Euro 2011 u21 Finals

Euro 2011 u21 Finals start today, Denmark are hosts.

Only Spain from the powerhouses of European intl football have qualified.
3 teams go onto qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

2 groups of 4
Denmark, Switz. Iceland and Belarus
England, Ukraine, Spain and Czech

The best Icelander is midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson, was poty at Reading when he was 19, now plays in the Bundesliga.
I fancy the Czechs to come out on top, Spain just can't win everything.
England to be let down by goalkeeper blunders. Iceland might get to the semis if they start well by beating Belarus today.

Betting

Spain 15/8
England 4/1
Czech Rep 5/1
Denmark 15/2
Iceland 8/1
Switzerland 8/1
Ukraine 10/1
Belarus 25/1

Czechs for the win I reckon. Where absolute quality in qualifying

Atm I'd go for a Swiss v Czech final as I'm not sure how good Spain are yet.
I don't know why I dislike the Swiss intl teams so much but they do have one hell of an u21 team.
England underage teams are simply awful to watch and this u21 team is no different with emphasis on workmanlike, physical power over imagination and skill.

I have a weird irrational dislike for the Swiss national teams also.

This evening (18.00 CET) should see the match of the tournament from the group stages, Spain V Czech Rep.
I wouldn't miss it.

Czech's are 4/1 for the win. Unreal odds IMO

The Czechs might have had a chance but Spain didn't give them the ball, except when the 15th pass went astray.

Don't worry Hibs, the Czechs will send England home

Watched most of England last night. They have some good defenders and good forwards but the total lack of cohesion in their play is embarrassing for a country of its footballing stature. Some of the players have good skills but collectively they are tactically bankrupt.

To expand on your point.
I can't see the sense in playing Macienne in a defensive midfield role. He has been annonymous in both the games so far.
Surely Mac Eachran would be best suited to that position?
He shows zero ambition to get the ball off the back four. It says alot when your left full is booming the ball across the pitch in hope rather than anticipation. Jones and Smalling can both carry the ball out of the defense but then nobody looks for it when they do.
Henderson a £16million player you must be joking the left midfielder for spain has more technique in his baby toe.
Same old same old with England.
Giving people like Pearce jobs like this is just plain wrong the man is from the old skool of "hit him" and "whack it long".
Lads like Glenn Hoddle scratching their holes beggars belief they have Pearce in charge.
Why is it so hard for lads being coached since they are 8-9 years old to retan possesion?
Just cant understand it....

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gaiscíoch

To expand on your point.
I can't see the sense in playing Macienne in a defensive midfield role. He has been annonymous in both the games so far.
Surely Mac Eachran would be best suited to that position?
He shows zero ambition to get the ball off the back four. It says alot when your left full is booming the ball across the pitch in hope rather than anticipation. Jones and Smalling can both carry the ball out of the defense but then nobody looks for it when they do.
Henderson a £16million player you must be joking the left midfielder for spain has more technique in his baby toe.
Same old same old with England.
Giving people like Pearce jobs like this is just plain wrong the man is from the old skool of "hit him" and "whack it long".
Lads like Glenn Hoddle scratching their holes beggars belief they have Pearce in charge.
Why is it so hard for lads being coached since they are 8-9 years old to retan possesion?
Just cant understand it....

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Is Pearce being groomed to be the next England manager? Hes always beside Capello at England games and at training sessions and always refers to him as Mr. Capello. It seems like he has a crush on him.
Whats even more laughable than a manager who played David James up front leading your U21's is a man who relegated a decent mid-table club, Gareth Southgate, being made head of Elite development

I wouldn't get so worked up about the football tragedy that is England.
It's just tragic our young footballers get stuck in that coaching time warp.
Like sending our gifted kids to a Borstal to prepare themselves for University.

Last group games.
Tonight Group A, Denmark v Iceland
This game had everything, the kitchen sink was flying after about an hour.
The Danes just needed a draw but Iceland needed to beat Denmark by 3 goals to go through to the semis. Iceland went so so close, winning 3-1, hitting the post, marginal offside goal and Danish goalie making 3 Gordon Banks one handed type saves.
The Danes also missed about 4 gilt edged chances in that last 20 minutes
Strange to see Iceland winning their first game at a Euro Finals, against their old colonial masters on their home turf and the Icelandic players just sink to the ground afterwards, shattered and disappointed.

The Swiss meet Group B runners up
Belarus meet Group B winners.

After Saturday night's kamikaze drama, the game between England and the Czechs was a plodder by comparison. The Czechs only had to draw and made that fact obvious.
England had to win and in the first half you would not have known that just by looking at their approach. The Czechs sat back especially in the 2nd half and got hit by a good England goal. Weird things happen though, the technically proficient Czechs started to lump ball after ball towards the England back 4 and scored their vital equaliser. England had the bulk of the possession in the game but couldn't control the ball, passes went astray and panicked in the end especially for the Czech's first goal.
That Spanish midfielder Martinez, now there's a real midfielder, a talented technical player, available for half the price of that Henderson.
Lansbery (?) replaced Henderson with 30 minutes to play and looked a real footballer. Did nobody in the England camp notice that before?

Ah well, Stuart Pearce gets a new 2 year contract. Iceland have England in their group for the next u21 qualifiers. "We" should expect to get 4 points of them.

Semi Finals, Wed 22June

Spain v Belarus
Swiss v Czechs

The 1st game is a foregone conclusion but the 2nd game should be exciting.
I'd actually hope the Swiss win through to the Final because we already know that Spain are vastly superior to the Czechs.

England were a relatively ordinary team, but I think they have some very good players. Strurridge and Jones in particular (though Jones was guilty of overrunning the ball late against Ukraine, having to pull his guy down to avoid a near certain one-on-one on the break). Smalling looked decent, as did Wellbeck. They were missing Wilshere and Carroll, both good players, and Micah Richards who I'm not sure about.

Lansbury and Wilshere are both Arsenal midfielders so you'd expect that had they played together, England would have been far more cohesive in the middle. That was the missing link for them as they were OK upfront and at the back, and out wide.

Henderson looked VERY ordinary.

The Swiss underage machine rolls on (no pun internded). Fair play to them. Decent stadia, decent domestic league, decent but unspectacular national team, consistently good underage teams and tactically astute and technically proficient footballers across the board. If I was a student of this type of thing, I'd case-study the Swiss model to see how they're doing it.

The Swiss have a large pool of talented footballers amongst the immigrant children and even picked out a few from the asylum seekers. According to reports, the Swiss FA have poured money into their youth development. They have increased the nr of professional youth coaches from 8 to 80 and work with the clubs. All the clubs have to hire these youth coaches and the Swiss FA sponsor it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by geysir

The 1st game is a foregone conclusion but the 2nd game should be exciting.

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First game very nearly went against form, and the second hasn't exactly gripped me tbh (just entered ET, 0-0). If it was the grown-up Euro semi-final, I'd maybe say that the context is making it a tense 0-0, and hence is interesting. I don't feel that way about this one.

The 1st game was a forgone conclusion once Spain equalised.

The 2nd game deserved some crowd atmosphere. There was a very good 2nd half and et, both teams going for it with good technical football. Swiss deserved it.
Maybe you are the impossible to please, a grouch, a crank?

...yes but Spain equalised in the 89th minute!

I was expectinga more exciting game in the second. Attempts on goal were minimal. Yes, there was some skill and good touch to admire, but in a game with little emotional attachment for me I was hoping for a bit more from the second game.

I'm actually quite easy to please. How else could I be a ROI fan for 35 years?

I was caught unawares by the final being played on a Saturday and missed most of the first half.
The Swiss competed right to the final whistle and made it a very good game to watch.
Strange that the only player from Spain in demand by an EPL team is a goalkeeper.

Spain's 2 goals were brilliant.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRFT19ckkqw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOdwgGwBd7E&feature=related