Manchester United Milk Cup opponents to include Co Armagh
County Armagh are the lucky local team to land the plum draw of facing Premier holders Manchester United in this year's Milk Cup.
The Armagh boys will also be up against Dublin club Bohemians and Australia hopefuls Gold Coast Academy.
Last year's beaten Premier finalists County Tyrone's opponents will include Benfica and County Fermanagh.
Junior holders Everton will face Co Fermanagh, Middlesbrough and SC Corinthians in their opening group.
Probably the most intriguing junior group will see Liverpool and Rangers in opposition alongside and Sheffield United and Co Armagh.
The Premier entries include competition debutants, the Craig Bellamy Foundation, whose group opponents will include the County Down team.
The four hopefuls in the Elite tournament are China, Mexico, Canada along with Northern Ireland.
The international nature of the youth football tournament is emphasised by this year's list of contenders.
There will be a strong Mexican flavour with the county's national team taking part in the Elite Section and Chivas Guadalajara in action in the junior tournament.
And Chile will have a strong representation in the junior competition with O'Higgins FC joined by their compatriots Santa Marta de Liray.
Santa Marta de Liray booked their place in this year's competition by winning a Chilean qualifying competition which took place earlier this year.
Former Manchester United, Aston Villa and Celtic star Dion Dublin was guest of honour at the draw at Belfast's W5 at the Odyssey Arena.
The tournament starts with the traditional parade of competing teams through Coleraine on 27 July and concludes with finals night at Ballymena Showgrounds on 1 August.
Dale Farm Milk Cup draw:
JUNIOR
Everton opponents: Middlesbrough, SC Corinthians [Brazil], Co Fermanagh
Liverpool: Sheffield Utd, Rangers, Co Armagh
Brentford: Watford, Queen of the South, Co Down
Southampton: Santa Marta de Liray [Chile], Motherwell, Co Londonderry
Middlesbrough: Everton, Chivas Guadalajara [Mexico], Co Tyrone
From this years under 18s and the lads moving up from the under 16s we have 14 players eligible for this including 3 keepers so there will have to be some signings or schoolboys involved. We are very lacking in the striker department.
Schedules: (we're participating in both U17s and U13s section this year)
U13s:
Partick Thistle .VS. Manchester United Friday, 25 July 2014 19:45 Coleraine Showgrounds
Northern Ireland .VS. Manchester United Saturday, 26 July 2014 00:00 Coleraine Showgrounds
North Dublin SL .VS. Manchester United Saturday, 26 July 2014 11:30 Coleraine Showgrounds
U17s:
Manchester United .VS. Gold Coast Academy Monday, 28 July 2014 20:00 Coleraine Showgrounds
Co. Armagh .VS. Manchester United Tuesday, 29 July 2014 20:00 Riada Stadium
CSKA Moscow .VS. Manchester United Wednesday, 30 July 2014 20:00 Brandywell Stadium
Players in United book that are eligible for the U17s section:
1997' born: Mitchell,Borthwick-Jackson,Henderson,Dorrington,Thompson,Rashford,Reid,Jimmy Dunne,Tuanzebe,Scott,Oliver Byrne
1998' born: Travis Johnson,Kehinde,Williams,Dearnley,Gribbin,Warren,...
Unlikely to have any 99' born though due to Nike Cup.IMO the squad is gonna be something like:
Im pretty certain there were highlight most nights last year either on BBC1 NI or on their website (I cant remember which one). I'll update if I see anything confirmed...
Gary @GaryC_W3106 16m #MUFC Milk Cup squad according to official programme: Henderson, Scott, Borthwick-Jackson, Williams, Tuanzebe, Thompson, Riley, Kehinde.....
A bit odd as Riley is late 96' born so normally would be ineligible and we usually took a 18-man squad instead of 17 so I think there might be some change.If we stick to that squad the "first choice XI" would be:
Henderson
Scott - Williams - Tuanzebe - B-Jackson
Thompson - Kehinde
Riley - Gribbin - Mitchell
Rashford
Hopefully the programme for U13s will be available soon.
Gary @GaryC_W3106 16m #MUFC Milk Cup squad according to official programme: Henderson, Scott, Borthwick-Jackson, Williams, Tuanzebe, Thompson, Riley, Kehinde.....
A bit odd as Riley is late 96' born so normally would be ineligible and we usually took a 18-man squad instead of 17 so I think there might be some change.If we stick to that squad the "first choice XI" would be:
Henderson
Scott - Williams - Tuanzebe - B-Jackson
Thompson - Kehinde
Riley - Gribbin - Mitchell
Rashford
Hopefully the programme for U13s will be available soon.
From memory the programme's almost always wrong. It's presumably produced well in advance so I assume the club send a list of those who could potentially be involved, but invariably by the time the tournament comes around there's injuries, triallists come in etc.
Was wondering this too. Don't think he has been involved in any of the under 18's pre-season games to date although Borg and Obi have been and are included in this squad.
Was wondering this too. Don't think he has been involved in any of the under 18's pre-season games to date although Borg and Obi have been and are included in this squad.
Sorry I thought he was the same age as them. Supposed to be very highly rated though and there are a few under 16s included in the Milk Cup so it isn't too much of a stretch to think that he would be in the squad.
Sorry I thought he was the same age as them. Supposed to be very highly rated though and there are a few under 16s included in the Milk Cup so it isn't too much of a stretch to think that he would be in the squad.
We never brought foreign trialists to Milk Cup and all of those U16s involved are quite highly rated within the club (all were U16s regular and made U18s debut last season as U15s except for Gribbin who was injured during that period).
We never brought foreign trialists to Milk Cup and all of those U16s involved are very high-rated within the club (all were U16s regular and made U18s debut last season as U15s except for Gribbin who was injured in that period).
Sorry I thought he was the same age as them. Supposed to be very highly rated though and there are a few under 16s included in the Milk Cup so it isn't too much of a stretch to think that he would be in the squad.
As far as I know the rules of the Milk Cup are that you can only include players who are less than 2 years younger than the cut off date i.e. this years cut off date is 1-1-97 so the youngest a player can be is 31-12-98 so Callum Gribbin born 19-12-98 is the youngest in our squad. Joao FIlipe is a 99 born so is ineligible but as @khoazany says we rarely involve foreign trialists anyway
Born in Nigeria according to his profile on the site. He seems to have been in England for a few years though so I'm surprised he has issues with visa's. Tuanzebe was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo and he seems to be fine.
I'd say Rashford looks the most exciting attacker, with Mitchell having some tricks and ability to beat a player too. Borg looks interesting from a few internet clips. Cant say I know anything about the defensive and less attacking players other than seeing Kehinde once.
I'd say Rashford looks the most exciting attacker, with Mitchell having some tricks and ability to beat a player too. Borg looks interesting from a few internet clips. Cant say I know anything about the defensive and less attacking players other than seeing Kehinde once.
I'd say Rashford looks the most exciting attacker, with Mitchell having some tricks and ability to beat a player too. Borg looks interesting from a few internet clips. Cant say I know anything about the defensive and less attacking players other than seeing Kehinde once.
Uniteds under 13s beat Partick Thistle 8-1 in the first game of the Milk Cup. Northern Ireland beat the North Dublin Schoolboy League 2-1 in the other game.
