2027 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

[tetsujin1979]

the 2027 Championship was awarded to Serbia and Albania yesterday
Draw for the qualifiers was made earlier, with Ireland in the second seeds

Pot 1: Spain, England, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, France, Ukraine, Italy, Denmark
Pot 2: Romania, Switzerland, Croatia, Czechia, Poland, Norway, Belgium, Georgia, Republic of Ireland
Pot 3: Slovenia, Finland, Sweden, Austria, Slovakia, Greece, Iceland, Hungary, Bulgaria
Pot 4: Scotland, Wales, Israel, North Macedonia, Türkiye, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Faroe Islands, Moldova
Pot 5: Belarus, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Luxembourg
Pot 6: Estonia, Malta, Armenia, Andorra, Gibraltar, San Marino

Fixtures to be announced later today, with the first round at the end of March
With England in the group, we're looking at the play offs to qualify for the tournament

[Eirambler]

Are there not still automatic places for the best second placed teams? Outside of England that seems a decent group, the kind we could have done with in previous campaigns when we had stronger squads and might have got a best second place auto Q.

Between us looking at a potentially weaker squad this time around (and Ferguson and Vata at a minimum unlikely to be involved) and Jim Crawford being Jim Crawford, I have limited expectations for this campaign.

[tetsujin1979]

Are there not still automatic places for the best second placed teams? Outside of England that seems a decent group, the kind we could have done with in previous campaigns when we had stronger squads and might have got a best second place auto Q.

Between us looking at a potentially weaker squad this time around (and Ferguson and Vata at a minimum unlikely to be involved) and Jim Crawford being Jim Crawford, I have limited expectations for this campaign.
Sorry, there are. from uefa.com

The nine group winners and the runner-up with the best record (not counting results against sixth-placed teams) qualify directly for the final tournament to join co-hosts Albania and Serbia. The eight other runners-up contest play-offs to determine the four remaining finalists.

Looking at the other groups in the draw - https://www.uefa.com/under21/news/0295-1cea24a2c5e9-d386c3b3ddee-1000--2025-27-under-21-euro-qualifying-group-stage-draw/ - I'd say the best runner up will probably come from Group C - France, Switzerland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Estonia - or maybe Group I - Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Belarus

[Kingdom]

It's as good a group as we could have hoped for apart from England.



Looking at the other groups in the draw - https://www.uefa.com/under21/news/0295-1cea24a2c5e9-d386c3b3ddee-1000--2025-27-under-21-euro-qualifying-group-stage-draw/ - I'd say the best runner up will probably come from Group C - France, Switzerland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Luxembourg, Estonia - or maybe Group I - Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Wales, Belarus

I would expect Group A or our group to have best runner-up.

[tetsujin1979]

not group A, you can see Finland, Kosovo, and Romania taking points off each other. Spain will blow the rest of the group away
you want a second seed who might cause the top seed problems, and will win all their other games
we might drop points against Slovakia.

[Eirambler]

Squad announced for the September qualifiers against Moldova (a) and Andorra (h), for which the target will have to be two wins:

Goalkeepers: Noah Jauny (Stade Brestois), Aaron Maguire (Tottenham Hotspur), Andrew Wogan (Chester FC, on loan from Stockport County).
Defenders: James Abankwah (Watford), Jacob Devaney (Manchester United), Sean Grehan (Doncaster Rovers), Alex Murphy (Newcastle United), David Okagbue (Peterborough United), Jacob Slater (Brighton & Hove Albion), Freddie Turley (Derby County).
Midfielders: Romeo Akachukwu (Southampton), Jad Hakiki (Sligo Rovers), Darius Lipsiuc (Solihull Moors, on loan from Stoke City), Cathal McCarthy (Hull City), Jamie Mullins (Wycombe Wanderers), Adam Murphy (Bristol City), Harry Vaughan (Hull City).
Forwards: Cian Dillon (Queens Park Rangers), Trent Kone-Doherty (Liverpool), Mason Melia (St. Patrick’s Athletic), Michael Noonan (Shamrock Rovers), Mark O’Mahony (Reading, on loan from Brighton & Hove Albion), Rocco Vata (Watford).

On first viewing Franco Umeh, Jack Moorhouse and Sam Curtis appear to be notable absentees, though there may be others also. The squad looks strong up front and at centre back (as usual), but less so in other positions.

[tetsujin1979]

Umeh's injured, hasn't been involved with palace so far this season, or in preseason
Been linked with a loan move to Exeter

[Rayzor]

Umeh's injured, hasn't been involved with palace so far this season, or in preseason
Been linked with a loan move to Exeter

Now been linked with a loan move to Portsmouth
https://x.com/JudgeDyl/status/1961010214439633319?t=5FcDbMzYSN5MpSBkeDpCqg&s=19

[elatedscum]

Really imbalanced squad. At their best positions:

3 Goalkeepers (Jauny, Maguire, Wogan)
0 Right backs
6 Centre backs (Abankwah, Okagbue, Murphy, Grehan, McCarthy, Turley)
1 Left back (Slater)
2 defensive midfielders (Devaney, Lipsiuc)
5 attacking midfielders (Hakiki, Vaughan, Romeo, Mullins, Murphy)
2 wingers (Kone-Doherty, Vata)
4 Centre forwards (O'Mahony, Melia, Noonan, Dillon)

There's more versatility there but still the make up of the squad makes no sense to me.

Notable Exclusions:

GK: Conor Walsh (not starting for Sligo, fair enough)
RB: Sam Curtis (dropping your most capped player in the current squad), Connor O'Brien (not in squad for Accrington, maybe injured?)
CB: Gabriel Otegbayo (198 mins this season in champ + vs Leeds), Conor McManus (not playing for Brentford), Senan Mullen (receiving rave reports in Italy)
LB: Cory O'Sullivan (not played a huge amount for Rovers in recent weeks)
CM: Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh (injured?), Ed McJannett (he played 4 games in the last campaign and can't get close now),
AM: Jack Moorhouse (injured? played 57 mins last weekend which was his first start), Glory Nzingo (playing at a **** level but looked good for the 21s in opening camp)
WG: Franco Umeh (injured), Cathal O'Sullivan (injured), Kevin Zefi (looking for a club), Sean Moore (getting his feet at Shels)
ST: Eoin Kenny (4 goals and 4 assists in his last 3 games - the in form player), Nathan Fraser (career has gone to pieces), Adrien Thibaut (looked great in the friendly but barely playing in League 2), Tommy Lonergan (not in great form but probably a better player than Dillon right now), Joe Garner (hasn't played for Mansfield), Warren Davis (didn't particularly impress in the last squad), Owen Elding (presumably not eligible yet)

[ifk101]

Eoin Kenny has gone with the North, included in their U21 squad.

[Eirambler]

On first viewing Franco Umeh, Jack Moorhouse and Sam Curtis appear to be notable absentees, though there may be others also. The squad looks strong up front and at centre back (as usual), but less so in other positions.

Moorhouse is absent due to an eligibility issue - the eligibility issue being that he isn't, as things stand.

[tetsujin1979]

Curtis has only played 90 minutes this season for Sheffield United - 2-1 loss in the League Cup - so no great surprise on his omission

[Eirambler]

Curtis has only played 90 minutes this season for Sheffield United - 2-1 loss in the League Cup - so no great surprise on his omission

I don't have huge hopes for Curtis longer term, but given that there are no specialist right backs in the squad, I'm still surprised that he missed out.

[tetsujin1979]

Moorhouse is absent due to an eligibility issue - the eligibility issue being that he isn't, as things stand.
Hopes to be available for the October qualifiers (paywalled)
https://www.independent.ie/sport/soccer/international-soccer/republic-of-ireland-u-21-boss-jim-crawford-hopes-to-have-jack-moorhouse-and-owen-elding-for-october-window/a1607271233.html

[Kingdom]

Really imbalanced squad. At their best positions:

3 Goalkeepers (Jauny, Maguire, Wogan)
0 Right backs
6 Centre backs (Abankwah, Okagbue, Murphy, Grehan, McCarthy, Turley)
1 Left back (Slater)
2 defensive midfielders (Devaney, Lipsiuc)
5 attacking midfielders (Hakiki, Vaughan, Romeo, Mullins, Murphy)
2 wingers (Kone-Doherty, Vata)
4 Centre forwards (O'Mahony, Melia, Noonan, Dillon)

There's more versatility there but still the make up of the squad makes no sense to me.

Notable Exclusions:

GK: Conor Walsh (not starting for Sligo, fair enough)
RB: Sam Curtis (dropping your most capped player in the current squad), Connor O'Brien (not in squad for Accrington, maybe injured?)
CB: Gabriel Otegbayo (198 mins this season in champ + vs Leeds), Conor McManus (not playing for Brentford), Senan Mullen (receiving rave reports in Italy)
LB: Cory O'Sullivan (not played a huge amount for Rovers in recent weeks)
CM: Joe O'Brien-Whitmarsh (injured?), Ed McJannett (he played 4 games in the last campaign and can't get close now),
AM: Jack Moorhouse (injured? played 57 mins last weekend which was his first start), Glory Nzingo (playing at a **** level but looked good for the 21s in opening camp)
WG: Franco Umeh (injured), Cathal O'Sullivan (injured), Kevin Zefi (looking for a club), Sean Moore (getting his feet at Shels)
ST: Eoin Kenny (4 goals and 4 assists in his last 3 games - the in form player), Nathan Fraser (career has gone to pieces), Adrien Thibaut (looked great in the friendly but barely playing in League 2), Tommy Lonergan (not in great form but probably a better player than Dillon right now), Joe Garner (hasn't played for Mansfield), Warren Davis (didn't particularly impress in the last squad), Owen Elding (presumably not eligible yet)

Thanks for that ES.

To be very fair, Abankwah has played a fair bit at RB hasn't he - even if he is seen as and wants to be seen as a CB (and I'm not one who advocates that "to develop as a cb properly, one must be deployed as a rb, blah blah blah"? So that's an option.
Curtis has had a torrid time by all accounts - probably as quick a descent for someone so highly rated as we've seen this century - and I would wonder is there something going on that isn't in the public domain. I think most reasonable people here would glean that you've an insight into underage players and the periphery of that scene and are informed better than most, so the fact that you've highlighted him and qualified the dramatic nature of his demotion would lead me to think that there are no external factors at play. In that regard, having him in the squad at least would have been fair.

Perhaps he's gonna road test a new formation given the oppostion? 3 centre backs and a holder to cover the full back area on transitioning counter attacks to allow wide players (Kone-Doherty - Murphy?) who are gonna play higher up the pitch and attack from wide to draw out defences that will likely crowd the middle?
Would Kone-