Barcelona.

Cesc is ready to leave North London. He has said clearly and often that he would like to win trophies and Arsenal have not done enough in the transfer market to stay competitive with Manchester United, Chelsea and now Manchester City. If it were merely a one-way desire, not much would come of it, but Cesc is a wanted man. Pep Guardiola counted on his services last summer to go along with the David Villa signing and to strengthen his options in the midfield. It is more than just securing a long-term replacement for Xavi.

Why would he leave the Arsenal captaincy to play a supporting role at Barcelona? Who says he wouldn´t start at Barcelona? Just because he is a supersub for Vicente del Bosque in a Spain shirt, playing third-wheel to Xavi and Iniesta, does not mean that Guardiola sees him in the same role. He came up as a deep-lying playmaker, but has taken on a much more attacking role behind the strikers for Arsenal at times. With young midfielder Thiago Alcantara graduating from La Masia and being promised a central role in next year´s blaugrana why then would Pep also continue on his quest for Cesc? He doesn´t see their roles as mutually exclusive either. It doesn´t seem workable, but Barcelona are different, and no I don´t mean the whole mes que un club thing, what I mean is that they construct their teams differently from others. It´d be interesting just to see how he actually fits all those seemingly interchangeable parts together into a cohesive whole.

That said, it doesn´t seem that Arsenal are likely to drop their evaluation of their captain, somewhere north of the 50 million euro, and Barcelona aren´t likely to pay that for essentially a bench player, but if Cesc forces his move it is in Arsenal´s best interest to close the door on the Cesc Fabregas era and build around any one of the rough diamonds they have coming through their academy system.

Champions League: Arsenal 2-1 Barcelona

It was an evenly matched affair between two squads that hold firm to the ideal that football should be played with the ball at the feet, with joy in the heart, and not just with fire in the gut. It was an uncharacteristically gutsy performance by Arsenal, who usually fall short in big matches, but they were up against Pep Guardiola's blaugrana, so it looked to be an open, end-to-end match with little for Sports Betting between them. It was.

The Gunners came out pressuring, playing a high-line, and it worked for a time, but you sensed that Barcelona were taking control of the match and measuring the linesmen for those elusive calls as Arsenal were playing a dangerous game with the offside trap. David Villa squirmed through after Lionel Messi drove two Arsenal defenders away from the attack, found el guaje and the Asturian efficiently found the net between the Arsenal keeper's legs. It could have 0-2, should have been actually, considering Djourou handled the ball, Villa shot and the ball was headed in by a diving Lionel Messi. Inexplicably, the linesman's flag was up and Arsenal escaped with the scoreline manageable. 

You can then talk about Arsenal beating Barcelona at their own game in the second half. Not true. They played pure, Arsenal football and they beat Barcelona with their main strength and one of Barcelona's few weaknesses: they attacked with pace in numbers. Both the Robin Van Persie goal and the Arshavin goal were started by Barcelona gaffes in their own area. The blaugrana looked slow and very ordinary on the ball. Could it have been, as reported, that Barcelona did not train in London the day before the game and might have been less than sharp. Looked it to me. Messi while instrumental to the Barcelona attack as a provider, looked rather human in front of goal missing two obvious chances.

Still, all it means is that Barcelona still have the edge coming home to the Camp Nou. The important away goal is key. If they get a 1-0 edge at home. They go through.

Nike Football presents: The Chance with Arsene Wenger