Youth internationals

Spain's more junior youth sides have also been in action in the last few days as the domestic competitions take a small break. The under 18 squad took part in the Meridian Cup this week, a tournament which takes place between the top four European and the top four African sides every two years. This time the European sides ran out overwhelming winners, with Spain, France and Turkey winning all their games and Spain not letting a goal in throughout.

Meanwhile the under 17 side were warming up for their upcoming European qualifying games with a four-way invitation tournament in the Canary Islands, the Atlantic Cup, and the under 19 squad were called up for training before their difficult European qualifying round in two months time, where they will face former youth champions France and Portugal as well as Israel. Spain won the competition last season. The under 16 side do not play competitive European matches, but they did take part a few days ago in the Santarem Invitation Cup in Portugal, which they won after beating the hosts in their last game. (11.02.05)