QuoteJust saw on MNS' Facebook page we've been drawn in a group with Greece, Czech Rep and Romania, the hosts. Anyone confirm? What's our chances against this lot?
Will be interesting alright to see if Derrys Duffy and McEleaney are forgiven and come into the reckoning for Julys finals
Just saw on MNS' Facebook page we've been drawn in a group with Greece, Czech Rep and Romania, the hosts. Anyone confirm? What's our chances against this lot?
Ou-est le Centre George Pompidou?
Can indeed confirm:Originally Posted by SwanVsDalton
http://greenscene.me/2011/06/republi...-2011-group-a/
Anyone know if this will be shown on Eurosport? They normally cover underage tournaments...
Eurosport had 9 of the 15 games last year. No word on this year yet though.
I reckon we're in the weaker of the two groups. Both Greece and the Czechs were pot D teams for the elite qualification round draw. We were in pot B, if that's anything to go by. Obviously, Romania qualified automatically. Greece finished ahead of France in their elite round group with three wins out of three whilst the Czechs finished ahead of Russia and the Netherlands with seven points.
In the first qualification round, Greece scraped through their group in second place with four points after losing to Georgia and drawing with Portugal but beating Azerbaijan. That victory put them through to the elite round over Azerbaijan, who had a superior goal difference of two goals, on head-to-head results. The Czechs, meanwhile, only qualified for the elite round as one of the two best third-placed teams. They finished behind Belarus and Macedonia in their group.
At least we avoided Spain. They're in the other group with Serbia, Belgium and Turkey. Serbia and Belgium were both pot A for the elite qualification round draw with Turkey in pot B.
http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2011/0608/under19.html
Doolin said afterwards: 'I'm happy enough with the draw. Looking at the groups, people could say that ours is the easier of the two but we must respect all of the nations for getting to this finals stage of the tournament.
'Romania, as hosts, will be difficult to beat, especially in the hot July temperatures, while Greece were one of only two nations out of the seven elite stage groups to finish with a maximum nine points from their three games.
'Czech Republic will be a decent side too and have a great record at underage level.'
He added: 'No matter who we were drawn against, I knew we were going to be in a tough group. Now that we know our opposition, I will look at what gives us the best opportunity in terms of preparation.
'My plan is to stage a pre-tournament training camp somewhere warm abroad to help the players acclimatise to the hot conditions they can expect to face in Romania.'
The dates for the group games are 20, 23 and 26 July, with the semi-finals three days later and the final on 1 August.
Doesn't that just mean they navigated more difficult routes? Doesn't necessarily mean they're weaker, especially at underage level where there's not as much continuity.
I guess. It's difficult to say for certain and possibly we shouldn't read into how teams fared in qualification too much, although Doolin seems to think we're in the easier of the two groups and, looking at the paths of all teams, the results might be indicative of relative strength. Not saying they are, necessarily, but they're surely worth considering.
Group A
Belgium: 2 wins and 1 draw in elite stage; 3 wins in first stage; 16 points and +8 GD overall.
Serbia: 2 wins and 1 loss in elite stage; 3 wins in first stage, including a victory over us; 15 points and +14 GD overall.
Spain: 2 wins and 1 draw in elite stage; 3 wins in first stage; 16 points and +16 GD overall.
Turkey: 3 wins in elite stage; 2 wins and 1 draw in first stage; 16 points and +13 GD overall.
Group B
Czech Republic: 2 wins and 1 draw in elite stage; 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in first stage; 11 points and +4 GD overall.
Greece: 3 wins in elite stage; 1 win, 1 draw and 1 loss in first stage; 13 points and +3 GD overall.
Us: 2 wins and 1 draw in elite stage; 2 wins and 1 loss in first stage; 13 points and +9 GD overall.
Romania: Qualified automatically.
All teams in group A came through qualification undefeated with very impressive goal tallies, whereas none of the teams in our group did, including ourselves. In saying that, Greece did work their way through the elite stage with maximum points.
Those goal differences are quite imposing. Still, the higher the ranking of your opponents, the less likely you are to bag more goals. All teams have shown the ability to win games so it's an even enough playing field on that score.
The Serbia versus Spain match should be tasty enough, just look at the goal difference. I remember following our game against Serbia and they appeared to be an extremely physical side, so that would contrast with the type of football Spain seem to be encouraging.
It'll be interesting to see if Doolin's squad stays the same, considering their success. Will he want to disrupt by bringing back some of the more experienced players?
End Apartheid Now! One Team in Ireland!
I would imagine he will call a large number into the training camp and pick the squad from that. All players know the story if your in a team and a better player comes back, you will more than likely be dropped. Its up to them to prove their worth and try and stay in the squad.
On a marginal call I would hope Doolin would go with the guys who went to Poland for the qualifiers. Although would it be cheeky to call Ferguson up for the finals ? !!!
Jaysus, hope he doesn't. We'd be dumped out for playing an overage player.
Shane Kevin Ferguson. Date of birth, 12 July 1991.
Indeed I just remembered him being 19 wasn't sure of his DOB, seems 01/01/92 is cut off point
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