Making the Grade
Credit:
Watching the Spanish U19 side against Ireland in the semi-finals of the European Championships last night was an eye opening experience. The young Spanish team played in the mirror image of their World Cup winning senior team and at times it was difficult to appreciate that these were little more than kids.
It was impressive stuff and the standards that young players are expected to reach if they are to have any hope of making it at the top levels of the game were there for all to see. And, frankly, it was a bit frightening.
We all know the odds against a talented young player making a career in the top tier of the game. The continuous migration of young Irish lads heading across the water to seek fame and fortune in England is practically matched by the flood of disillusioned young men coming back home again having failed to make the grade.
As the game evolves the physical and technical requirements of young players follows an ever upward trajectory. Just how good a teenage hopeful has to be was ruthlessly underlined by the next generation of La Liga stars. And it wasn’t just the marquee talent of Pablo Sarabia and Gerard Deulofeu that caught the eye on Friday night. As the Irish lads chased shadows and struggled to hold onto what little possession they had, the Spanish boys spun the ball around with awesome precision. Their movement, on and off the ball, was impossible to counter and, overall, they played like the sophisticated professionals that they are.
Conor Murphy of Bray Wanderers was the sole representative of the Airtricity League in Paul Doolin’s U19 squad that travelled to Romania. This is a hugely disappointing fact for supporters of the domestic game, who have become used to hearing that talented young kids ‘have’ to go to England if they are to be taken seriously at underage international level. It has always seemed a simplistic argument, one that seems disrespectful to our league and what it has to offer young players by way of an education in the game.
Don Givens was particularly vehement in this belief in his time as boss of the U21 side and it was a point of view that earned him a fair measure of ill will. Irish players would simply not be considered for the U21s until they made their way to an English club. But watching the Spanish weave elegant patterns around our young lads made one thing abundantly clear; young footballers who hope for success at the top level have no room for error.
Gone are the days when a genuine talent can wander indifferently to the top of the tree. It may sound like sacrilege but would George Best have become the star that he was in today’s modern game? Perhaps. But even the very best Irish kids are unlikely to make an impression at the highest level without the kind of furious ambition that drives thirteen and fourteen year olds to leave home and set up home in the crucibles of foreign academies.
I don’t envy them. Most of us are only truly happy with a certain healthy balance in our lives. The abilities of the Spanish U19 team tell me that healthy balance is not something that they are likely to be overly familiar with.
It was impressive stuff and the standards that young players are expected to reach if they are to have any hope of making it at the top levels of the game were there for all to see. And, frankly, it was a bit frightening.
We all know the odds against a talented young player making a career in the top tier of the game. The continuous migration of young Irish lads heading across the water to seek fame and fortune in England is practically matched by the flood of disillusioned young men coming back home again having failed to make the grade.
As the game evolves the physical and technical requirements of young players follows an ever upward trajectory. Just how good a teenage hopeful has to be was ruthlessly underlined by the next generation of La Liga stars. And it wasn’t just the marquee talent of Pablo Sarabia and Gerard Deulofeu that caught the eye on Friday night. As the Irish lads chased shadows and struggled to hold onto what little possession they had, the Spanish boys spun the ball around with awesome precision. Their movement, on and off the ball, was impossible to counter and, overall, they played like the sophisticated professionals that they are.
Conor Murphy of Bray Wanderers was the sole representative of the Airtricity League in Paul Doolin’s U19 squad that travelled to Romania. This is a hugely disappointing fact for supporters of the domestic game, who have become used to hearing that talented young kids ‘have’ to go to England if they are to be taken seriously at underage international level. It has always seemed a simplistic argument, one that seems disrespectful to our league and what it has to offer young players by way of an education in the game.
Don Givens was particularly vehement in this belief in his time as boss of the U21 side and it was a point of view that earned him a fair measure of ill will. Irish players would simply not be considered for the U21s until they made their way to an English club. But watching the Spanish weave elegant patterns around our young lads made one thing abundantly clear; young footballers who hope for success at the top level have no room for error.
Gone are the days when a genuine talent can wander indifferently to the top of the tree. It may sound like sacrilege but would George Best have become the star that he was in today’s modern game? Perhaps. But even the very best Irish kids are unlikely to make an impression at the highest level without the kind of furious ambition that drives thirteen and fourteen year olds to leave home and set up home in the crucibles of foreign academies.
I don’t envy them. Most of us are only truly happy with a certain healthy balance in our lives. The abilities of the Spanish U19 team tell me that healthy balance is not something that they are likely to be overly familiar with.
About Simon O'Gorman
Simon O'Gorman began reporting for Extratime in 2010. He remembers Milltown and Flower Lodge and, back in the mists of time, saw Diego Maradona play at Lansdowne Road. He now lives in Co Kildare and … View Full Profile