Happy New Youth Cup and Spoon Trophy Big Barbs Conspiracy Theory

It's that time of year again, when we traditionally look back at the year that has gone, and look forward to the year that is coming.

Looking at the Youth Cup, I'd like to reflect on Season 6's competition, and plan for Season 7.

We can simply run the Youth Cup (and Shield) as before, which I'm quite happy to do, but we can also talk about any things we could do to make to make it more fun, this time around - or in the future.

Youth Shield Final Match Report

Division Three promotion chasing Sevilla matched up with Division Five strugglers Flamengo in a distraction from league position pressures for respective managers David Senior and Mark Phelps. Former Valencia boss Senior won the Youth Cup last season with Los Che, and was looking to complete a unique double by winning the Youth Shield this. Fla boss Phelps has built an all-Brazilian squad, which has perhaps under-performed at senior level, but is bearing ripe fruit in the under-21 age group.

Youth Cup and Shield Finals Previews

Tonight sees the first legs of the culmination of a long, hard season of Youth Cup and Shield games for the four remaining teams, Bayern Munich and Juventus in the Youth Cup Final, and Flamengo and Sevilla in the Youth Shield Final. Second legs will be played on Wednesday 27 December, but here is a quick preview of the finals.

Youth Shield Quarter Finals Review

There were eight teams who, due to their original seeding at the start of the competition, we might have expected to be competing at least in the Youth Shield knockout rounds, if not the Youth Cup itself. Poor group performances and results, however, saw Chelsea and Hellas Verona, who were ranked 13th and 15th, fail to qulaify. Other under-achievers were Aston Villa, Levante, Genoa, Feyenoord, Roma and Internazionale.

Their failures allowed unfancied Manchester City, Fenerbahce, Torino and Cruzeiro to progress, although all four went out in the first Shield knockout round. Southampton, ranked 48th, did well to get through to Round 3, while Villarreal did even better - ranked 57th, they made it to Round 4. Best of the bunch, though are David Senior's juniors, with his 46th seeded Sevilla side through to the semi-finals.