Youth Competitions

[gary69]

Verschaeren and Chiesa with beautiful strikes.

 

[Savi]

Chiesa should have been sent off. VAR was very suspect last night.

But yeah, nice goal from Verschaeren.

 

[Eye of Ra]

u21 should not be taken serious. sweden won 2015 and we where in 2017 aswell.

 

[czechcanadian]

u21 should not be taken serious. sweden won 2015 and we where in 2017 aswell.

Agreed. I remember the U-20 World Cup in year 2007. Czechs made the final and I thought maybe Czech soccer was back.
Turned out that not one of those guys made it anywhere.
These tournaments can be very deceiving.

 

[cgf]

Eh, the u21s aren't the u17s. Germany's 2009 winners featured Neuer, Boateng, Hummels, Ozil & Khedira, while our 2017 winners featured Kehrer, Dahoud, Amiri, Gnabry & Weiser.

 

[gary69]

It's starting to look more and more likely that France and Romania will settle for draw, which would put both of them through and eliminate Italy. Romania seems almost safe now, they can't lose by 3 now with so little time left. So it's either France or Italy for the last team to the semis.

 

[Ajacied]

u21 should not be taken serious. sweden won 2015 and we where in 2017 aswell.

I agree. Fun, but hardly a test of a nation's youth. Most promising 19, 20 and 21 year olds are already playing with the big boys squad. Oranje won back to back European titles in 2006 and 2007, yet they went on their worst spell in the following decade.

I like the U17 the most as well as prestige tournaments such as the UEFA youth league in the U19's.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Semifinals are set with France being the best runner-up

Spain vs. France
Germany vs. Romania

All four of these teams have also qualified for the 2020 Olympics. France haven’t been to one since Atlanta 96 while Romania were last there in 1964

 

[Evilo]

I think these are easily the best 4 teams in the tournament.
This french team really misses Bamba though after the english butcher's tackle.
They're not convincing offensively. Upamecano is having a great tournament with Konate beside him. Guendouzi, Tousard, Ntcham seem to be starting now in midfield with Aouar on the bench.

 

[gary69]

I think Italy was a better team than Spain, but that loss to Poland was unbelievable, despite Italy hugely dominating. But that happens. Wish that beautiful Orsolini shot would have been allowed to stand.

 

[Evilo]

Not sure they were better than Spain, but indeed, that Poland game was FM stuff.

 

[cgf]

I didn't realize Romania was that good.

Almost all of their top talents are in a similar age range and most of them are at this tourney...but that's not to take anything away from them. They've been doing better at youth development for a little while now; with Razvan Marin having really kicked off this new-golden-generation of sorts that they are enjoying in the carpathians.

 

[gary69]

Will be interesting to see how this german team does. The midfield has more quality options than we could fit onto the pitch with Maier, Dahoud, Amiri, Neuhaus & Eggestein Sr. With Tah anchoring the backline alongside good FB options; the biggest question marks will be upfront...unless this ends up being JoJo's breakout tourney...and if Kuntz keeps starting Baumgartl next to Tah, that too will be a problem.

You were correct, that just happened, Baumgartl conceded a penalty, which Puskas converted (again, already 3rd for him). Fortunately, Germany had taken the lead through Amiri after a nice run and shot. Romania have the momentum now and are looking more dangerous.

 

[cgf]

You were correct, that just happened, Baumgartl conceded a penalty, which Puskas converted (again, already 3rd for him). Fortunately, Germany had taken the lead through Amiri after a nice run and shot. Romania have the momentum now and are looking more dangerous.

Yeah, they've done really well since our goal...this cooling break was really well timed for us

 

[cgf]

lol

 

[HanSolo]

Ayyy Romania!

 

[YNWA14]

I feel like the German midfield lacks balance (Maier should play) and I'm confused by the decision to not have Richter in unless he's hurt or something given he's been one of the standouts of the tournament.

 

[cgf]

Well that answers whether Nmecha is German or English

 

[gary69]

Waldschmidt to the rescue in the last minute with an accurate low free kick.

 

[gary69]

And Amiri settles it with an extra-time free kick after a Romanian was sent off for bringing down Nmecha,

 

[YNWA14]

Looks like Spain really took it to France. Guendouzi and Konate look like they had really, really bad games. Junior Firpo looks quite promising to me; if the links with Liverpool are real I wouldn't mind it.

I think Spain wins the final.

 

[gary69]

Yeah, France was surprisingly lacklustre and Spain had nice attacking plays. If they're able to reproduce that performance against Germany, then they'd be favourites.

The way both teams are playing, we should see some goals in the final.

 

[Evilo]

Aouar was the worst. He was absolutely terrible, and he showcased his limits : when his team isn't in full possession, he's useless. He doesn't run, he doesn't make enough efforts, he's not quick enough to make decisions.
He's made for a team like City.

Anyway, he wasn't the sole reason we lost yesterday. France still is outcoached every youth tournament. We have clowns as coaches. The choices were all wrong, and we were limited by injuries and obviously some players are already with the senior team.

 

[cgf]

Aouar was the worst. He was absolutely terrible, and he showcased his limits : when his team isn't in full possession, he's useless. He doesn't run, he doesn't make enough efforts, he's not quick enough to make decisions.
He's made for a team like City.

Anyway, he wasn't the sole reason we lost yesterday. France still is outcoached every youth tournament. We have clowns as coaches. The choices were all wrong, and we were limited by injuries and obviously some players are already with the senior team.

I know what you mean, as Kuntz has a long record of astonishingly bad decisions, but I feel that's the norm at the international youth level even moreso than it is at the senior NT level. So I've given up about griping about bad coaching decisions with the kids

 

[Live in the Now]

To say Spain is playing well here would be an understatement.