We have passed the halfway point of our trip and I am still coming down from my high of attending my first match in the Camp Nou. The game could not have been any better with Barcelona putting on a tremendous performance and coming away with a convincing win.

But for the kids from Penya Los Angeles Thursday for them means it is match day. All the hard work and training that these 10 year olds have been doing while in Barcelona along with the weeks prior in Los Angeles all lead up to the match at the Ciutat Esportiva against FC Barcelona’s Benjamin team. The FCB team is the best 10 year olds that have been selected to be trained to become the next crop of megastars for the team.

The Penya kids had played three matches up until this point having won two and tying the other. So they had definitely opened the eyes of the Barcelona people who had an obvious preconceived idea that the US does not take football seriously. But with a win against the FC Barcelona academy it would make a huge statement and would grab the attention of one of the biggest clubs and youth development programs in the world!

As I traveled on the bus to the Ciutat I watched the kids joke around and play with each other, if they were nervous you could not tell. The parents traveling with the team, the coaches, and myself on the other hand were nervous enough for all of them. We did not want to come to Barcelona and get destroyed. Everyone wanted the kids to have fun but also play how they are capable of. After watching the FCB squad on the first day we arrived a high level performance would be the only way to not be destroyed.

When we arrived at the facility on the team bus we entered through the security checkpoint to see a FC Barcelona bus. I immediately got excited because I thought that the bus was for the senior team and that I would be able to catch a glimpse of all the players as the left training. I was quickly informed that the bus was actually the team bus of the FC Barcelona kids squad that transports them from the La Masia. It took me a while to comprehend that this very expensive bus, which looks exactly like the first team bus was in fact for little kids.

As we made our way to the field, which the kids would be playing, we passed by many other FC Barcelona squads that were training and the many people who had come to watch this team from Los Angeles, California take on FC Barcelona. You could tell that none of the people took us seriously coming from the United States and because many, many teams have come before us, from all over the world and have been soundly defeated and sent packing.

By match time the field is surrounded by parents of the Barcelona kids, some people in the Spanish media, coaches from the Barcelona Youth Academy, and also people from the city coming to just watch the match and see how well kids from the US play the game. The match would be three period of 15 minutes each and from the pregame warm-ups it looked like FC Barcelona were going to use three different squads in each period against the one squad we brought.

From the starting whistle the kids from Penya LA controlled the tempo of the match and played with speed and aggressiveness that from Barcelona’s reaction was something they were not used to seeing in kids of this age.

The Los Angeles gave 110% in all three periods completely destroying the FC Barcelona squad both defensively and offensively. The final score would end up being 1-4 and after the match everyone in attendance was talking about how well this team from the US played and could not believe how height the skill level was.

The kids had come and achieved what they had set out to accomplish and with such a one sided victory a statement was definitely made. Football in the US is changing, kids are learning how to play the game with skill at a younger age, and talent is being developed. Look out Europe because in a few years the US is going to have some real talent coming to compete.