2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

[Live in the Now]

Yeah France is too deep there. Maybe they were going for chemistry? But Fofana-Kounde would probably be the best pairing on form.

Konate I guess played because he is captain, but he isn’t in good form because he has barely played all season.

The problem is that Konate and Upa are way too aggressive to play together regularly and win. Same reason Leipzig always finished third with them and didn't win a cup.

 

[Savi]

Aren't you thinking of the Euro?

Nah, with Deschamps they will use that superior talent to grind out wins again

 

[NikoEhlers]

Denmark got a better talent production than Germany these days, despite them being 20 times smaller

 

[Bures Elbow]

Rui Jorge is SO incredibly lucky the individual talent won him that match today vs Italy. It was very entertaining to watch, but the level of frustration was hair pulling. The second Portugal was 2-0 up, they should have controlled the midfield until the end of 90 minutes. Instead they deflated and just started turtling to run down the clock..the goal before half time was coming. The 2nd half was the exact same story, once it was 3-1 it should be over yet instead they show zero energy and composure, and that defense (well 2 players specifically) were horrendous.

Jota and Conceicao with great efforts. Florentino was a beast once he came on, thats the player I remember. Vitinha is a star, what skill, passing, and vision. That's the EXACT CM Portugal needs. Next game it should be Florentino-Braganca-Vitinha-Fabio Viera in midfield with Mota and Leao up front.

Rafeal Leao-- I've never seen a more infuriating player. So much talent, so much speed and skill. Yet he runs harder to celebrate a goal then he did throughout his entire time on the field. I guess his rap career is more important to him.

We're missing a lot of key players ( Nuno Mendes, Theirry Correia from Valencia, Trincao, Pedro Goncalves)..but if we play that midfield and actually play defense and maintain control over the matches like we did in the group stages, there's a chance to defeat Spain.

Also, Italy showed tremendous heart and determination as well. Good team, and good game.

 

[QuietContrarian]

I hate Germany sometimes...

They always somehow manage to pull thru.

Imo, Denmark deserved better in that game.

 

[koyvoo]

Portugal into the final

Spain extremely hard done by in this one. Definitely the better team for the majority of the game, particularly until they inexplicably subbed of Brahim Diaz, who was pulling the Portuguese defence apart, and they had a clear penalty ignored. Vitinha was tireless in the Portuguese midfield.

 

[koyvoo]

2-0 Germany at halftime

 

[Bures Elbow]

Another poor performance, we've yet to play as well as we did in the groups. Florentino has to start in place of Gedson, the rest I'd keep the same vs Germany. Vitinha and Fabio Viera are going to be amazing players....Porto are so foolish to sell one on the cheap due to FFP, and not play the other much.

Tremendous players.

Leao, lazy again. The few times he looked bothered the Spanish were sliced open by him on his runs.

Great achievement to reach the final with all the players missing from the squad...the backbone of this team won the U17/U19 Euros, and the UEFA youth champions league. Can they now do what no Portugal team has done and win a U21 championship? 2015 still grates me, that was the time to win. And they pulled a Euro 2004 final.

 

[gary69]

Nmecha continues his profilic season and Germany takes the lead at the start of 2nd half.

 

[Savi]

Nmecha continues his profilic season and Germany takes the lead at the start of 2nd half.

I wonder where he goes next season. No way he stays at the 4th best team in Belgium and play in the Conference League, even though they're trying really hard to convince him to come back.

 

[cgf]

Well damn. Portugal definitely had more star talents, but that was a fully deserved win for our boys.

Wirtz was the best player on the pitch. Baku set up Nmecha's goal beautifully; while being a constant presence charging into the spaces opened up by Wirtz drifting inside. Nmecha made numerous crafty runs before finally being rewarded. Adeyemi showed his immense potential after coming off the bench, creating a couple of great chances to ice the match with a 2nd goal. Maier almost opened the scoring with a rocket in the first half while defending well throughout.

But I'd have a hard time calling anyone the man of the match other than Dorsch, who was just dominant against the ball at the 6 & completely neutralized Portugals attacks for large stretches of the match.

Not sure if anyone who started this match will be a factor for the senior team outside of Wirtz & Baku, but those other kids really played a great tournament.

 

[Savi]

Dorsch should be a relatively cheap pick up for anyone who wants him. The new coach at Gent doesn't like him and barely played him in the second half of the season.

Congrats to Germany for winning but still, and I know I've said this before, they shouldn't have been here. Belgium beat them twice in the qualifying round but then bottled it against Moldova or whatever What could have been..

 

[TheMoreYouKnow]

On paper this wasn't really a great Germany team, but maybe that's kind of the return of the old German spirit - look underwhelming on paper but lift the trophy in the end.

 

[QuietContrarian]

Still bitter about the Denmark-Germany game.

Denmark deserved better.

 

[Bures Elbow]

Congrats Germany, a mature organized performance to make it a physical choppy battle and nullify our midfield. Deserved win, and good coaching to exploit the 4-4-2 diamond.

Rui Jorge with a poor selection (especially starting Tomas), poor subs, and at the forefront of a uninspired and energetic performance.

This is honestly going to be foreshadowing for this match-up in the Euros.

 

[cgf]

Congrats Germany, a mature organized performance to make it a physical choppy battle and nullify our midfield. Deserved win, and good coaching to exploit the 4-4-2 diamond.

Rui Jorge with a poor selection (especially starting Tomas), poor subs, and at the forefront of a uninspired and energetic performance.

This is honestly going to be foreshadowing for this match-up in the Euros.

Dunno about that. Kuntz isn't some superstar coach, but he's not as incompetent as Jogi either. So I'm still expecting us to finish 3rd in the group.

 

[cgf]

Dorsch should be a relatively cheap pick up for anyone who wants him. The new coach at Gent doesn't like him and barely played him in the second half of the season.

Congrats to Germany for winning but still, and I know I've said this before, they shouldn't have been here. Belgium beat them twice in the qualifying round but then bottled it against Moldova or whatever What could have been..

Oh, I still have my doubts about Dorsch's impact at the senior level, as he's pretty limited with the ball. So I understand why he's not exactly a hotshot at the club level, but he was excellent defensively in the knockouts...and it's been a while since a german has dominated a final defensively like Dorsch did in this match, so I had to give him some love. Even if I doubt he sees many caps for the senior NT.

 

[koyvoo]

I thought Baku was best player in the final.

Fabio Vieira named player of the tournament.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Denmark got a better talent production than Germany these days, despite them being 20 times smaller

yeah sure.

 

[cgf]

Will be interesting to see who ends up on the Olympic team. Outside of the U21ers & the 3 vet spots; Musiala, Geiger, Udoukhai & Torunarigha are eligible for the olympic squad. So, without accounting for any o23s, we could be looking at something like:

Nmecha/Berisha
Musiala - Wirtz
Jakobs - Geiger - Dorsch/Maier - Baku
Schlotterbeck - Udoukhai - Torunarigha

Berisha - Nmecha
Jakobs - Musiala - Wirtz - Baku
Geiger/Dorsch/Maier
Schlotterbeck - Udoukhai - Torunarigha​

 

[Eye of Ra]

Will be interesting to see who ends up on the Olympic team. Outside of the U21ers & the 3 vet spots; Musiala, Geiger, Udoukhai & Torunarigha are eligible for the olympic squad. So, without accounting for any o23s, we could be looking at something like:

Nmecha/Berisha
Musiala - Wirtz
Jakobs - Geiger - Dorsch/Maier - Baku
Schlotterbeck - Udoukhai - Torunarigha

Berisha - Nmecha
Jakobs - Musiala - Wirtz - Baku
Geiger/Dorsch/Maier
Schlotterbeck - Udoukhai - Torunarigha​

who will be the 3 vets?

 

[cgf]

who will be the 3 vets?

No idea. I think that squad would benefit from someone like Demme or Kramer at the 6, maybe someone like Vogt or Friedrich for the back 3, and I'd love to see Kruse or Stindl there.

But I haven't read anything about that yet.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

who will be the 3 vets?

Nico Schulz should be one of them.