In 1991 Manchester United sent a youth team to Northern Ireland. Heart of Midlothian faced them in the Milk Cup final. The side that would go on to be known as the Class of ’92 won 2-0 with goals from Ben Thornley and Robbie Savage. Three years earlier a future Champions League final goalscorer would net a hat trick in the Milk Cup final. Liverpool beating Motherwell 4-0 with Steve McManaman claiming the match ball. Sergio Busquets, Wayne Rooney, Mats Hummels, Radamel Falcao and James Milner are amongst the reknowned players to have featured at the Milk Cup. The tournament has a proud pedigree that draws from around the world.
The pride took a dent. Manchester United pulled out of the 2015 tournament to much outcry. United had been victorious in the previous two tournaments. The local press were outraged. How would the tournament go on? The 2015 line up was considered particularly weak. The pedigree of previous years was enough to make me still want to get on the Belfast plane. The hotels in the North were all sold out and I would have to drive my hire car up from Belfast each day. This did not matter. Nor did the one hour flight with a two hour airport wait. This was an odyssey.
A week previous to the tournament I had been at Brentford’s Academy. While chatting with the staff I was told that the group training before my eyes was their Milk Cup squad for the Junior section. I promised to make sure I watched them play. So, on day one I set off in my rented, red Toyota Aygo to see Brentford face County Down in Clough, Ballymena. Except I didn’t make it. I couldn’t find Clough. I found the Showground in Ballymena, but not Clough. Instead I hurried to Rugby Avenue, Coleraine, to see Southampton. I still haven’t found Clough.
Mexican opposition faced Southampton in their first Junior section game. The game was raucous and loud. Southampton’s players communicating with great clarity and regularity with each other. The Zacatapec players were much quieter. All the Mexican noise came from the bench. The Football Association encourage coaches to be economical with their words during games. Southampton were a model of that approach. Only audible when seeking the attention of the referee for substitutions. For Zacatapec comments, appeals, instructions, directions were the norm. Flowing forth readily. What would the FA think?
Southampton were dominant in sound and ball. Their style thoroughly modern. Looking to pass the ball short from defence and build patiently. Though this did not mean that they only passed short. Attacks came with variation, passes from deep into channels between central defender and full back were an early option. High pressing and high technical levels have been hallmarks of Southampton’s first team. Their under 15s also displayed these qualities. While being attack minded they also had an air of organisation. This was not all about playing off the cuff. The 3-0 win was completely deserved and the immense reputation of Southampton’s production line enhanced.
Sadly a momentary lapse in technique led to injury. A back pass to the Saints goalkeeper. The subsequent heavy touch presented a chance for a Zacatapec forward to win the ball. Neither player pulled out. The thud was almost as loud as the resulting cry from the goalkeeper. Immediately injury looked bad, a splint swiftly applied and oxygen administered. Later it was confirmed that his leg was broken. A sour note for Southampton particularly as the goalkeeper had been a great source of information and instruction to his team mates. He would be a great loss for the rest of the tournament.
The earlier trip into Ballymena was not a complete waste. It meant that I knew precisely where to take my red go kart for the evening fixture. Ballymena’s Showground hosted Liverpool as they faced County Tyrone. The locals could have taken the lead early on if not for a sprinting Liverpool defender sliding across the sodden grass to clear the ball mere yards from the goal line. From then on Liverpool utterly dominated the game.
There were definite similarities between the style of play shown by Liverpool and Southampton. However, Liverpool took these principles and took them further. The only time the Liverpool passed the ball more than 20 yards was when they hit a cross field switch. They did not attempt to play into the striker because there wasn’t one there. What appeared to be a 4-3-3 was extremely fluid, the striker dropping into midfield and Liverpool seemingly had four playmakers.
Each Liverpool player had freedom to break any line, anywhere on the pitch, with a dribble or pass. These Liverpool players clearly love the ball. Twisting and turning with the ball at their feet, moving to support their team mates and combing swiftly. The County opposition were not the strongest and Liverpool took full advantage. Almost every player looked dangerous. The left back pushing forward at every opportunity, curling a right foot shot wide of the far post one moment, popping up in the middle of the six yard box to score at another.
At the end of day one Liverpool looked to have the more exciting players but Southampton a better team.
Day two began in the same manner as day one. Trying to watch Brentford. The journey was much longer, over the hills to Limavady. The drive was beautiful, lush green hills punctuated by a roadside waterfall and a herd of running sheep. Picturesque.
What followed was less than beautiful. Brentford were neat and tidy with their approach play throughout but too often lacked a final pass. Their opponents kicked it long. And then kicked it even longer. In less than 24 hours football in a modern style had regressed. The first thing Strikers FC did was shoot. From kick off. The Californian club relied on long shots, pace and power. The ball fired into their centre forward from all positions and angles. As Brentford improved and started to dribble at their opponents, Strikers could not cope. Their response was to kick the Brentford players. Eventually the referee produced a fully deserved red card. The 1-0 loss was flattered Strikers.
Their Californian compatriots, OC Blues, tried to play the modern game. On the whole. At set plays they went a little longer than other sides but on the whole their style revolved around combination play and individual skills. Unfortunately they were up against a side with better players. As tends to happen when teams match up tactically and stylistically, the side with better players wins. My second viewing of Southampton saw them ease to a 4-0 victory. One of the OC Blues players managed to stand out. Their central midfield player wearing the number 18 shirt delivered a performance of creativity and imagination. Many people remember the night Jack Wilshire put in a wonderful performance for Arsenal against Barcelona. The consensus being that Wilshire would have been at home in the Barcelona team. The OC Blues 18 could easily have worn a Southampton shirt and looked like he belonged.
Liverpool and Southampton were the only teams I watched on multiple occasions. Southampton did little different on the second viewing to the first. Liverpool were totally different. Instead of the 4-3-3 that had been prevalent through the Milk Cup they lined up with a three man defence. The player who had so impressed with his attacking play at left back against County Tyrone lined up as a left sided central defender. One of the central midfield players spent time at right wing back. The back three allowed them to play with two strikers, these two strikers were very small. Presumably younger than the majority of Junior section players. Liverpool were willing to experiment. Switching formations, fielding smaller players and a commitment to playing with freedom, all indicative of developing individuals with game intelligence and the ability to open up games. They left themselves open defensively. Three central defenders was not a defensive move for Liverpool, it was designed to open up options in attack.
The only other team I witnessed play with a three man defence came from Chile. In recent years the Chilean national team have been associated with three at the back. O’Higgins reflected this in their set up. Three in defence, four in midfield and three forwards. O’Higgins played Motherwell in the Premier section. The early tempo was so high that the players were sprinting from position to position in flurries of activity. For twenty minutes O’Higgins were their own worst enemy. It was very difficult to work out what they were attempting. Once they calmed the tempo the system and style became apparent. The shape was used in order to stretch their opponents, switching the point of attack quickly moving the ball across the pitch or into the forwards. When the tempo was too high the quality was not there and it looked a mess. Once the tempo dropped the quality grew and Vendee were unable to cope. O’Higgins backed themselves to dominate their individual match ups. Once that happened the skills and tricks came out and Motherwell struggled to cope. Yet, Motherwell managed to stay in the game and score from set plays, 2-2.
Another side who sought to win their individual clashes were Club America from Mexico. Their opposition from France, Vendee. It was during this match I first saw Northern Irish sunshine. It is sad when cliches become truth.
Club America fielded a narrow 4-4-2. Like Strikers the ball went fast and early into the forwards. The big difference was the quality. These passes were fizzed in low to the feet or chest of the front two, rather than tossed up to fight for. From there the two Club America wide players would tuck in and combine with the forwards, 4-4-2 into 4-2-4. Vendee came under increasing pressure from a side with technically strong players who liked to play with speedy passing and create 1v1 situations. The more 1v1 situations there were, the happier Club America were. Eventually Vendee cracked and the game was Club America’s for the taking. The victory came by a 4-1 margin with two outstanding moments of football.
In the second half a ball was fizzed in to the chest of one of the strikers. The striker controlled the ball, as it dropped to his feet he pivoted and struck a left foot shot into the top corner. It was a strike Didier Drogba at his peak would have been proud of. Later in the half Vendee put a free kick in from the Club America left. The goalkeeper gathered the ball. As soon as the ball entered the goalkeepers hand one of the Club America forwards ran into space on the right hand side where he faced a single defender. The goalkeeper kicked into the path of the forward. From a Vendee free kick to a 1v1 in a second. The forward ran at his defender who was beaten. Two recovering defenders arrived on the edge of their box, they were sidestepped. A left foot shot came in, clipping the bar on it’s way over. It was a stunning piece of high speed, high quality football.
At a much lower tempo were the Spanish teams. Malaga played rondos all over the pitch and were as comfortable in possession as you would expect a Spanish side to be. Their holding midfielder dropped deeper to create a 4v2. Their opponents tried to press but those efforts at pressing just created space for Malaga to pick them off. The Malaga players showed excellent decision making to take full advantage.
The majority of teams at the Milk Cup played in what we would characterise as the modern style. High pressing was the norm. Short passing, width, individual skills and creative freedom were all encouraged. The European style and South American style merging together as the ideas of Bielsa and Guardiola merged to form the modern form of Tiki Taka. This seemed to be the aspiration of most teams.
Except for a team of outliers. In the group phase of the Junior section development appeared to be a shared goal. There was one team who were there to win the tournament. They put eight goals past Swindon before facing Southampton in the final. Right to Dream from Ghana had been to a number of tournaments, winning both the Marveld and TopC-RKMSV in the Netherlands during 2015. Development was not at the top of their agenda. Questions about scouts popped into my cynical mind. Was the Right to Dream ethos about getting attention? There for the scouts? There have been many African players who have entered into the youth systems of top European clubs at an early age. Under 15 would seem to be the perfect shop window.
Southampton tried to play out but Right To Dream swarmed all over them, launching counter attacks within 30 yards of goal. The flow of attacks and goals seemed non stop. Two goals fired in from direct free kicks, two from failed attempts to play out. Right to Dream netted a cool seven against Southampton. The pace and power of Right to Dream allowed them to steam roll their fellow finalists. Even at an elite level the bigger, stronger kids can walk all over their smaller technical opponents.
The Milk Cup allowed an opportunity to see differing approaches to football from different parts of the world. The similarities are there to be seen but smaller details created individual styles. Some styles national, some styles club specific. What was encouraging to see was the thread of creativity and technique running through the tournament.
It was an experience I would be happy to repeat.
* While at the Malaga game Garth Smith and I recorded a podcast of observations on the tournament.
http://dalefarmmilkcup.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Right_to_Dream_Academy#Marveld_Tournament
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/33743272