09/03 Grapevine

By: Corey | September 3rd, 2008

So with international call-ups, Schuster has not had to many men to train. So today Schuster decided to call up a few youth team players, namely Chema Anton and Gorka of Castilla, and Marcos Cerrudo and Carlos Martin of the C team. These young guys got some good experience with the remaining first team players that were around to train. The league, after only one jornada, is off for the international break where two World Cup qualifiers will be played this weekend and next week Wednesday. We will have a host of tired players for our second league game against Numancia at home.

Also, the official Real Madrid squad numbers have been released, here is a list of them. I just ordered that super cool blue away kit with ~~Robinho~~ De la Red’s name on the back!

PLAYER #
Casillas 1
Salgado 2
Pepe 3
Ramos 4
Cannavaro 5
Diarra 6
Raúl 7
Gago 8
Saviola 9
Sneijder 10
Robben 11
Marcelo 12
Codina 13
Guti 14
Drenthe 15
Heinze 16
V. Nistelrooy 17
De la Red 18
Higuaín 20
Metzelder 21
Torres 22
V. der Vaart 23
Javi García 24
Dudek 25

Also, Real Madrid Castilla won their first league outing 2-0 against “the Neighborhood” Vecindario. Goals from Adam Szalai and Fran Rico ensured a strong start to Castilla’s promotion push. From what I read, it seemed they played very well, with Julen Lopetegui instilling some good footballing principles in his pupils. Juan Palanca also made his debut, while new Castilla signing Edouard Kabamba is still not fit to play with the team. The 21 year old forward was purchased from Standard Liege, who Real has a cooperative agreement with. He may be ready for Castilla’s next match, but we will see.

The lineup featured a 4-3-2-1, with Szalai the lone forward and Albero Bueno and Juan Palanca as attacking midfielders. They were then backed up by Fran Rico and Modrego as off-center midfielders and David Mateos as the DM. The defense has changed little from last year, with Chema Anton, Gary, and Javier Velayos starting along with the returning Agus. Antonio Adan as of now the starting keeper, but he has Felipe Reyes breathing down his neck.

Here is a list of some of the ins and outs in the Real academy. I thought this would be useful:

ALTAS
CASTILLA
Daniel Opare.Lateral derecho. Procede del Ashati Gold(Nigeria)
Miguel Palanca Fernandez.Delantero.Procede del Espanyol B.

REAL MADRID C
Enrique Reguero Cotrina.Portero.Procede del San Sebastian de los Reyes(vuelve cedido)

JUVENIL A
Ignacio Perez Tella.Delantero. Procede del Oliver(Zaragoza)
Edgar Mendez Ortega. Procede del Murcia Deportivo.

JUVENIL B
Jaime Navarro Simon.Mediocentro.Proced e del Adarve.

JUVENIL C
Daniel Ramirez Fernandez.Mediapunta. Procede del Leganes
Rafael Perez Cabaleiro. Delantero. Procede del Areosa(Galicia)
Sergio Aguza Santiago.Interior zurdo. Procede del UE Cornella.
Christian Faura Diaz.Centrocampista. Procede del UE Cornella

CADETE A
Ricardo Paz Manchado ” Richy”.Portero. Procede del FC Barcelona

CADETE B
Dario Hernandez Gomez.Portero.Procede del Avila.
Por confirmar para este equipo: Oscar Novo Luaces.Procede del Galicia de Caranza.
Miguel Ángel Ruiz Mata ” Miki”.Delantero.Procede del Barcelona.

BAJAS

CASTILLA
Nieto(Almeria)
Sergio(Hercules)
Jose Callejon(Espanyol)
Juanmi Callejon(Mallorca)
Gary(Danubio)
Forlin(Boca juniors)
Bueno(por confirmar destino)
Parejo(Queens Palace)
Modrego(Valladolid)

R.MADRID C
Jordi (Celta)
Giraldez (Atletico)
Samuel Sanchez (Malaga)

JUVENIL B
David Moreno(Almeria)

INFANTIL A
Saul Ñiguez (Atletico)

The academy has lost alot of players unfortunately, and even though Castilla signed some decent replacements, I worry that we are letting to many young players go. Maybe a change in the rules in Spain to allow Liga teams to sign pro-deals with young talents at 16 would be helpful. Or atleast pre-contract agreements. Have a good weekend everyone, barring any major news I will take the week off! Go Spain! And check out Dancy, the newest member of the Real Madrid staff. She will be providing us with liveblogs and the occassional post. Welcome Dancy