2022 UEFA European Under-17 Championship

[tetsujin1979]

Squad announced yesterday for the Qualification Round of the 2022 UEFA Under 17 Championship: https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/mu17-obrien-names-squad-for-euro-qualifiers



Qualifying Round Squad (https://www.fai.ie/ireland/news/mu17-obrien-names-squad-for-euro-qualifiers)

Elite Round Squad


Goalkeepers
Fintan Doherty(Derry City)
Conor Walsh(Sligo Rovers)
Goalkeepers
Fintan Doherty (Derry City)
Conor Walsh (Sligo Rovers)


Defenders
Luke Browne(Shelbourne)
Sam Curtis(St. Patrick’s Athletic)
Cathal Heffernan(Cork City)
Ruadhan Kane(Klub Kildare)
Daniel Kelly(Sligo Rovers)
Luke O’Brien(St. Patrick’s Athletic)
Defenders
Sam Curtis (St. Patrick's Athletic)
Cathal Heffernan (AC Milan)
Dan McHale (UCD)
Sean McHale (St. Patrick's Athletic)
Luke O'Brien (St. Patrick's Athletic)
Ivan Savshak (Honved Budapest)


Midfielders
Justin Ferizaj(Shamrock Rovers)
Gavin Hodgkin(Shelbourne)
Darius Lipsivc(St. Patrick’s Athletic)
James McManus(Bohemians)
Rocco Vata(Celtic)
Midfielders
Justin Ferizaj (Shamrock Rovers)
Darius Lipsiuc (St. Patrick's Athletic)
James McManus (Bohemians)
Senan Mullen (Dundalk)
Adam Murphy (St. Patrick's Athletic)
Rocco Vata (Celtic)


Forwards
Trent Kone Doherty(Derry City)
Liam Murray(Cork City)
Caden McLoughlin(Villareal)
Alex Nolan(St. Patrick’s Athletic)
Mark O’Mahony(Cork City)
Franco Umeh(Cork City)
Kevin Zefi(Inter Milan)
Forwards
Thomas Bloxham (Tottenham Hotspur)
Caden McLoughlin (Villarreal)
Mark O'Mahony (Cork City)
Gideon Tetteh (Shamrock Rovers)
Franco Umeh (Cork City)
Kevin Zefi (Inter Milan)




The group is to be hosted in Cork, with Ireland playing their games at Turner's Cross, and the other games to be played at the Mardyke. Ticket details in the link above

UEFA Under-17 European Championship Qualifying Round - Group 5
Thursday, October 7 | Republic of Ireland MU17 v Andorra MU17, Turner’s Cross, KO 7pm
Sunday, October 10 | Republic of Ireland MU17 v North Macedonia MU17, Turner’s Cross, KO 7pm
Wednesday, October 13 | Republic of Ireland MU17 v Poland MU17, Turner’s Cross, 1pm


it's a tough group, aside from Andorra, but with home advantage we should look to finish in the top two

Andorra highlights (https://foot.ie/threads/270415-2022-UEFA-European-Under-17-Championship?p=2090766)

Elite round discussion: https://foot.ie/threads/270415-2022-UEFA-European-Under-17-Championship?p=2105627&viewfull=1#post2105627

More info
uefa.com - Under 17 (https://www.uefa.com/under17/)
2022 UEFA European Under 17 Championship (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship)
2022 UEFA European Under 17 Championship Qualifying Round Group 5 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship_qualification#Group_5)
2022 UEFA European Under 17 Championship Elite Round Group 8 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship_qualification#Group_8_2)

[ltfc_2004]

Who are the potential standouts ? and years of hope in foot.ie threads they will make the breakthrough !

[tetsujin1979]

Who are the potential standouts ? and years of hope in foot.ie threads they will make the breakthrough !
Heffernan had trials in Germany, Ferizaj is supposed to be very good, McLoughlin has signed a professional contract with Villareal, and Zefi is probably the most well known from the squad after signing for Inter.

[pineapple stu]

it's a tough group, aside from Andorra, but with home advantage we should look to finish in the top two

North Macedonia hardly a tough draw either, you would imagine?

[tetsujin1979]

North Macedonia hardly a tough draw either, you would imagine?

More of an unknown quantity, the had a pretty tough group in their last U17 group - Belgium, Poland, and Liechtenstein - and lost to the two top seeds, but still managed to score against both and could have gotten a draw against Poland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship_qualification#Group_1

[elatedscum]

Heffernan had trials in Germany, Ferizaj is supposed to be very good, McLoughlin has signed a professional contract with Villareal, and Zefi is probably the most well known from the squad after signing for Inter.

Those guys + Curtis and Doherty are still u16s, so while they may not standout as much this week, they’re guys who long term could be ones to watch

[CSAD]

Those guys + Curtis and Doherty are still u16s, so while they may not standout as much this week, they’re guys who long term could be ones to watch

Sam Curtis is 2005, he’s born in December though so very close to 2006 but just short.

Trent Doherty is 2006 and ofcourse played against Malta for the u16s in September.

[elatedscum]

Sam Curtis is 2005, he’s born in December though so very close to 2006 but just short.

Trent Doherty is 2006 and ofcourse played against Malta for the u16s in September.

My bad !

[Stuttgart88]

[wrong thread - tried to delete]

[tetsujin1979]

Rising soccer star Cathal Heffernan ready to add new chapter to Irish family’s story of sporting success: https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/rising-soccer-star-cathal-heffernan-ready-to-add-new-chapter-to-irish-familys-story-of-sporting-success-40924526.html

[tetsujin1979]

Nothing from the FAI yet in the first game against Andorra, that kicks off in half an hour, but the lineups are on uefa.com
https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2031046--republic-of-ireland-vs-andorra/

[sadloserkid]

I was at it. Comfortable win though Andorra tired badly as it progressed. Ireland looked good but it's hard to read too much into it given the opposition. Zefi caught the eye a few times, took too much out of it a few times but he'll learn. The other games will reveal a lot more.

[tetsujin1979]

The other game in the group finished 0-0 between Poland and North Macedonia. A win on Sunday against North Macedonia should put us into the Elite Round

[tetsujin1979]

Good review on the examiner: https://www.irishexaminer.com/sport/soccer/arid-40715963.html
interesting stat, if true

Was this really the first competitive international fixture (from U17 up, at least) with no Ireland player involved tied to an English club?
Wasn't there a few games with a team that had more than half of the players from Shamrock Rovers?

[Kingdom]

Lot of talk on social media, that this is the first time - at any men's level (in a competitive game) - that an Ireland side has not contained a player playing with an English club.
Momentous if true.

[liamoo11]

Lot of talk on social media, that this is the first time - at any men's level (in a competitive game) - that an Ireland side has not contained a player playing with an English club.
Momentous if true.

Yet people will celebrate the fact the zefi signed for inter. Is the academy at inter better than let's say the academy at Chelsea or man City? When you see the young English talent been produced through English academies I don't think you could say Italian academies are superior to English ones. Have irish academies any chance of matching the quality of English academies? Will players miss out been in an English academy between 16 and 19 up against the best of their age groups from across the world or will the trade off of staying in ireland with family support, ongoing education and exposure to senior football in the League of Ireland be superior for their longterm development?

[Olé Olé]

And how many lads have gone into or come through the City or Chelsea academies successfully for us recently? Or ever? Bazunu is slightly different in that he's a keeper. Is Italy a better place for a keeper? That's my counter to the England Italy comparison on Zefi. The celebration or whatever you want to call it is justified in my view.

The Ireland issue is separate. The concern is with the standard of coaching they will receive and if it will be on a full time basis. The facilities are another aspect. There are a few.

[Eirambler]

Yeah, I don't really understand the sense of celebration that our 16 and 17 year olds no longer have access to some of the best football academies in the world, in a country where the same language is spoken as we use and is right on our doorstep. Especially when our own youth development system is nowhere near ready to step up and plug the gap.

It feels a bit like English people celebrating the loss of free movement of people to and from Europe and then finding out a year or two later that there's no petrol, the supermarket shelves are half empty and heating bills are going through the roof.

Be careful what you wish for and celebrate I would say.

[pineapple stu]

It's an interesting stat and discussion. I think from the point of view of the immediate future of the national team, it's a bad thing alright. We are probably going to get a lower standard of player coming through in the next few years, at the exact time when we can least afford it.

But I think that's a fairly narrow focus. We're tops in Europe for sending 16-year-olds abroad, and it's generally acknowledged that's a bad thing for player development afaik. And when you consider that most of those going abroad at that age fail and come back to Ireland, well then you've taken them out of two years of schooling for no benefit, and that's not a good thing. Plus the LoI would benefit from greater transfer fees if players stayed here longer, which is a good thing. Of course, the LoI isn't really set up to take over from English academies in terms of our own player development, and that's a legacy we have to bear for decades of mismanagement. We are way out of kilter with how player development works in the rest of Europe. Brexit should now force us to address this, which is a good thing.

On a tangential but related note - there is petrol, and there is stock for the shelves, but multi-billion pound companies have gotten used to paying Eastern European drivers minimum wage for long hours - as close to slavery as you can legally get really. (I've paid drivers and have had to top up salaries in some weeks because the 60 hours they worked means their salary was below minimum wage). Execs with huge salaries are now playing chicken with their supply lines as they don't want to set a precedent for paying local drivers an actual living wage. That's what that comes down to. And maybe if they pay drivers a proper wage, prices on the shelves or at the pump would go up slightly, but that seems a small price to pay for a more equitable society to me. And similarly, why should we keep taking 16-year-olds out of school, sending them to a foreign country where most will fail, just because a couple will make it and will improve our national team - is that really a win here?

In both cases, sometimes if you look beyond short-term pain, you can see the potential for greater long-term gain.

[tetsujin1979]

goals from the win against Andorra
1446415072654360578

[sadloserkid]

I can confirm that the guy who hopped the wall to give Zefi a hug after the third goal was thrown out but given a hero's welcome by the ball boys as he was escorted away.

[tetsujin1979]

FAI posted the lineup from tonight's game against North Macedonia 15 minutes after kick off
Ireland are 1-0 up after a goal from Rocco Vata after half an hour
1447264796475277316

[Paddy Garcia]

Ended 2 - 0.

Goal from Mark O'Mahony

[JR89]

1447309586390822913

[samhaydenjr]

Wow... that Vata strike... just wow

[liamoo11]

Is it right that Vata is 2006 born so under 17 again next season?

[JR89]

Yeah Vata can play with the U17s again next season.

[liamoo11]

Yeah Vata can play with the U17s again next season.

It's very impressive. There surely will be massive pressure for him to play for Albania. His dad was surely a legend for Albania.

[Poor Student]

It's very impressive. There surely will be massive pressure for him to play for Albania. His dad was surely a legend for Albania.

“Nobody in the Albanian FA contacted me about Rocco. I know that Scotland have watched him too, but the Irish association was the first to get in contact.” Vata told SunSport.
“His granny is the happiest Irish woman in Scotland!

In 2019 in response to his son playing for Ireland his dad said:
“People in Albania know through social media he has been selected by Ireland. I believe many people back home are calling me names.
“But if Albania had been professional enough, shown some interest and done their homework right they would have recognised Rocco was playing for Celtic and they would have contacted me.
“They didn’t show any kind of respect, desire or professionalism, and if they don’t do that, he will never play for Albania.”

His mam, born in Scotland with an Irish mother, is Ireland mad and tweets away very proudly about him playing for Ireland. The only family pressure I can see is for him to play for Ireland. What you'll probably see is increasing Scottish media pressure about his decision if he breaks through at Celtic. McCarthy and McGeady got a lot of grief for their decisions and were singled out for booing and abuse in away matches in Scotland particularly at Ibrox.

[Olé Olé]

“Nobody in the Albanian FA contacted me about Rocco. I know that Scotland have watched him too, but the Irish association was the first to get in contact.” Vata told SunSport.
“His granny is the happiest Irish woman in Scotland!

In 2019 in response to his son playing for Ireland his dad said:
“People in Albania know through social media he has been selected by Ireland. I believe many people back home are calling me names.
“But if Albania had been professional enough, shown some interest and done their homework right they would have recognised Rocco was playing for Celtic and they would have contacted me.
“They didn’t show any kind of respect, desire or professionalism, and if they don’t do that, he will never play for Albania.”

His mam, born in Scotland with an Irish mother, is Ireland mad and tweets away very proudly about him playing for Ireland. The only family pressure I can see is for him to play for Ireland. What you'll probably see is increasing Scottish media pressure about his decision if he breaks through at Celtic. McCarthy and McGeady got a lot of grief for their decisions and were singled out for booing and abuse in away matches in Scotland particularly at Ibrox.

And whilst his mother's father is probably Scottish, it appears as though they are huge Celtic fans and immersed in the Irish community there.

It's an interesting one. He probably has two Albanian grandparents, one Scottish and one Irish so he's as Irish as he is Scottish really in some ways. As I have said, if Zefi and Ferizaj are Irish-Albanian and excelling with us it surely makes it a little easier for us to keep Rocco too. We are blessed they are a similar age in that regard!

[tetsujin1979]

Looks like the final qualifier against Poland at 1pm today will be online, there's a live stream from Turner's Cross on FAI's YouTube channel at the moment
g6uSgR1xrd0
Nothing there right now, unless you want to watch someone cutting the grass

[seanfhear]

Looks like the final qualifier against Poland at 1pm today will be online, there's a live stream from Turner's Cross on FAI's YouTube channel at the moment
g6uSgR1xrd0
Nothing there right now, unless you want to watch someone cutting the grass
Who is the auld fella top left ? ?

As a matter of fact any of the Top Left Three look like a hardy bunch !

[ltfc_2004]

Yet 21 looks really young .... I was stopped for ID till I was about 30 lol A few them do look rather mature ...... you would be asking for birthcerts at a local league match

[Olé Olé]

Who is the auld fella top left ? ?

As a matter of fact any of the Top Left Three look like a hardy bunch !

Sam Curtis who tasted senior football at 14 for Shamrock Rovers B co-incidentally!

[JR89]

Sam Curtis who tasted senior football at 14 for Shamrock Rovers B co-incidentally!

Think Mark O'Mahoney is the player next to him. Cathal Heffernan is a big lad all the same and was an interview recently with his dad about how himself and Steven Ireland have become good mates and how Ireland has been helping his son

[tetsujin1979]

2-0 down with only twenty minutes gone, first goal was a penalty

[passinginterest]

Just tuned in to see a free kick equaliser from what must have been very close to 30 yards.

[TonyD]

Sam Curtis who tasted senior football at 14 for Shamrock Rovers B co-incidentally!

He also came on as sub for Pats recently. Big lad for 17.

[elatedscum]

Just tuned in to see a free kick equaliser from what must have been very close to 30 yards.

Really bizarrely, in a weird coincidence I know the Polish U17 keeper.

[Stuttgart88]

You're such a name dropper. I've met Pele and Michael Stipe. I doubt either remembers me.

[Eminence Grise]

Not at all, Stutts - Mike (he's Mike to his friends) raves about you every time we catch up in either of our LA pads. You're a real part of his Life's Rich Pageant.:cool:

Seriously cool names to drop all the same, good sir!

[Stuttgart88]

A real REM fan wouldn't have included the apostrophe :)

[Eminence Grise]

Shhh... the apostrophe makes it not a pun so we might get away with it!!!

[tetsujin1979]

Finnegans Wake would like a word

[Kingdom]

Yeah Vata can play with the U17s again next season.

Anything that allows his mother to retain a presence on twitter is wonderful for all of us.

[Kingdom]

Think Mark O'Mahoney is the player next to him. Cathal Heffernan is a big lad all the same and was an interview recently with his dad about how himself and Steven Ireland have become good mates and how Ireland has been helping his son

Ah ****e. that's that so. It'll be pink dice and furry steering wheels by the time the elite stage rolls around.

[tetsujin1979]

The U17s have slipped into Pot B for the elite round after Italy finished their group with a 100% record, and without conceding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship_qualification#Draw_2

[CraftyToePoke]

The U17s have slipped into Pot B for the elite round after Italy finished their group with a 100% record, and without conceding.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship_qualification#Draw_2

Kenny out.

[liamoo11]

https://www.the42.ie/stephen-carr-on-kevin-zefi-5582518-Nov2021/ good article on zefi. Great to see inter playing him as a central striker

[tetsujin1979]

THe Elite round draw took place today - https://www.uefa.com/under17/news/026b-12cbb4a61d61-2892acc95df7-1000--u17-elite-round-draw-made/
Ireland drew Bulgaria, Portugal, and Finland. That's a pretty tough group
All eight group winners, and the seven best runners up will qualify for the tournament in the summer. Group games to take place in March 2022