West Ham’s under 18s welcome Southampton to the London Stadium tonight the last four clash in the FA Youth Cup.
The winners face Arsenal in the final after the Gunners beat Manchester City 2-1 AET on Tuesday evening.
Despite a late 4-3 loss at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday, the Irons are top of U18 Premier League South and on course for a sensational 2022/23 campaign.
Head coach Keen knows how important Thursday’s match is, both in the context of the campaign so far and for each of the young players on a personal level.
“For a few of them though, there might be more chances to play even more times at London Stadium with the first team. And maybe even one or two of them might go on to play a lot of games there, with West Ham United. That’s the overarching goal.
“We’ve done quite well away from home, and there’s always a bit more attention on a home game. But we’re delighted for the boys to get that amazing opportunity to play at the home stadium. We have to say though, that we’ve done quite well away from home so far.”
The U18s have reached the semi-final stage of the tournament for the first time since 1999; the last year West Ham went all the way and won the competition.
Keen is proud of the effort, talent and fortitude shown by his squad in reaching the last four and is hopeful the journey will continue past Thursday.
He said: “I’ve been back here for four seasons and this is the furthest we’ve come in the FA Youth Cup.
“There was a bit of a struggle before that. But the Youth Cup has this polish and real lure for players because you’ve only got two years to play in it. After that, it’s gone.
“But this year has been fantastic. We’re going to play at London Stadium and we’ve also played at Portman Road and the Bet365 Stadium. So it’s been great in that regard and hopefully we can keep that going and get to the final.”
The match will be available to watch via live stream in the UK on the FA Player. The game will be free to watch but signing up to the platform is required. The game can be viewed here.
Full highlights will be available on Friday morning on the Club’s YouTube channel, on the official West Ham United app, and at whufc.com.