England U17s: Jordan Spence = Badass

The England U-17s have embarked on a huge journey as they are traveling to Korea for the U17 World Cup. Only one Hammer has been named in the squad which normally would be upsetting, but not today. This one Iron is the captain of the U-17s and has issued a warning to all who come before the Young Lions:

"There will be no fear"
By Russell Staves. Tuesday, 07 August 2007.

FIFA U17 World Cup
18 August - 9 September
Korea

England Under-17 captain Jordan Spence was in confident mood on Tuesday evening ahead of the flight out to Korea for the World Cup.

The young stars will spend a week in Jeju acclimatising before focusing on their first group game with North Korea and the skipper can't wait to get started.

"I’m really excited," the West Ham defender told TheFA.com. "There are lots of things to look forward to. But just playing in the World Cup, for us it’s the biggest tournament we can play in at this age."

England automatically qualified for the showpiece event following a fine display in May's European Championships, where they finished second to Spain after being edged out 1-0 in the Final.

"At the end of the Euros we knew we had secured our spot, but after having two weeks off, I had to get pre-season out of the way first before I could start thinking about the World Cup," added Spence. "I had to concentrate on getting myself fit."

Spence is one of the few members of the squad who has been to the Far East before, having travelled to Japan with West Ham for a pre-season tour a year ago.

"It was an excellent experience," he said. "It was a very different experience to playing in Europe. You certainly felt a long way from home."

The squad are a harmonious bunch, particularly after a lengthy spell together when they reached the European Final in Belgium, and their tight bond will help both on and off the field.

"This group has been together for quite a while – Wes [Foderingham] is the only new boy," added the skipper. "We all get on really well, everyone just slots in. We were together quite a long time at the Euros and that brought us closer together. Winning breeds happiness."

England face North Korea, New Zealand and Brazil in the group stages and despite the game with the Samba Boys being the plum tie, Spence echoed his Head Coach John Peacock's thoughts when he insisted that the team will take each game as it comes.

"Every teams deserves respect for having reached the World Cup, so we will respect them," he said. "But we are confident we can beat anyone if we play well.

"Brazil is the game that sticks out – playing them is a once in a lifetime experience - but we don’t want to look that far ahead. The first two games are the important ones. We want to win the first two games so that we face Brazil with six points.

"But it will be the same as the Euros, we don’t want to look too far ahead of ourselves. We want to win it though."

For Spence, personal achievements are shelved in favour of the team - no wonder he's captain - but he knows he will have to lead from the front if England are to progress.

"I just want to do well as a team," he said. "When we are winning, everyone is happy. But I want to play well. Being on the world stage, I want to show what I am about.

"I will get butterflies before the games, but there will be no fear. Ultimately, we are here on merit, both as a team and individually, so we should be confident."

COME ON YOU IRONS!!!!!!

Republic of Ireland U-19s v. Chile: Game 2

Sadly, defender Lorcan Fitzgerald and the rest of the Irish U19s suffered another friendly defeat at the hands of Chile. Fortunately though, this was only a friendly and the squad still has time to get it together before the preliminary UEFA qualifying in November.

Ireland went up 1-0 in the 23rd minute and held that lead into halftime, however Chile came out strong after the half and scored two goals within 2 minutes and held on for the 2-1 victory. Lorcan went the distance for the Irish and notably had a long range equalizer tipped off the post near the end of the game.

Good to hear, no knocks and he's firing away from long range...

Random Fact

I'll just put it out there... I love Wikipedia, there are so many interesting and random facts that you run across when surfing that site.

For instance Callum Davenport, our own Central Defender and Bambi On Ice Jr. played for Coventry back in 1999 when West Ham defeated them to win the FA Youth Cup. I bet he is proud to be at a winning side now.

You learn something new every day... good times

Academy to Holland

The official website confirms that the academy boys are off to Holland to play in the ADO tournament. This will be great pre-season action for our Academy side which finished 2nd in the league last year behind Arsenal (who lost to eventual champions Leicester City... WOOO)

Kyel Reid staying local

News from Barnsley FC suggests that despite their best attempts, Kyel Reid will not be moving there on loan as the season begins.

Reid, who scored 2 goals in 26 appearances with the Tykes was an important target for the manager and the fans this summer. However they report that West Ham wants to keep him at Upton Park and have stipulated that if they changed their minds and the winger was allowed to move on loan, it would only be permissible if the club was near London.

Check out this quote from totaltykes.com (full story here):
It's defiantly a blow for Reid not to be returning, as towards the end of the season he really stood up to be counted and proved to be one of our most influential players. Considering the fact that he does more of his fair share of defensive duties, he would have been the perfect player for this season considering our weakness when it comes to defending down the wings.

A tricky winger who can get the ball up field as well as do more than his fair share of defensive duties!!! YES!!! Let's hope Curbs keeps him around to train with the first team and to produce with us instead of out on loan.

Republic of Ireland U-19s v. Chile: Game 1

The Irish U-19s were beaten by Chile 2-1 in a friendly yesterday evening.

Sad for Ireland but great for the Academy as defender Lorcan Fitzgerald went the distance in the defeat. He is on the way to solidifying his place in the team ahead of the first phase UEFA qualifying series in November.

The Irish have been grouped with Belarus, Andorra and the host nation Portugal for the preliminary phase which starts on November 1st. A top two finish in the mini-group after the round-robin series would advance Ireland into next year’s Elite round of qualifiers.

Lorcan and the rest of his squad will attempt to exact revenge on the Chileans as they play again on Thursday night.

Update will follow...

Hogan Ephraim

Although earlier in the summer Teddy Sheringham tried to woo Hogan to his new Colchester side, citing that he was "a great little player" (the reality is he probably needed another poker partner) ... It is looking more and more like Ephraim will be snubbing Colchester to join Crystal Palace on loan. Terms of the loan have not been set from what I can tell and no official word has been given.

Since I have an affinity for the Academy, I would like to see Hogan go out for only a 3 month loan so he would be available for action during the holiday fixture crunch. With 4 other strikers on the books right now Hogan could provide coverage if one of them went down. Hogan is versatile though as he can also play the role of attacking middy in the hole but I could see him playing the Bellamy/Tevez high energy in a small package role to complement Ashton or Zamora.

Sol Campbell?

Sol Campell to make a return to the English National team. (here)

Now I realize that Anton's performance last year was not exactly world class, but check out the players McClaren is going to look at, I mean Chris Powell is 37 and coaching at Charlton (although he is a registered player in case of an emergency) ... I say give Anton a run and we'll grab yet another cap for the WHU Academy!

Reserve Match vs. Thurrock FC

Looks like the reserves will be fielding a very young side when they go up against Thurrock F.C. tonight.

Former England goalkeeper Richard Wright, signed in the close season from Everton, and Ghanaian World Cup player John Pantsil are in the team confirmed by West Ham.

Also included are Bonds Ngala, Ashley Miller, Robbie Blackwell, Hogan Ephraim, Tony Stokes, Jack Collinson, Kyle Reid, Carlton Cole, Zavon Hines, Jack Jeffrey and Lee Hales

Good to see the kids getting a run with some senior players. On a side note I hope Johnny Pants gets some playing time this year cause from what I heard he impressed in some of the friendlies and you KNOW he is desperate to show the Ghanian coaches what he can do against top flight competition.

UPDATE:
West Ham won 3-1 with goals from Carlton Cole, Zavon Hines and Hogan Ephraim.

Thats 2 academy players getting on the scoresheet, good to see Ephraim asserting himself.

David Blackmore

The Argus tells us that our 19 year old goalkeeper David Blackmore is looking to go out on loan with Crawley Town, as he did last year with Lewes F.C., This seems to be the second team he has been trialing for as he had some games with Barnet earlier this summer but didn't stick. At this time I don't think the loan is official but he has played in a few games for them and was on the bench last Saturday as Crawley lost to Southend.

Blackmore, who I believe is a third-year scholar in the academy, signed a 4 year deal with the Hammers last year and along with Marek Štěch gives us a solid presence between the pipes for our youth team.

I hope that this is solely a loan move and that he is not going to be sold, I firmly believe that all our youngsters should be given a chance to show what they can do if put up against the big boys.

West Ham and the USL

Link here...

Although this is a bit of old news I am still incredibly excited by it. As the first international club to strike this type of deal with the USL, it just goes to show Eggy's commitment to building on our already fine Academy. As a hammers fan in America this is great news not only because West Ham is tapping into a wealth of talent, but because it provides the Irons much more exposure than we have had in the past in this country.

Some quotes that stand out:

Future initiatives include a West Ham United USA youth academy and professional franchise competing within the USL system to provide North, Central and South American players a corridor to Europe. - I'm already a fan of this non-existent team

A sample of the development partnership details include West Ham identifying up to twenty youth players from the USL Super Y-League and Super-20 League to attend the West Ham United Academy in London for training and evaluation. West Ham United will also work with USL to place players on loan or in permanent contracts with USL First Division teams. - With the amount of kids that play football/soccer over here this is a huge deal. The US U-17 to U-14 teams are made up of these players.

Tony Carr, West Ham United Academy Director
“We are excited to bring the West Ham Academy model to the United States and to share some of our ideas and information with USL players, coaches, and clubs. We recognize the potential pool of talented players available through the USL network and look forward to working with them in our academy in London.” - Were excited too!


* picture courtesy of the link above

The Academy of Football

I have joined the legions of bloggers on this internet for 2 reasons. The first is to give myself a forum to air my thoughts on the great West Ham United Football Club, and the other is to provide news regarding the future of the Irons, namely The Academy of Football.

News of the Academy seems few and far between so hopefully I can hunt down some interesting tidbits to satisfy my curiosity.

This is going to be a great year for WHU.

Come on you Irons!!