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Arsenal's youth team will play Man Utd
in the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup. The 2-legged tie will be played at
Ashburton Grove in the first leg and Old Trafford in the second, though no
dates have yet been set.
Steve Bould's team got through thanks to a
3-2 win over
Cardiff in the quarter-final on Monday.
Star of the show was Fran_Merida, the young Spanish Cescalike who
says that
the veteran Fabregas is his idol.
"When I go to watch the first team I'm always watching him, the way he
plays and the way he passes the ball. I am only 16-years-old and to
watch him and learn from him is so important. I'm going to keep
working hard and, of course, one day I would love to play alongside
him."
On this showing, one'd be mad to bet against it. For Spain if not
for Arsenal. We've an embarassment of riches in midfield these days
so perhaps the main threat to his progress at Arsenal is a potential
traffic jam of young midfield playmakers.
Monday was the first time the youth team had played at the new
stadium. Before the game Merida said,
"For us it's amazing. It's the biggest stadium many of us have
played in. I didn't know the FA Youth Cup was so important when I
came here but now here I am possibly about to play a game at Emirates
Stadium. I don't think it's sunk in yet but it's going to be a
special day and hopefully there will be a lot of people there to
cheer us on. I'd like the whole stadium to be full but I think we
all just want to play in front as many people as possible."
It wasn't full but
over 11,000 spectators turned up, surprising the stadium staff who
hadn't prepared for so many and had to delay the kick off for 15 minutes while they opened up some extra areas.
They report that along with Merida, the star of the show was
Jay Simpson who scored all 3 Arsenal goals in the first half
(the first Ashburton Grove hat-trick!). Still, not enough to
take the man-of-the-match nomination away from Merida.
In defence, Justin Hoyte's brother Gavin (another right back who can play in the middle too) stood out. Keeper Lee Butcher
deserves a mention for his magnificent penalty save towards the end
of the first half.
The full line-up was:
Butcher
Ogogo Rodgers Hoyte Steer
Dunne Gibbs Merida Randall
Simpson Barazite
subs: Lansbury, van den Berg, Efrem.
(see Gunners4Life report for player reviews and ratings, and
our youth page for info about the players).
Bouldy's
comments on
the game make an interesting read. Seems like they're trying to
get the kids to play just like (the older kids in) the first team,
right down to going to bits for a while after the opposition score.
The other semi-final is between Liverpool and Newcastle United.
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