The Club Barcelona FC is amazing. It is like nothing I have ever witnessed before. The players have 100´s of fans at each practice with the media watching their every move on video tape. The fans wait around after practice, just to get a chance to see the players as they drive out of the parking garage. It is very difficult to get close to the players because of all the security surrounding them. The newspapers follow them daily. I can go on and on. The best way to describe it is fans going crazy at a rock concert for a band-trying to get a look at every chance. The only thing that is different is the players at FC Barcelona live it each day. 

Yesterday we watched a couple of games and met with the head scout of Barcelona.  We watched the Barcelona B (reserves) and the first team take on Real Solicidad. In the reserve game we were able to withness the up and coming talent. Remember this name-Giovanni Dos Santos. He is a young player whom should hit the world stage very soon. He was the top player in the U17 world cup for mexico.

In the second game we watched Ronaldinho once again take over. He is absolutely amazing. Just watching him warm-up is worth the price of admission. He missed a bicycle kick that would have been the goal of the year, but he made it up in the second half scoring the games only goal.

In the lecture we saw what the players and coaches are shown before the next game. The amount of information is amazing. The video can break down anything you want to know about the other team and/or it´s players. The technology is way beyond anything we will every use in our situation, but the structure of what to look at is very interesting. We took a lot out of the session and a lot of ideas on how to scout another team and what information we should tell our players. In the end, it is all about the players and whether we can give them information that will help them in the upcoming game.

Today was a free day. I went to a couple of museums and had a pick up soccer game with some guys on a basketball court (converted into a soccer field). It was true street soccer as nobody would pass the ball and the score was not important. If your team was scored on, the last player on your team to run back and touch the goalpost was the goalie. It was all about whom could do the best move and make the other player look helpless. It was a lot of fun and I made some new friends.  

Tonight is the last night the group is together. Almost everybody is headed home, but I will be heading to London to watch a couple more games and visit a few more clubs. I´ll keep everybody posted.