Solanke a complete liability defensively again unfortunately, and the Uzbeks are targeting him every time. Third or fourth time they did it led to the goal.
Honestly can't remember the last time we produced a genuinely good defensive left back, probably Denis Irwin in truth.
First proper chance I think, and an equaliser for Ireland. McDonnell with the header - keeper will be annoyed as he was taking a step to the left which stopped him reacting to the right quickly enough. His problem though, and McDonnell did well to get up as high above his man as he did and get the header away.
Yeah, really poor from the keeper, the step to the left gave up half the goal for McDonnell to head at. But well worked from Ireland all the same. Not much between the two teams - other than they're continually roasting us down the left side of our defence. Need to make a change there and try an alternative to Solanke.
Uzbekistan are really physical. Fans making a lot of noise too
Paraguay 2-0 in the other game in the group, only a few minutes left
Panama had a player sent off just after half time
https://www.fifa.com/en/match-centre...0185/400020201
2-1. Love the way Noonan directs his headers on goal straight down onto the goal line, it makes them almost impossible to save. To be fair to Solanke he's great going forward, but he's just not a left back.
There are new structures in place at Utd with the new ownership and they are fixing a lot of the issues that have gone on for year. They have invested heavily in youth teams and right now it would actually be a really good place for players to go toQuote:
Originally Posted by John83
Great win, two from two and through to the next round. Can maybe rest one or two against Paraguay on Tuesday
A really good win against a technically limited but well set up Uzbekistan team, who arguably were worth at least a draw. Thought they dealt with the six minutes of added on time particularly well, usually the team chasing the game will get at least one chance in that period, but they kept the Uzbeks mostly in their own half. Qualification secured now, so potentially a chance to give some of the front liners a rest on Tuesday. Paraguay don't seem to be particularly great and even a draw would confirm top spot in the group.
Excellent result, there is a lot of talent in this squad, some proper footballers as well.
A little stat, this is our seventh consecutive qualification for the knockout stages of a men's world cup at all levels. Three senior, three Under 20 and now one at Under 17. We've been to nine men's world cups in total, we didn't get out of the groups at the first two (1985 and 1991 Under 20s) but have qualified from every finals group we have been in since then. Not a bad record.
Noonan impresses me every time I see him. His work rate and movement are brilliant
Solanlke getting absolutely no help from umeh in first half with Umeh playing really high and wide left Solanke needing to fill that midfield left pocket and cover that space he had to leave behind him as well. His midfield put no pressure on the ball for a few of those in behind him diagnols in the first half which really leaves you exposed if your that fullback. Bit like playing behind salah at Liverpool when the midfield press isn't functioning you look poor as a full back whether your trent, Bradley, fringipong or szoboszlai. Second half midfield was more compact with Victor on coming in more narrow .Quote:
Originally Posted by Eirambler
Highlights of the Uzbekistan game
Didn't quite work out in the end for New Caledonia. They lost 16-0 to Morocco today.Quote:
Originally Posted by ltfc_2004
Great to get the win and qualify. Well done to the players and the management team.
I would’ve hoped that referees would have protected young players as a bit more. Umeh was kicked all over the park. So was Noonan. The biggest negatives were the injuries to Grady and Max. If Max was a concussion then I’m not sure when he’ll be allowed to return and if Grady pulled his hamstring or calf, then he’d be lucky to return at all during the tournament.
I did once again feel like we could’ve made a couple of late changes, Ramon Martos was getting really tired and Solanke was too. Finn Sherlock and Goodness Ogbonna seemed like two obvious options.
Yeah, O'Briens use of subs is a bit strange. Thought Solanke was getting badly exposed, particularly with Umeh playing so far forward. Tbf Ade popped up with an assist so maybe it was just worth the risk but that's a dangerous game to be playing.Quote:
Originally Posted by elatedscum
Regardless it hasn't hurt us yet. Fantastic tournament for the lads, although I'm gutted for Michael. The cup win and celebrations were something else. It's such a special day. Seeing the other players out with their families afterwards was lovely. Shame about the timing of it all.
Few interesting results today, that affect the pairings for the round of 32. Brazil drew 1-1 with Zambia, who were 1-0 up going into the last ten minutes, so both teams finish on seven points. North Korea, who were leading Group G lost to Colombia, and finished third in the group behind Germany and Colombia
This means a win could put us in the top four of the group round, which determines who you play in the round of 32 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_F...ualified_teams
We're on six points with games played, level with Group L leaders Austria, who face already eliminated New Zealand, and the USA who are up against the Czech Republic in their final game in Group I.
A win against Paraguay will get us a game against a third placed team, which is likely to be the best outcome. There's an element of luck, we could still draw a decent team like the Czechs or Mexico, or North Korea (whose players could be any age, let's be honest), or we could get someone like Morocco, who are only really still involved because they were fortunate enough to get New Caledonia in their group.
Hard to know if it’s better to rest players in advance of the knockout stages or to play a stronger team and give yourself a better chance of winning the group / getting the highest seeding possible.
You might want to give the likes of George Moloney, Goodness Ogbonna, Josh Cullen, and Finn Sherlock some good minutes in case they need to step in later in the tournament.
Equally, Noonan, Finneran and Umeh have played a lot with little rest and have been so pivotal for us. You don’t want to ever use them, but also you’d worry how we far without them in the team as with Finneran and Noonan, we don’t have direct replacements and Umeh is just uniquely talented at this point. The other three wingers are all good but you saw how the Uzbekis were triple marking him.