Tough looking qualification draw for Kenny & co. this morning - https://www.uefa.com/under21/season=...eason/?iv=true
One qualifies automatically and only two runners-up (from nine groups) make the playoff.Group 1
Italy
Sweden
Iceland
Republic of Ireland
Armenia
Luxembourg
2021 UEFA Under-21 Championship
2021 UEFA Under-21 Championship Qualification
2021 UEFA Under-21 Championship Qualification Group 1
Last edited by tetsujin1979; 26/10/2023 at 3:39 PM.
I read this morning that he will be gone to the senior role before the last 2 u21 qualifiers. madness if true.
mick should have 2 campaigns with Kenny to take over only then. 18 months is too little time to make any real difference
It's true alright, It was fairly well documented at the time. Delaney was even questioned about it.
There are two countries already qualified as co-hosts in this 12 team tournament. That seems a waste of a good play off spot. One host is more than enough to cater for a tournament of this size.
I wonder will Johansson line up for Luxemburg in the first game against us? Will be a test for Kenny to get him on board to avoid negative publicity around Johansson not been impressed enough with the 21 set up that he would stick with LuxemburgOriginally Posted by DeLorean
Agree- first leadership challenge. Opportunity to set down a marker. Luxembourg over us will be an terrible indictment.
Definitely and with Sweden in the group as well it brings his decision into clear focus.
Whe are you going to correct that clanger?
Slipshod at best
He could play with Sweden either. He seemed to only be brought into the 19s for a look around so hopefully he saw enough with Tom Mohan to see a future with us.
He's right though, isn't he? The two hosts and nine group winners qualify automatically. The two best-placed runners-up play off for the final place?Whe are you going to correct that clanger?
Slipshod at best
He'd still be eligible for the under 19s for the 2020 championship, assuming he hasn't played for the Luxembourg senior team by then. It's for players born on or after 1st January 2001, his birthday is 15th February 2001
One qualifies automatically 'from each group' maybe?Whe are you going to correct that clanger?
Slipshod at best
The media have portrayed this as an impossible task. The reality of course is that the players he will be picking come from the last three under 19 groups(including current 19s group). These players at 19 s in competitive games have beaten Belgium, Italy, Serbia,holland and Bosnia amongst others and in friendlies(i call them test matches) have beaten Portugal, Austria, czechs and romania amongst others. Really hope this isn't the start of Stephen Kenny getting an easy ride from the media. This 21s group regardless of who manages should be in the running the whole way to the end to top the group based on the previous results of these players at 19s across three seasons
Good point. And if Noel King were in charge he'd be picking the biggest sh*thouses in League One and Two who were supporting England at the World Cup but have an Irish granny.
Kenny has a group now consisting of three seasons of 19s who each qualified for the elite group stage of qualyfing. King never had that consistency of success across three separate groups at 19s progressing to the 21s. These high standards achieved at 19s over the last three seasons need to result in an expectation for success at 21s. Slot of Kenny cheerleaders floating around in the media who needvto realise that finishing anywhere below second in this group would be utter failure given the spread of success and quality of these three groups at 19s level
Qualification for the elite stage should be a near given every year for the under 19s, no? Means nothing for the u21s.
Maybe it should but the group of 19 s in 2016 that should have been the backbone of Noel kings 21s this time around didn't achieve it with doolin managing them but nobody was cutting Noel king slack around the 21s results. Sweden haven't made the elite round this season and Iceland have not qualified for the elite phase for any Of The three under 19 seasons that will count for this 21 campaign. So what means nothing for the 21s is your seeding which is based on historical 21s results with no relevance to this actual group.we have absolutely outperformed Iceland for the last 3 yrs at 19s so in no way should the media be portraying that if we finish ahead of them Kenny has done a great job by outperming our seeding. Same goes for Sweden we have the better spread of success at 19 s over three season with 3 elite phases compared to their 2 and the media need to make this clear. Success here is 1st or 2nd and given the fact that we have tied ourselves into Kenny as senior manager the media should make that target explicit.
Nope. A specifically good batch of 17s, or conversely, a specifically bad batch, can sway the seeding of a country. I think the previous campaign carries 40%, the previous to that carries 40% and the previous to that 20%.
Probably doesn't make much difference to a country that is highly ranked continuously, but for a mid-rank side, a serious good campaign can have ramifications for the next couple of groups.
Also for a long time, the 17s and 19s had only two pots for initial qualifying. Generally speaking we make it to the Elite stage.
Liamoo is the man to ask though. That fella has a serious understanding of our underage players going back a while.
Here they come! It’s the charge of the “Thanks” Brigade!
Elite Phase is Top 28 out of 54. Has no relevance to the U21 - which has 12 finalists. Not sure the U-19 are setting the world alight by getting into the top half every year. You would expect us to do that most years.
Who is saying they are setting the world alight? What I'm saying is in this particular 21s group we have performed better across the 3 under 19 groups which will make up the under 21 squad than every team except Italy who have also qualified for the elite phase in each of the 3 under 19 seasons. And even then we actually beat Italy two nil in the 2017 elite phase(conor mastersons group). My simple point is that a manager who is the chosen one for our seniors should be expected to get into the top 2 here and hailed if we top the group. If we finish below Iceland there is no way he should get the senior job and same if we don't at least push Sweden for second to the very last game.. Hopefully fai have built some of these performance indicators into the contract and haven't been frightened off by the league of ireland apologists
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