W.Bengal 2-1 Ac Milan(under 18)

[arpanmilan]

hi guys,rit now milan under-18 team is in India & yesterday it played a match against a state(W.Bengal) under-18 team in which the milan team lost. The reports in newpapers stated that the bengal team dominated the milan u-18 team. I couldn't belive this since the football in India is at a low standard or this may be a good sign for Indian football since the junior players hav managed to defeat a team of gr8 standard.
Today milan u-18 is playing against India u-18. I am going to see the match. Hope india plays well and the milan scouts notice some good players.

[zlatanov]

for how long have the milan players been in India? If not for 2-3 weeks, don't be surprised by those results as the time and climate difference are just too drastic for them to get used to in a short amount of time. There are probably still feeling that jetlag and hearing those plane engines in their heads.

[Warro Bantan]

I wouldnt read too much into that result. A lot of things can and will affect players that are that young, on a road trip to such a unique and exotic country.

Plus, the domestic press will always make it seem that the home team had the better of the play.

[arpanmilan]

India(u-18) 1-2 Ac Milan(u-18) this was the last match they played in India at Bombay and i had witnessed this match in the stadium itself. The goal from india was scored by a 16 yr. old tod.It was an exellent volley from the line of the penalty box after recieving a long ball from the defender. Milan scored 2 goals in set pieces both headers. Indian youngsters very well matched the milan team in skills but lost out on stamina as they were tired by the 1hour mark.Anywz India youngsters were playing thr first match against a team from a football superpower. Taking nothing away from milan i just want to point out that european teams should set up training academies in India.There has to be world class young players in a country of population 90billion.They just lack the exposure and infrastructure required. Rit now FC BAYERN MUNCHEN(youth team) is in India to play matches. The india9u-17)team is doing very well at the asian qualifiers for the youth world cup.They currently top their group and gav a thrashing of 9-0(thats true!!!!!) to Pakistan. The same youngster which scored against milan(u-18) scored a hat-trcik in this match.

[tardissun]

No offense to anyone, but an Academy in India?

The whole country U18 lost to 1 club (AC Milan U18).

It would be better (and cheaper) to scout for Indian (or other country) talent, and pick the top players and bring them to play against better U18 talent at AC Milan academy.

There likely aren't more than a handful of possibly talented players, probably less, so an academy would be a waste.

Training/playing with the best, helps the younger ones develop faster.

India/China may have very large populations, but until their soccer skills evolve - a dedicated academy would be a waste. I'd rather cherry pick.

[meazza]

we already have an academy in paisly, scotland.

let's not flush anymore money down the toilet.

[Warro Bantan]

I think both meazza and tardissun are both correct to an extent, but here is where I beg to differ:

Developing academies in countries with such huge populations as India and China are (IMO) only for talent procurement would indeed be a waste of resources, but I think that is only part of the rationale for establishing academies in these countries.

The more important aspect I believe is both philanthropic (spelling? :dontkn: ) as well as practical, ie contributing to the development of the game for the former, and helping to increase the club´s fan base insofar as the latter is concerned.

By establishing the "Milan" brand in countries where we are practically unknown to the majority of the population, is a small, yet important step in creating brand awareness, and increasing the fan base where there is little local competition, and even less international competition, apart from the traditionally supported teams, via colonial connections (ie India, being a former colony of England, will tend to have a larger following of EPL clubs, than say, Spanish or Italian clubs).

The fact that football is now taking off in India, (it will probably never supplant Cricket and field hockey in terms of general popularity) but could become a real force nevertheless, as with a population in the billions, if only one billion were to become ardent football fans, and even a fraction of said billion were fans of the Rosseneri...what a huge increase this would be for our global fan base! There would easily be more Milan fans in India, than in all of Italy!

Ok, so that last was reaching a little..but dream big! So even if you fail, you wont be far from your dream!

And to go back to talent procurement, if we can glean from the aforementioned potential "billion" fans, the best talent, surely we will soon have our "Indian-Messi"? (Again I am really reaching, but why not...reach for the stars they say...and even if you fail, you will still land on the moon!) :p017:

[arpanmilan]

well said warron, the popularity of football as general is increasing in India at an exponential rate. The main reason for less popularity of italian or spanish leauge is that since the ppl out here aren't aware that seria-a even exists. The matches telecasted live are only those of EPL and any international friendly match, but ppl in India do know who shevchenko,maldini & kaka are. Kaka has the image of a very cute choclate boy,this can be used for brand building in a way similar to that of beckham.During the Indo-Italianna business meet in India last week Berlusconi said that he had major AC MILAN marketing plans for India in the next 5years to come. He has a valid point since 65% of the Indian population is below the 24 year old mark which is going to be the target audience.

[hitmannq8]

Wow 65% of the population are younger than 24