As Guardiola has chosen a team consisting entirely of B-teamers, it only makes sense that Luis Enrique, the Barça B coach, would be the one in charge of the match. That way no one will be weirded out by a slightly different system and play dysfunctionally.

Here’s the squad list: Miño, Oier, Montoya, Verdés, Johnny, Botía, Fontás, Romeu, Polaco, Jonathan dos Santos, Rueda, Sergi Busquets, Abraham, Víctor Vázquez, Rochina, Carmona, Zambudio.

It’s nice to note Jonathan Dos Santos’ appearance in the squad, though I have no idea how good he is. For some reason I picture him as a smaller version of his brother, Gio, but perhaps more inclined to stay with the B program for a bit longer. Anyway, it’s not a power-packed lineup, but Sant Andreu isn’t the heaviest opponent, either. They finished second to Barça B in the Tercera division last year and also gained promotion to Segunda B.

So I suspect we’ll win this and advance to the finals, but you never know, so stay tuned for all the glorious action. You can listen to the game on Radio Barça or, I suspect, follow it on BarçaTV if you have a subscription.

If you know little or nothing about the Barça youth academy, you should know that it considers itself to be the best in the world. Calling out ManU, baby!

Anyway, here are highlights of Barcelona’s 2-3 win over Girona:

Note that until Sylvinho scored, Barcelona still hadn’t scored from open play. And that own goal: wow, what a ridiculous flubber.

1. The Copa Catalunya starts off today, with 5 reserve/youth team players included in the squad, what with most of the first team squad off on internationals break. The game is at Girona, about an hour from Barcelona in a little town called, um, Girona. The first team members chosen for the trip were: Valdés, Jorquera, Márquez, Ezquerro, Oleguer, and Sylvinho. Two keepers and two defenders, eh? Sounds like La Masia is going to continue shooting out attackers for the next thirty years…Regardless, there are several players being called up to “first team” action for this game: Gai Assulin, Thiago Alcántara, Víctor Vázquez, Jeffren Suárez, and Alberto Botía have all received temporary license to play “upstairs” and no doubt Marc Crosas and keeper Oier Olazabal. I fully expect a victory in the Catalunya semis (what happened to the rest? Does it only start with 4 teams?) over a team I’ve basically never heard of, though I actually think I have heard of them. They play in the Segunda B after having been promoted from the Tercera last year.*

2. Spain’s U-17 WC team is now in the final thanks to a 118th minute goal by Bojan, who was promptly sent off for a second bookable offense and will miss the final. Oops. He’s played absurdly well there and should return to the Copa Catalunya (assuming Barcelona makes the final) and perhaps a few Copa del Rey matches with the “first team.” He’s been given the number 28, which will allow him to play with the first team squad while remaining a member of Barcelona B.

3. Carles Puyol has begun training again and even sprinting according to Sport and El Mundo Deportivo. He should be back in about a month, assuming all goes well. You see, this is why we shouldn’t play friendlies: first Puyol and now Eto’o. We better come out of the international break and this silly Copa Catalunya match with no more injuries.

That’s all for today, I think. There’s not much to talk about in terms of FCB itself over the coming two weeks, what with the international break and Osasuna being the next league match on the 16th, so it’s great that I’m going on vacation to the fabled golden roads of Puebla, Mexico. I leave on Friday morning (Sept 7) and return a week from Sunday (Sept 16). I will miss 1 Barcelona game, which is great, and apparently I’m going to the Mexico-Panama game on the 9th. I mean, I’ll be there anyway, so I might as well go indulge in wearing a lot of green and consuming large amounts of cheap booze…right? Right.

*Barcelona B is now in the Tercera, in Group 5 (the Catalan group). Here is a link, in case you want to see who they play.