2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship

[elatedscum]

I think we can't finish lower than second now.
Assuming a win in the final game on Monday, Italy would need to beat Ukraine by two goals more than we beat Cyprus to top the group.

if ukraine beat italy by 1 and cyprus beat us by 4?

[CSAD]

I think we can't finish lower than second now.
Assuming a win in the final game on Monday, Italy would need to beat Ukraine by two goals more than we beat Cyprus to top the group.

If we were to lose badly to Cyprus and Ukraine win we could finish 3rd theoretically.

If we come 2nd then we will have 4 points when it comes to qualification and a GD of 3 which based on the last 2 u17 euros would rank us as the best runner up, we only have to finish in the top 7 of 8 to qualify as a runner up, even if we don’t finish as the best runner up we should more than enough to qualify as a runner up should we get a point versus Cyprus. Granted we should be aiming to win judging by how the group has gone so far!

[Eirambler]

We should only be thinking about winning the group from here. Great win today by the sounds of it.

[elatedscum]

game starting on the cyprus youtube. babb comes in at the back for turley. Orazi starting on the wing over Kone-Doherty

[tetsujin1979]

Live stream here
zDXK8eoM3AM

[tetsujin1979]

Lineups and text commentary here: https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2036871--republic-of-ireland-vs-cyprus/
Kone-Doherty not in the squad at all, might not be recovered fully from the injury he's carrying

[Kingdom]

Just bounced one off the bar from about 22 yds and then butchered a subsequent 1v1 and 3v2.
0-0 22mins gone.

[Kingdom]

Butchered another incredible chance in front of goal on 30 mins after great play to create the chance. Not sure I've seen an Irish side this fluid before at this age-group (yes, Including that side).

Edit. Another one missed. this side is awesome. cyprus less so

[tetsujin1979]

Messed up that corner too.
Have to score one of these soon

[Kingdom]

Cyprus twice dangerous through the middle and very close to an opening chance. Ireland need to be patient. A goal will come.

[Kingdom]

Cyprus 1-0. Stupid ****ing goal from our own throw-in. Awesome finish but keeper shopuldn't be beaten from that angle.

[OMTY]

Shouldn't be scoring from that angle and with that amount of bodies in the box.

[elatedscum]

Goal for Cyprus. Ball given away poorly by Babb before the 17 scored from a ridiculous angle.

[Kingdom]

Italy 1-0 up on Ukraine approaching ht.

[elatedscum]

The irish formation is really interesting, it’s like a fluid 4-2-4 with Razi given the freedom to push right up from No.10 when he wants, Kehir sometimes dropping back deeper as midfielder, Melia or Razi occasionally dropping wide tight as well

Will be interested to see how they react to the goal. Should have been 4-0 up by then.

[Kingdom]

The irish formation is really interesting, it’s like a fluid 4-2-4 with Razi given the freedom to push right up from No.10 when he wants, Kehir sometimes dropping back deeper as midfielder, Melia or Razi occasionally dropping wide tight as well

Will be interested to see how they react to the goal. Should have been 4-0 up by then.

It's clear ireland are the better side, and much stronger in use of the ball - but Cyprus have worked through us very well at times. It's not as if they've just sat back and had one breakaway.
The stream and highlights is excellent.

[elatedscum]

Yeah - irish keeper made a great save after 10 mins, there was a Babb clearance in the air that was dangerous and the through ball that the keeper came out and claimed - so they were always a threat from our mistakes or from the break.

But there was probably 10 equivalent chances for us

[Kingdom]

Looks like we're making a change. Akachukwu is warming up intensively with a coach on the line. Niall McAndrews gone off

[CSAD]

The way Ireland have managed this game has been incredibly poor. Just aimless balls around the park and passing to no one and forcing passes. Cyprus scoring was the perfect storm for us as now they will just fight for every ball now which will make our challenge way harder than it needed to be.

[elatedscum]

Harnett comes off injured at right back. I think the fact both Grante and Turley are missing has a lot to do with why we look so vulnerable with that ball down the middle.

[CSAD]

Akachukwu just wide with a strike, you just know if Cyprus had hit it they would have scored judging by how the game has gone so far.

[CSAD]

That Razi free kick just sums up the whole performance.

[elatedscum]

Razi really should pass that freekick. O’Sullivan was played onside and so so open

[tetsujin1979]

Calamity of errors leading to that last shot by Cyprus

[CSAD]

I’ve lost count the amount of misplaced passes, aimless long balls and the amount times the Cypriot defense has just taken the ball off our players with ease… just based on all that I can’t say I’m that sympathetic that we are losing and we are lucky it isn’t 2-0 after that chance.

[CSAD]

And after all that we score from a cracking free kick!

[Kingdom]

I disagree that they aren't managing the game . I think they are still playing remarkably well (albeit not as well as the first) for a side who are probably cacking it. They've not resorted to hoofing and are still going through the formations, It's impressive.

Edit, Cyprus should have just scored a second.

[CSAD]

Italy are only 1 up and look unlikely to get the 3 goals required meaning just get one more and we win the groupz

[Kingdom]

Yessss! A peach of a free kick.

[OMTY]

Jesus we are some mess at the back.

[CSAD]

And we concede a second from our complete inability to defend…like Belarus in the qualifying round all over again.

It really is a miracle we’ve probably qualified given how horrendous our defense is.

[Kingdom]

**** sake, Cyprus break after we butcher a great chance. Shocking shocking defending

[elatedscum]

Playing against 10. I’d bring on Okosun and Mooney - hasn’t really happened for Melia (trying to walk it into the net) and Orazi

[CSAD]

I could forgive the horrendous defending if we were at least clinical at the other end but sadly that is also very lacking.

[CSAD]

Scored a 2nd!

2-2

Hopefully we push on and get a third and please don’t forget about defending!

[OMTY]

2-2, lovely goal from Razi. Cyprus down to 10 now, 82 mins gone, can still push on and get the win

[elatedscum]

Melia has to score that. Have lost a minute and half so far with injury - interesting to see if it’s added on

[tetsujin1979]

Melia wasted that chace to win it, should have passed.

[elatedscum]

Playing against 10. I’d bring on Okosun and Mooney - hasn’t really happened for Melia (trying to walk it into the net) and Orazi

About time Okosun gets on

[CSAD]

Ireland Score the 3rd right at the death!!!! And I believe if my math are correct Ireland win the group on goals scored!

[CSAD]

And Ireland win the group due to us scoring 9 goals to Italy’s 8 over the 3 games!

[OMTY]

What a finish to the game. You'd have wanted them to be more comfortable and the defence looks shaky out but great way to win it and they never gave up

[elatedscum]

What a finish to the game. You'd have wanted them to be more comfortable and the defence looks shaky out but great way to win it and they never gave up

You’d imagine the defence would look a lot better if Babb was playing right back and if Grante and Turley were playing in the centre.

Thought Razi was impressive today, even if he tired at the end

[Kingdom]

Watched up to the 70min mark then had a meeting. Sullen and depressed assuming we'd blown it.
Delighted and from a few WhatsApp group messages, it seems like they stuck to their guns with the type of football they tried to play.
Delighted for them

[yurt]

I didn't see the game but delighted for the lads to qualify in that manner.
It's crazy how competitive our under age teams are considering how there's next to no full time under age staff in the LOI academies. The ceiling on our future is so high if our clubs continue to grow into proper professional outfits.
Does anyone know how the pots are made for the final tournament? Does winning the group put us into a higher seed?

[Kingdom]

I didn't see the game but delighted for the lads to qualify in that manner.
It's crazy how competitive our under age teams are considering how there's next to no full time under age staff in the LOI academies. The ceiling on our future is so high if our clubs continue to grow into proper professional outfits.
Does anyone know how the pots are made for the final tournament? Does winning the group put us into a higher seed?

Elatedscum and Liamoo would be the oracles on this, but afaik it's either based on the ranking of the teams who qualified with their points total (i.e. we qualifed on 7 points, as did Italy) rather than being guaranteed in the top 8 (although we surely are). Italy is probably a better example actually - they could still be in the top 8 if some of the group winners finish with less than 7 points.

I don't think the U17 ranking has anything to do with it for the finals.

[BOOMSHAKALAKA]

Brilliant stuff. Results really shouldn't matter too much at this age group but more games at an elite level can only help. We're doing some things well somewhere.

[Kingdom]

Brilliant stuff. Results really shouldn't matter too much at this age group but more games at an elite level can only help. We're doing some things well somewhere.

I disagree - results at these age groups are absolutely important - but they shouldn't be achieved to the mutual exclusion of player development. Ireland in the past decade and a half have performed super well at 17s and 19s. We've been dismal at 21s and our failure to compete at that age group has absolutely been a factor in the failure to progress positively at senior level.

[JR89]

I didn't see the game but delighted for the lads to qualify in that manner.
It's crazy how competitive our under age teams are considering how there's next to no full time under age staff in the LOI academies. The ceiling on our future is so high if our clubs continue to grow into proper professional outfits.
Does anyone know how the pots are made for the final tournament? Does winning the group put us into a higher seed?

The seven best group winners along with Hungary will be in Pot 1. So we'll need one group winner to finish below us to get into pot 1.

Though can still get a nightmare group as it's a slightly open draw in the sense that there's only two pots to draw from rather than four. So the two best teams in the elite phase can be drawn together.

The year we hosted the U17s we drew Belgium from Pot 1 who were ranked fourth in seeding while we as hosts we ranked first.

[tetsujin1979]

can we draw Italy, since we faced them in the qualifiers?