Torres & Messi: The Early Years

Unless you live under a rock, we all know who Fernando Torres and Lionel Messi are and what they are capable of. Goal after goal these these two light up stadiums around the world with their fantastic goals and performances for Liverpool/Spain & Barcelona/Argentina.

But have you seen them play before they were global stars? Well if you haven't, here are 2 videos of the Torres and Messi when only their families knew who they were:

Here is Fernando Torres at the age of 12 playing for Atletico Madrid against AC Milan. As you can see even then he had a knack for goal as he bangs in 2 against the young Rossenairi. Love the bowl cut.



It didn't take long for Torres to become a household name as his amazing Barclays English Premier League inaugural campaign saw him net 25 times for the Reds. If you missed it, see below and then buy Fox Soccer Channel & Setanta subscriptions as you need to up your game.



Here we have 5 yr old Lionel Messi running circles around his opponents in some genuine footage from 1993.



It doesn't really matter what age he is because he will pretty much dribble around anyone that gets in his way. The clip below displays his class and ability to do whatever he likes with the ball. The video closes with the "Messidona" goal he scored against Getafe 2 seasons ago where he emulated the classic goal scored by Diego Maradona against England in the '86 World Cup in Mexico. The goal is arguably one of the greatest individual efforts to scoring that anyone has ever seen.

Bolivia's Aurora Get Stuck In

Bolivian league champions Aurora decided to have a go at the police during their game the other night. South American's are the best soccer fighters by far. Their kicks and flailing are right out of a Van Damme flick. And look how resoureful they can be, goalkeeper Silvio Dulcich using the corner flag to wail away on the cops like he is William Wallace. 10 points Silvio.

Somehow, Aurora was able to win the game 1-0. Don't ask me how. I saw at least a few bookable offenses. But I understand why the police got involved in the first place to escort a player of the pitch. Anyone who receives a red card isn't in the best mood and probably doesn't want to be touched.

At 2:15 it looks like they decided to line-up for a rugby scrum.

Nike Understands the Soccer Fan

I don't want to favor Nike over others but when it comes to digital, they are hands down doing the best work in the football/soccer industry. They truly embrace digital as a place where they can strengthen their brand by providing quality content for an amazing user experience.

Nike refers to these as "Brand Utilities". Their latest extension of this for soccer lovers is Boot Camp, where they have a number of videos from the pros showing you how they trained to get where they are today. It is described as a "World-class training program designed to turn you into a high-performance soccer player." It even offers:

• Weekly Video Drills


• Inspiration From Top Players


• Personal Stats


• Worldwide Player Rankings


• And boasts a "30 % improvement in your power, speed and stamina"

It's basically a digital soccer class you can take for either 4 or 6 weeks. Genius.

This latest installment is of brand utility is of no surprise to me. I remember the early stages of nikefootball.com where they allowed kids from all over the world to upload their tricks and moves for all to rate, judge and mimic. Every practice and summer day for me was spent with friends trying to emulate what we saw on "NikeFootball". No other soccer brand I can think of had this sort of power over their community. If you loved soccer, it was the only site to visit.

The same holds true today. Fact is, Nike truly understands what soccer/football lovers want to see and experience. They provide users with something to take away with them every time they visit. Something new. Something to talk about. Something they've never seen. Whatever they experience they are sure to tell others about.

Let's see what Adidas has in response....