2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

[elatedscum]

Two games in our group today
Italy kicking off against San Marino in a few minutes: https://www.uefa.com/under21/match/2037262--italy-vs-san-marino/
Latvia drawing with Norway after 40 minutes: https://www.uefa.com/under21/match/2037283--latvia-vs-norway/
Could do with a draw, or a win for Latvia in that game

Norway just gone 1-0 up, half an hour left.

[Eirambler]

Norway get the job done.

[Olé Olé]

https://extra.ie/2024/09/05/sport/soccernews/tyler-goodrham-ireland

If this is what we are reduced to...

[elatedscum]

Was thinking about the team for today.

I’d go 4-3-3 but Crawford is very likely to go 5-3-2. You’d think with Lawal, Grehan and Adaramola injured (Adaramola would allow Roughan to play in the centre), we’d be less likely…

I’d go

Keeley

Curtis
O’Riordan (Murphy maybe? Not sure)
Garcia MacNulty
Roughan

Hodge
Adeeko (Phillips might be up for the battle)
Moran

Vata
Armstrong
Emakhu

-

No idea what the his back 5 would be. I’d guess it’s

Curtis
O’Riordan
Garcia McNulty
Murphy
Roughan

Could also play Abankwah at RCB or Roughan at LCB and Furlong at LB (no point on calling it LWB under Jim). Do you throw Adegboyega in for his debut? Bit of a risk but he’s done that with Grehan…

Hodge will play and then it’s a choice between Phillips physicality and aggression and determination, Adeeko’s mobility and creativity and Healy’s industry and passing.

Moran will surely play, which probably means Vata won’t.

Armstrong and Emakhu up top also seems obvious in that system and it’s worked well in the past.

[Olé Olé]

https://extra.ie/2024/09/05/sport/soccernews/tyler-goodrham-ireland

If this is what we are reduced to...

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/24562738.tyler-goodrham-latest-republic-ireland-under-21s/

Just bought a house and his missus is pregnant so he doesn't want a call up. I would write this lad off.

[pateen]

Anyone recommend a website that might be showing the game.

Have a strong feeling RTE news will be blocked for any of us overseas.

[Razors left peg]

Anyone recommend a website that might be showing the game.

Have a strong feeling RTE news will be blocked for any of us overseas.

Use NordVPN, it worked for me this week to get around the VPN blocker on Rte.

But the best bet is to get yourself an IPTV service

[Eirambler]

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/sport/24562738.tyler-goodrham-latest-republic-ireland-under-21s/

Just bought a house and his missus is pregnant so he doesn't want a call up. I would write this lad off.

Szmodics didn't show either while his partner was pregnant and nobody seems to mind now. We won't see him for the Under 21s but in the unlikely-ish event that he's good enough in future we could still see him in the seniors.

[tetsujin1979]

Team playing well, need to improve delivery from set pieces

[Razors left peg]

Moran not on the ball enough. We are doing ok, Armstrongs decision making needs to improve

[elatedscum]

Such a Crawford sub. Dominating the second half and he takes off Emakhu for Adeeko and immediately we lose momentum. Can’t understand it…

I’d take off Healy and Moran now and bring on Vata and someone else, Kenny, Umeh or O’Mahony

[Razors left peg]

Such a Crawford sub. Dominating the second half and he takes off Emakhu for Adeeko and immediately we lose momentum. Can’t understand it…

I’d take off Healy and Moran now and bring on Vata and someone else, Kenny, Umeh or O’Mahony

It made absolutely no sense.

[elatedscum]

Don’t think that’s offside by the rules. Both Turkey players make an intentional attempt to play the ball.

[Razors left peg]

Don’t think that’s offside by the rules. Both Turkey players make an intentional attempt to play the ball.

Hodge is so good at this level. He really needs to start doing it at club level

[elatedscum]

Great goal - You’d love to have Phillips on the bench now to replace a knackered Healy.

[elatedscum]

Make a change Jim. Waste some time

[tetsujin1979]

Massive result. Need to finish the job on Tuesday

[Razors left peg]

Great result. We were excellent in 2nd half, totally dominated until we scored and then we sat back a bit too much. Türkiye hit the post close to the end but we more than deserved that win

[Eirambler]

That's a great result. I'd have been happy with a draw over there before kickoff, it would have been a point Norway didn't get. Now we have three. Should get the win at home to Latvia now and that will put us in a really decent position ahead of the last two games.

Not sure what result would be best for us in the Norway v Italy game, best if Italy win and we just focus on second place?

[passinginterest]

It really was a very good performance. Superb control of the game for most of the second half. Substitute was a bit of a backward step but maybe justified seeing as the lead goal came after. Looked a bit shaky after the goal and Turkey were just throwing everything at them but felt like the result was deserved. Great chance to go and win the group now. Best performance I’ve seen from Abankwah in a good few games.

[elatedscum]

Crazy group, no? 5 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss - when really we threw away at least three points from winning both those games, 2-1 up against Norway with 20 left to lose 3-2 with the daft Emakhu sub. And a harsh penalty against them.

Then conceding a 96th minute equaliser against Italy when you’ve still got subs to make to kill time if you want to.

It’s hard to be critical of Jim when you win the game and he can rightly say they’re on course to be top after 8 games - but today could have been a carbon copy of the Italy game. They were knocking on the door once we scored and all through extra time and it seemed obvious to me, just take off Moran and bring on Umeh or Vata - will kill a minute and the fresh legs will provide relief, like when Moran ended up going to the corner flag, fresh legs win you a corner from that position. If you want to replace Healy with Adegboyega as well just to add an extra centre half to deal with all the long balls in those last few mins, then do it.

I really think that not having Phillips on the bench instead of Furlong or O’Neill or whoever was a real mistake. Healy and Hodge were tiring, especially Healy - and there were no midfielders on the bench. He also would have helped us recover the ball a bit better - we were just defending for our lives in those last 10 mins including injury time.

Thought the first half was poor. They were the better team, dominating possession with the number 10 dictating although we restricted them to shots from distance - equally did we even have a shot, bar maybe that Armstrong header? Defenders and keeper were all very good. But really we were just hoping that the physical attributes of Armstrong and Emakhu would get us something on the break.

Second half we were much better. Hodge in particular started to take control. We looked sure to score. Thought taking off Emakhu for a midfielder set us back for about 10 mins. In the end, the wing backs had to do a lot of heavy lifting in an attacking sense - the dodgy offside goal was Roughan driving past two players, and ultimately scoring and the goal was Curtis making a really good run to get into that space and Hodge finding him.

You could argue that’s validation of Crawford’s tactics and the 5 at the back. You could also argue, it’s not optimal that Curtis and Roughan who aren’t the most attacking of defenders end up having to be your attacking outlet.

Anyway… On to Tuesday! Not sure if doing Tallaght and Lansdowne is really feasible

[Paddy Garcia]

I also thought Garcia Macnulty had an excellent game - he looked like he could read the game and very calm in possession.

[JR89]

I also thought Garcia Macnulty had an excellent game - he looked like he could read the game and very calm in possession.

Hopefully we see him push on and start challenging for the senior team in the next couple of hours. I'm biased towards a left footer CB. Eiran Cashin another but could honestly see him going his whole career without a senior a cap.

[passinginterest]

On of the few times I’ve watched an Irish team play out from the back and look genuinely comfortable every time. Credit to the defenders and the keeper on that. All three at the back had good moments, using the ball well and stepping into midfield at times. It was good to see.

[Acornvilla]

Hopefully we see him push on and start challenging for the senior team in the next couple of hours. I'm biased towards a left footer CB. Eiran Cashin another but could honestly see him going his whole career without a senior a cap.
Might be able to make both kickoffs on Tuesday if the traffic is light :D

[rebelmusic]

That's a great result. I'd have been happy with a draw over there before kickoff, it would have been a point Norway didn't get. Now we have three. Should get the win at home to Latvia now and that will put us in a really decent position ahead of the last two games.

Not sure what result would be best for us in the Norway v Italy game, best if Italy win and we just focus on second place?

I've been trying to do the maths on this and considering our H2H with Norway there's a strong argument that it suits us more for Italy to win. A draw is probably the worst result. Part of my logic is that we have two critical games in October and if Norway pick up points on Tuesday then it's all to play for. Needing a win away against Italy does not bode too well with out history of handling pressure badly.

[JR89]

If Italy lose to Norway and we beat Norway then Italy can't catch us in the final game. Which could and should be enough for one of the three automatic qualification spots as best runner up. That's without even playing Italy.

All we should be focusing on is winning our remaining home games and not worried about who can do us a favor.

[Eirambler]

It will be, but because Italy play Norway before we do there's inevitably going to be an interest in that game and whether the result suits us or not. An Italy win is probably best in terms of us coming top 2 and getting a playoff (or an outside chance of an auto Q for second place). If we're looking at winning the group a Norway win is probably better, but it seriously increases the risk that we end up in third. A draw is probably the worst possible result - keeps Norway in touch and Italy at arm's length.

[tetsujin1979]

Starting XI V Latvia
1833520814320218140

[tetsujin1979]

1-0 up after 15 minutes. Sinclair Armstrong with a tap in after his initial shot was saved, and O'Neill's follow up fell to him
Dominated for the first ten minutes

[passinginterest]

If they get another quick one they look capable of running up a big win here.

[placid casual]

Hope missing all these chances won't come back to bite them, they should be 3 or 4 ahead at this stage.
In fairness to Crawford's team they play a very attractive brand of football.

[placid casual]

FFS....

[zero]

1-1 at the break. huge half ahead for the boys.

norway trail at home to italy, that one kicked off a half hour after our game.

[elatedscum]

I’d bring on Okoflex for O’Neill and Adeeko (maybe Phillips) for Healy relatively early into the second half

[passinginterest]

Would like to see O’Neill replaced alright. Getting into good positions but hasn’t been able to finish them off. With the attacking talent on the bench it seems the obvious one to change.

[Eirambler]

Ireland far too slow and passive in possession, multiple times there's been three or four targets in the box and we keep recycling it instead, waiting for a perfect through ball that probably isn't going to come. We can afford to send it in earlier, they're just going to kick it straight back to us anyway.

[joey B]

Disaster from Keeley ,really bad goalkeeping….

[Eirambler]

Latvia not afraid to stick it in the box and there you go.

Have to abandon the ****e Crawford ball nonsense now and get on with it.

[pateen]

Oh no .. no 20 easily beats McNulty for the cross as well

[joey B]

And it’s level again !

[pateen]

Well done Roughan. Super finish

[passinginterest]

No need to majorly change the approach. Creating loads of chances. Just need to be clinical. The goals conceded were out of nothing really. Emakhu is a much better finisher than O’Neill and I think they’ll get a winner.

[Eirambler]

No need to majorly change the approach. Creating loads of chances. Just need to be clinical. The goals conceded were out of nothing really. Emakhu is a much better finisher than O’Neill and I think they’ll get a winner.

Nah, it was wrong from the off, far too passive. Trying to technically pass our way through teams when we just don't have the technical players to do it consistently. Reminiscent of the worst of the Kenny era at senior level against weaker opposition.

Crawford on course to blow his third successive Euros qualification chance with probably the three best Under 21 teams we've ever had. He's had a few lucky escapes this campaign, now he's been caught. The last two subs were a waste of time, they won't be playing professional football at a decent level by the time they're 25.

[joey B]

Far too quick to shoot on sight instead of trying to fashion a proper chance,disappointing result….

[Eirambler]

That's was just the last 20 when panic stations set in. Before that it was like they were trying to score the perfect goal. No worthwhile Plan B when it turned out Plan A was dealt with through a basic low block. And terrible substitutions to make things even worse.

Can actually still see us getting past Norway and into a playoff. But fully expect us to blow the playoff. It's a shame because we've had some decent under 21 teams in the last five or six years, but they've been let down by management. The next group doesn't look as strong sadly.

[tetsujin1979]

Italy U21s beat Norway 3-0.
Good result for us after dropping two points.
https://www.uefa.com/under21/match/2037274/

[zero]

this was a very frustrating watch. if we don't beat Norway we'll probably need a non loss away to Italy when it was in our hands.

terrible mistake by keeley for Latvia's second

[elatedscum]

Threw that away. Likely the difference between qualifying and not.

I’d question starting Ollie O’Neill. Missed too many chances in the first half. Vata hitting the post probably the sliding doors moment.

All of O’Neill, Healy and Curtis could do better for the first goal. Keeley threw in the second.

Not sure how Matt Healy got MOTM - thought Hodge was significantly better of the two midfielders. Thought we needed a change in midfield into the second half - either Adeeko or Phillips.

Still had chances late on. Moran, Garcia-McNulty, Emakhu and Kenny all could or should have scored. I thought we could also have had a few penalties, Curtis and Emakhu.

[Eirambler]

Emakhu's was a clear penalty, but he didn't make a big enough deal of it and there wasn't a proper crowd to influence the ref.

The decisions that led to the match being played when and where it was played a big part in the outcome as well I think. There was no reason why this game couldn't have been played at Turner's Cross. Crawford's thinking was that traveling to Cork would be a hassle (presumably no more so than for Latvia though). So he decided he wanted it in Dublin.

He then compounded that mistake by asking for the latest possible kickoff time, meaning a guaranteed small crowd because it was near impossible to go to both games on the same night. He completely negated our home advantage for the fixture in the process. Just an act of pure self-sabotage from a poor manager.