Young Guns impressing in the Far East

With the Premiership once again a vocal point for football fans' attention, many people forget about great competitions around the world aimed at the biggest world talents as their preparation for superstardom continues.And this is exactly what is currently taking place in Korea, with the U17 World Cup in full flow already. It promises to be an entertaining competition (even though it's already nearing the end of the group stages), and there are simply no excuses when all the games are readily available, in English, on Fifa.com TV for free every morning on a live stream from the Far East.In regular articles from now until the climax of this tourney, I will keep you updated on how the four Arsenal representatives' progress in the competition, as well as any other highlights that I feel the need to mention along the way.

Fran Merida (Spain): Kicked off his campaign with a game against Honduras, who put up a suprising amount of resistance before succumbing to a 4-2 defeat at the hands of the Spaniards, with Merida playing slightly within himself to be honest, and was outshone by fellow superkid Bojan Krkic, but did stay on the pitch for the full 90 minutes in this match. Merida was however at the heart of a scrappy second goal for Spain, a savage striker by the Arsenal man spilled by the Honduran goalkeeper and falling to Jordi who did the rest.
But Merida, playing in the legendary No. 10 shirt for Spain, made up for his average performance in the previous game to help fire his team to victory against Syria in the following match, thus guaranteeing Spain's progress to the Last 16. For his goal he showed a good first touch and then pace as he recieved he ball on the right before cutting in and unleashing a powerful strike with his left foot which beat the goalkeeper at the near post. It was then Merida's through-ball that caught out the Syrian defence in injury time for Krkic to scamper away and set up Aquino to apply the finish. He impressed enough for Fifa to say this about him: Day five of Korea 2007 certainly belonged to the performances of a group of precociously gifted No10s. In the jersey current Valencia standout David Silva carried during the FIFA U-17 World Cup four years ago, Fran Merida netted Spain's opener in their 2-1 reverse of Syria. Nevertheless, it is Silva's Finland 2003 cohort Cesc Fabregas, ironically Merida's current club-mate at English giants Arsenal, who the creative midfielder most resembles in playing style.
In Spains final group game that they played yesterday, Fran Merida was rested along with fellow star player Bojan Krkic, and watched on from the bench as Spain salvaged a 1-1 draw with Argentina.

Gavin Hoyte, Henri Lansbury, Rhys Murphy (England): England kicked off their World Cup campaign against Korea DPR in a somewhat stuttering display in the blistering Korean heat. All three Arsenal players made appearances, with midfielder Henri Lansbury and striker Rhys Murphy starting the game, and Gavin Hoyte playing the last 19 minutes as a substitute. While all three were solid, none really impressed in this opening game, with Rhys Murphy probably being the stand out of the trio, the prolific striker holding the ball up well and having two chances of note. One, a header he was unable to keep down from a Nathan Porrit cross, and another a shot wide from a tight angle. Rhys Murphy managed to stay on the pitch for the whole game, while Henri Lansbury was replaced by Chelsea's Daniel Gosling with 6 minutes remaining.
England's second group game proved to be significantly easier, easy enough to give Henri Lansbury and Rhys Murphy a break from the side altogether as England made light work of scoring five past New Zealand. Once again Gavin Hoyte played his part from off the bench, replacing Krystian Pearce at centre back on 52 minutes. As you can imagine though, Gavin Hoyte had almost nothing to do of any real worth, a comfortable performance and that is all, and even filled in at left back towards the end of that match.
Gavin Hoyte managed to do enough in the previous match it seemed, as he was given the chance to impress against Brazil from the start in their final group match. Henri Lansbury was also recalled, which proved to be a very shrewd decision. This was a game where Lansbury showed off his clear potential, the midfielder going close with a shot that was turned away by the Brazilian goalkeeper. But his most influential moments were yet to come. Having been awarded a penalty, and with Rhys Murphy, England's regular penalty taker, still on the bench, Henri Lansbury stepped up to fill his clubmates boots, striking the penalty cleanly to the right to give England their equalising goal on the stroke of half time. And he wasn't finished yet either. Recieving the ball outside the box in injury time, he scuffed a shot/cross that was diverted into the net by skipper Jordan Spence to give England top spot in their group. Gavin Hoyte, however, didn't enjoy as good a game as his Arsenal team-mate, giving away a penalty in the 79th minute to Brazil. However, he was saved by a great stop by the England goalie from the spot kick that followed. Rhys Murphy was bought on late in the game to increase England's attacking threat, but had no real chances of note. And this is what Henri Lansbury had to say about the Brazil match:
"I don't normally take penalties, but I thought it's England v Brazil so I'll take it," recalled the talented midfielder. "I had to wait a bit which made me nervous. When I have taken penalties in the past I have always gone left, but I changed this time. My head just went - I just ran off. It was one of the greatest moments of my life."
"I spoke to my parents after the game," he added. "My mum said she couldn't watch and my dad thought I was going to miss."
"They (Brazil) had players everywhere," said Lansbury. "John (Peacock, England U17 coach) told us to play back but try to press when you have the chance. I thought we worked well as a three (man midfield)."


The next matches involving our young guns on international duty come on Thursday when a Spain side including Fran Merida attempt to beat Korea DPR for a place in the Quarter Finals. If they succeed, Tunisia or France await them. Meanwhile, the next day will pit England against Syria where Henri Lansbury, Gavin Hoyte and Rhys Murphy will attempt to get past Syria for a potential clash with Germany or USA in the Quarter Finals.