Soccer Portal

Today kicks off the Manchester United Nike Premier Cup 2010 Championship. Here 20 of the best under-15 teams in the world will do battle to be crowned this year’s winner. The MUPC started in 1993 and since then has become one of the most prestigious youth cups in world football. Over 1 million kids from 9,000 teams in 43 nations tried to reach this year's final at Manchester United training base at Carrington.

World stars that have appeared at this tournament in the past include Robinho, Fernando Torres, Cesc Fabregas, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez. These are just a select number from a large list of top players who play week in week out for the major clubs in Europe. After this year’s World Cup where England went crashing out, youth development has now become the key word in English Football. England, because of Manchester United host status, has two teams competing for the Nike Premier Cup with Newcastle United as the second team.

An English victory in this prestigious tournament will do British football a world of good after being outclassed in the World Cup and in the Under 19's Euro Championships. So far  to date Newcastle United U15's have been the class act and should pretty much be guaranteed their place in the quarter finals after their  2-0 win over the French winner Paris Saint Germain, followed up with a 5-0 victory over Shillong Lajong FC U15's. I should also point out that victory in their next 2 games tomorrow should secure their progress to the next stage. Manchester United U15's lost 3-0 to the young Barcelona team but fought back to win their next game against MSS Kedah 2-1, and so you feel will have to take a maximum of 4 points to progress to the next stage.

Manchester United have always had one of the best academies in England, but in the last few years Newcastle United’s  academy has begun to show signs of improvement. This can primarily be put down to Mike Ashley’s unwillingness to splash the cash like previous chairman Freddy Shepherd. As a nation we should wish the young boys of both clubs luck in this competition and hope Manchester United or Newcastle United have the English version of Messi or Iniesta playing for them and will progress to be a future England International.

More information on how the teams get on and further details of the Manchester United Premier Cup can be found on http://www.manchesterunitedpremiercup.com/