2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship

[JR89]

Honestly how do you make a mistake like this. Like surely you'd even think to yourself this can't be right let me check just to be sure.
https://www.google.com/search?q=raj+nazi&oq=ra&aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j69i57j69i61j69i59j69i61j69i60 .1547j0j1&client=ms-android-xiaomi-rvo3&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-

[pineapple stu]

I think you're on the wrong forum JR!

(That'll learn ye two to mess around with other forums:))

[tetsujin1979]

The final round of group fixtures start tomorrow, a few things to note
Croatia and the Netherlands are both out without a point after they both lost to England and Switzerland
While not eliminated yet, Italy are pointless and need to beat Slovenia by at least four goals, and hope that Serbia don't get anything off Spain to stay in the competition
In what could be a game to watch tomorrow, Portugal have to beat France to go through to the quarter finals. As I posted before, Portugal won all six of their qualifiers, and only conceded once. In their two group games so far, they conceded four to Germany and once to Scotland
Poland will top group A, no matter what, and the runners up in will probably face Spain, unless Serbia beat Spain to top the gruop, in which case the runners up will face Serbia

[tetsujin1979]

Ike Orazi has had a trial with Benfica, according to Graham Gartland
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2023/0522/1385053-ireland-u17s-all-of-them-have-had-different-journeys/

"Ike, for example, Benfica came in [and said], 'We really like Ike, we'd like to take him', brings him over [on trial] and Ike has done all that himself, nobody has been involved in that. It's all been his hard work, his graft and that way he'll get his rewards for it," he said.

[pineapple stu]

2-0 up after 10 minutes against Hungary (who are at home of course)

Great chance to make the knockouts here

[JR89]

2-0 up after 10 minutes against Hungary (who are at home of course)

Great chance to make the knockouts here

It's 1-1, Grante scored an OG

[pineapple stu]

Ah! That's embarrassing - I was just going off futbol24 updates, which did ping it as 2-0... :o

[CraftyToePoke]

Horrible OG & it has changed the momentum of the game. We were looking a lot more likely whereas now they are.

[CraftyToePoke]

Right on cue :) 2.1 Ireland. Corner.

[JR89]

2-1 Melia. Set pieces have been good tonight and Melia is a big lad for 15.

[JR89]

3-1 Melia. Razi and Orazi linking up well tonight.

[TonyD]

Pats 3 Hungary 1. :cool:

[pineapple stu]

Pats 3 Hungary 1. :cool:
Fairly clear this is all down to the UCD player starting :p

Edit - not to jinx it, but it looks like we'd be playing Spain in the last eight on Saturday. Spain at underage level is always a huge huge challenge for a country as small as us in fairness.

[CraftyToePoke]

Recovered well from the choppy ten minutes after the OG. In control of it and playing nice stuff into half time.

[TonyD]

Fairly clear this is all down to the UCD player starting :p

Edit - not to jinx it, but it looks like we'd be playing Spain in the last eight on Saturday. Spain at underage level is always a huge huge challenge for a country as small as us in fairness.

Let’s not tempt fate. Still 45 minutes to go. Who is the UCD player btw ? Not that familiar with the lads. Is Akechikwu with Bohs did I hear ? Looks a good strong player. Orazi impressive as well. Great finish from Mason Melia for the third. Did really well to get in front of his man.

[tetsujin1979]

I'm all for a physical game, but Hungary are just kicking us

[TonyD]

The Hungarian lads quite cynical btw. Taking the option to foul every time an Irish player looks like getting away.

[JR89]

Pats 3 Hungary 1. :cool:

Pat's 4 Hungary 1 now. Cracker from Luke Kehir

[TonyD]

And Pats get a 4th ;):D

[pineapple stu]

Who is the UCD player btw ?
Daniel Babb. Played his first two senior games this season. Came through the academy from 15s

[Razors left peg]

Daniel Babb. Played his first two senior games this season. Came through the academy from 15s

Is he Phil's son? UEFA tv said he is.

Super performance today. Some high quality players in that team, and again shows the stupidity of saying they need to be playing abroad to compete

[SkStu]

Is he Phil's son? UEFA tv said he is.

Super performance today. Some high quality players in that team, and again shows the stupidity of saying they need to be playing abroad to compete

I looked him up before out of curiosity on the same issue and i dont think he is! I also looked up to see if Phil had any kids and couldnt find any evidence of it...

[ForzaForth]

RTE commentators said during the Welsh game that he's no relation to Phil.

[CraftyToePoke]

Probably a very Irish style wind up on a UEFA broadcaster researcher there lads, & why not.

Great win, performance faded second half but saw it out, glad we had that lead cushion though, towards the end.
Some lovely players, and we absolutely can send a competitive home based side to a finals.

Spain next I hear ?

[ltfc_2004]

The commentator went no relation if anyone is wondering at home and Cawley went everyone is wondering !

[pineapple stu]

Spain next I hear ?
Winners of Group B technically. So Spain if they avoid a two-goal defeat to Serbia. Serbia if they can beat Spain by two goals and better Slovenia's result against Italy. Slovenia if Serbia beat Spain by two goals and don't better Slovenia's result against Italy.

Those games at 5pm tomorrow

[pixiehead]

Winners of Group B technically. So Spain if they avoid a two-goal defeat to Serbia. Serbia if they can beat Spain by two goals and better Slovenia's result against Italy. Slovenia if Serbia beat Spain by two goals and don't better Slovenia's result against Italy.

Those games at 5pm tomorrow

Serbia would just have to win, H2H comes into it before GD.

Of course a Slovenia win combined with a Serbia win changes that H2H to include 3 teams, all with 3pts, with current GD of

Spain +1 max(3scored+),
Slovenia 0 (5scored) and
Serbia - 1 min(3scoredmin+) .

A Serbia single goal win (+Slovenia win), would see Spain group winner. Slovenia 2nd(better GD)

A Serbia 2-0/3-1 win (+Slovenia win), would see Slovenia group winner. Serbia 2nd (most GS or equal GS but Slovenia beat Serbia)

Any other Serbia 2 goal win (+Slovenia win), would see Serbia group winner. Spain 2nd (most GS and or equal GS but Spain beat Slovenia)

Any other Serbia win (+Slovenia win), would see Serbia group winner. Slovenia 2nd (better GD)
https://i.ibb.co/LYH6Vcr/Image-004.png

[CraftyToePoke]

Winners of Group B technically. So Spain if they avoid a two-goal defeat to Serbia. Serbia if they can beat Spain by two goals and better Slovenia's result against Italy. Slovenia if Serbia beat Spain by two goals and don't better Slovenia's result against Italy.

Those games at 5pm tomorrow

Just had a gander at their squads club list there and its every bit as unnerving as you'd fear.

[pineapple stu]

Plenty of Juve/Inter/AC players in the Italy squad and we saw how well that worked.

But yeah, it's a free shot really

[tetsujin1979]

Portugal out after only drawing with France, when they needed a win. I'd have had them down as one of the favourites
One of the England team has played in the Premier League - Ethan Nwaneri (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethan_Nwaneri) - who played a few minutes as a substitute for Arsenal against Brentford in September
The Spanish striker Yamal (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamine_Yamal) has one appearance for Barcelona in La Liga
1661146052203003904
1661154245507428354

[Real ale Madrid]

5 spots up for grabs in the U17 World Cup ( Venue TBC) in Nov / Dec which we are in the mix for now.

Straight in if we win a QF.

The teams with the best 2 group records defeated in the QF will play-off for the 5th world cup spot.

That would be some achievement.

[tetsujin1979]

Final set of fixtures in Group B have just kicked off. Serbia have to better Slovenia's result if they want to go through to the quarter finals
Spain - Serbia updates: https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2037839--spain-vs-serbia/
Slovenia - Italy updates: https://www.uefa.com/under17/match/2037840--slovenia-vs-italy/

Spain's Mesa has already been booked for diving and will miss the quarter finals, yellow cards are not wiped out until the semi final stage

Earlier England and Switzerland drew 0-0, so England top Group D, and Switzerland finish second. With seven points, Switzerland have a better record than we do, and will be ahead of us in the World Cup play offs. A draw in both games would be good for our case, or a Spain win.

Slovenia's keeper has just been sent off, that'll make that game interesting.

[pixiehead]

Currently Serbia 1-0 Spain, Italy 1-0 Slovenia
That would see us meet Serbia... long way to go. (Would also knock us out of the U17 World Cup unfortunately)


Spain equalise, Spain it will be.
If we lost to Spain, we would need England and Poland to win to qualify for WC playoff.

[JR89]

The only QF I'd worry about would be Poland vs Serbia. But also at the same time I doubt we'd beat Switzerland if it was us two in the play off for that last spot.

[tetsujin1979]

Watched some of the England-Switzerland game earlier. Switzerland should have walked away with a win, just couldn't score. The England keeper was inspired, even saved a penalty.

[tetsujin1979]

The ranking of the quarter finalists has been added to wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship#Knockout_stage

Ranking of Quarter-Finalists


Pos
Team
Pld
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
Pts


1
Germany
3
3
0
0
10
1
9
9


1
England
3
2
1
0
5
1
4
7


1
Spain
3
2
1
0
6
3
3
7


1
Poland
3
2
0
1
10
7
3
6


2
Switzerland
3
2
1
0
4
1
3
7


2
Republic of Ireland
3
2
0
1
8
7
1
6


2
France
3
1
1
1
5
5
0
4



2
Serbia
3
1
1
1
5
5
0
4




If we lose to Spain, to qualify for the World Cup play off, we need France(who play England in the quarters) and Serbia(who play Poland) to be knocked out

[tetsujin1979]

Poland and German through after beating Serbia and Switzerland, respectively. Germany played most of the game with ten men after centre half Dal was sent off after 15 minutes. They equalised in the second half and went on to win on penalties.
The result of all that is that, should England beat France, Ireland will play Switzerland in the World Cup play off.
Starting XI against Spain announced
1662503936736260101

[pineapple stu]

Already well under the cosh in the first five minutes.

Hopefully it's just Spain going for the jugular early on, cos if they can keep that up for the full 90 we'll be in trouble.

[nigel-harps1954]

Settled a little better since. Starting to play a little bit of football, and dealt fairly comfortably with anything the Spanish have thrown at us so far. The way it's going though, it's looking like a largely backs to the wall performance for 90 minutes.

[nigel-harps1954]

Great goal that. Unfortunate from an Irish perspective, but take nothing away from that finish.

[passinginterest]

They’ve grown into it more since Spain scored. One or two struggling a bit. Orazi in particular seems out of sorts. Hopefully get in at 1-0 and regroup. Look capable of scoring when we do get forward.

[JR89]

And no WC play off as France beat England 1-0 with a 90th minute penalty.

[tetsujin1979]

England's keeper kept them in the game when they faced Switzerland in the group stage, but the Swiss might be exhausted after penalties against Germany

[tommy_c12000]

It seemed like a comfortable 3-0 win for Spain, with the typical ‘the Irish can hold the heads high’ etc.


It’s amazing reflecting back on Brian Kerr’s achievements with the U16/18/20 sides in a minimally diverse time in Ireland with nowhere near the same talent as current day. It really puts things in perspective for me as to how well he did.


From my recollection, Duff was the only player of note in the U20 side, Robbie and Dicky Dunne the only players to play regularly subsequently in the premier league in the U18 side, while John O’Shea the only player to play at a high level for the U16 side. Looking through the rest of the squads, the quality ultimately turned out to be not really there. Kerr did an amazing job. We’ve come nowhere close to emulating his achievements since have we? And always look well below the standard against the top teams. Ireland are a completely different genetic pool now underage (for the better), they just don’t seem to be get it right at the tournaments (when they actually qualify)

[Supreme feet]

That U16 side also produced Liam Miller and Andy Reid; Graham Barrett, Joe Murphy, Jim Goodwin and John Thompson also got capped, and had respectable careers.

The U18s also had Gary Doherty, Barry Quinn, Alan Quinn, Stephen McPhail and Jason Gavin, who all played Premier League at some point. Colin Healy was in that age group too, as was Richard Sadlier, and both played in the 1999 World Youth Cup. All but Gavin were capped. Richie Partridge was another who probably would have been capped, if not for injury (he and Gavin made Irish squads).

That 1997 U20 side was shorter on future pros, in fairness. I remember watching that tournament as a teenager, thinking Colin Hawkins, Neale Fenn and Trevor Molloy were going to be future stars, and we should get them into the senior squad immediately!

[Eirambler]

Kerr did an amazing job. We’ve come nowhere close to emulating his achievements since have we? And always look well below the standard against the top teams. Ireland are a completely different genetic pool now underage (for the better), they just don’t seem to be get it right at the tournaments (when they actually qualify)

Kerr did do an amazing job. But I think there has to be respect for what has been achieved by our underage teams in recent years also. We have qualified for the Under 17 Euros four times out of the last five tournaments. At the finals themselves we have made the knockout stages three times out of four. The one time we didn't make the knockouts we were unbeaten in our group. In that time period we also made the semis at an Under 19s Euros despite being without most of our best players who were withdrawn by their clubs. That's incredible consistency for a small country like Ireland.

Unfortunately underage World Cups aren't really open to us these days because of the way FIFA distribute qualification places (we'd be better off being a remote island in the Pacific Ocean), but we would undoubtedly be competitive in those also, if we could get into them.

To put our achievements into perspective, Poland Under 17s put out their second team earlier this week against Wales, having already won the group after two games. Wales beat their second team. It was Wales' first ever match win at an underage tournament finals.

While we haven't won a tournament like Kerr's teams did in 98, it could be argued that the last five or six years have been our most successful ever at underage level in terms of consistency of high level performance over an extended time period.


That 1997 U20 side was shorter on future pros, in fairness. I remember watching that tournament as a teenager, thinking Colin Hawkins, Neale Fenn and Trevor Molloy were going to be future stars, and we should get them into the senior squad immediately!

That group gave me an early lesson in terms of how difficult it is to make it as a top level footballer. I remember watching them in Malaysia thinking we'd get four or five stars out of that team within a few years. I remember the goalkeeper looking decent and then hearing that he had got a move to Bradford, who were going well back then. But it turned out it was a team called Bradford Park Avenue he had signed for, he was actually nowhere near good enough for top level football.

[liamoo11]

Gabriel gartside kelly who wasn't picked in this squad seems to have left man city for Stoke City.

Josh ireland seems to have played no football at Stoke this season, he has just turned 19 anyone have any info on where his career is at now?

[tetsujin1979]

Stephen Ireland is running an agency now, Josh appears on their Instagram - https://instagram.com/sire_7_ - from time to time. Doesn't look like he's playing with anyone at the moment.

[Razors left peg]

Josh now working at a funeral home

[liamoo11]

Josh now working at a funeral home

Sound thanks, hopefully he gets back into football would have been great if he had played a bit more underage for us to close off the whole episode with his dad