UEFA U21 Championship starts Mon 15th

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looking forward to this all live on sky sports

Mon 15.....England v Finland (5.15pm)

Mon 15......Spain v Germany (7.45pm)

Tue 16.......Sweden v Belarus (5.15pm)

Tue 16........Italy v Serbia (7.45pm)

Thu 18........Germany v Finland (5.15pm)

Thu 18.........Spain v England (7.45pm)

Fri 19..........Sweden v Italy (3.00pm)

Fri 19..........Belarus v Serbia (5.15pm)

Mon 22.......Germany v England (7.45pm)

Mon 22........Finland v Spain (7.45pm)

Tue 23.........Belarus v Italy (7.45pm)

Tue 23.........Serbia v Sweden (7.45pm)

Fri 26............Semi-Final 1 (5.00pm)

Fri 26.............Semi-Final 2 (7.45pm)

Mon 29.............Final (7.45pm)


from a utd point of view kiko and tosic will be playing

DM_7

More football. Brilliant. The internationals at the weekend and wednesday provided some relief from Season Over Disorder, hopefully the under 21's can provide more medicine.

The only things I remember about the last Under 21 tournament were Nani and Babel looked sh1te. Ashley Young looked superb. The mad shoot out with Holland and England and the hoo ha about if Taylor should take a peno

Stand out Games

England Germany
Spain Germany
Spain England
Italy Serbia

Pro. F

DM-ICE wrote: »

Season Over Disorder

lol love that!

I don't have the channels at the mo' fook it anyway. I've got a right dose of SOD!

Seaneh

Italy are run away favorites. Their squad is very strong

Italy squad
Goalkeepers: Andrea Consigli (Atalanta BC), Andrea Seculin (ACF Fiorentina), Salvatore Sirigu (Ancona Calcio).

Defenders: Marco Andreolli (AS Roma), Antonio Bocchetti (Genoa CFC), Domenico Criscito (Genoa CFC), Paolo De Ceglie (Juventus), Lino Marzoratti (Empoli FC), Marco Motta (Udinese Calcio), Francesco Pisano (Cagliari Calcio), Andrea Ranocchia (AS Bari).

Midfielders: Francesco Bolzoni (FC Internazionale Milano), Antonio Candreva (AS Livorno Calcio), Luca Cigarini (Atalanta BC), Daniele Dessena (UC Sampdoria), Sebastian Giovinco (Juventus), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Piermario Morosini (Vicenza Calcio), Andrea Russotto (SSC Napoli).

Forwards: Robert Acquafresca (Cagliari Calcio), Mario Balotelli (FC Internazionale Milano), Davide Lanzafame (AS Bari), Pablo Daniel Osvaldo (ACF Fiorentina).

The stand outs are the two strikers, Balotelli and Acquafresca, Midfeilders Giovinco, Marchisio and Russoto and the defenders Criscito and Motta.

Kiko isn't even in the squad, and wouldn't be good enough to be in there either.

MementoMori

I don't understand why they don't actually call it an U23 Championship because that's what it is really. Eligibility for this is born after 1st Janusry 1986.

Squads
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_UEFA_European_Under-21_Football_Championship_squads

General Info
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_UEFA_European_Under-21_Football_Championship

dor83

MementoMori wrote: »

I don't understand why they don't actually call it an U23 Championship because that's what it is really. Eligibility for this is born after 1st Janusry 1986.

The reason that the players who are over 21 can play is because any player who plays in the qualifying round is eligible afaik. This means that if this was an U23 tournament there would be players up to 25. This rule is there to be fair to the players who are eligible when qualifying starts but not when that tournament starts, it wouldn't really be fair if a player helped the team qualify and couldn't play in the tournament.

MementoMori

dor83 wrote: »

The reason that the players who are over 21 can play is because any player who plays in the qualifying round is eligible afaik. This means that if this was an U23 tournament there would be players up to 25. This rule is there to be fair to the players who are eligible when qualifying starts but not when that tournament starts, it wouldn't really be fair if a player helped the team qualify and couldn't play in the tournament.

I understand this - I just think the name should be changed to U-23 Championship - keep the same eligibility dates as they were. The exact same players would still be there.

Currently it is called the U-21 Championship because when qualification begins 2 years prior to the actual tournament the players have to be under 21
I think it should be called the U-23 Championship because when the finals take place the players are U-23.Actually even as it is there are a number of players who are 23, so maybe under 24 Championship??

It's only a very very minor thing really.

dor83

But the problem with that is that the qualifying round is considered as part of the tournament and that means they have to set the age limit from the start of qualifying. If the call the tournament a U23 or U24 then the age limit goes up from the start of qualifying so, no matter how they name the tournament, the players will always be able to be older than the age limit when the tournament proper starts.

MementoMori

dor83 wrote: »

But the problem with that is that the qualifying round is considered as part of the tournament and that means they have to set the age limit from the start of qualifying. If the call the tournament a U23 or U24 then the age limit goes up from the start of qualifying so, no matter how they name the tournament, the players will always be able to be older than the age limit when the tournament proper starts.

Sorry but this is quite clearly wrong.

There is absolutely no reason why UEFA couldn't change the name to the U24Championship and keep the same age limits, if they so wanted.

If the call the tournament a U23 or U24 then the age limit goes up from the start of qualifying.

Wrong.;)

They do not have to set the age limit from the start of qualifying.

They could simply say that this is the U24 Championship and any players used in qualifying have to be under 24 when the finals take place.

Simple.

Anyway tis not that important really

The Hustler

England are a great price @ 4/1

I'll be lumping on

MementoMori

The Hustler wrote: »

England are a great price @ 4/1

I'll be lumping on

Was looking at the squads and was thinking England look decent but I was wondering is that just due to the fact that I would have greater name awareness due to the number of PL players in the squad.

I mean I have no idea how good Serbia might be but they have players from the PL, La Liga, Bundesliga, Seria A, Ligue One and the Dutch League in their squad.

Also England are in what would probably be called the group of death seeing as it looks like the harder group with Spain, Germany and Finland.

dor83

MementoMori wrote: »

Sorry but this is quite clearly wrong.

There is absolutely no reason why UEFA couldn't change the name to the U24Championship and keep the same age limits, if they so wanted.

Yes there is, the current rules would have to be changed to do this and UEFA are not about to do that.

Wrong.

They do not have to set the age limit from the start of qualifying.

Yes they do, thats what the rules say and personally I would agree with them.

Anyway tis not that important really

No it's not but you said you didn't understand why it's like that and I explained it but because it didn't suit you, you said I was wrong.

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For anyone interested England are 8/1 to get knocked out by a peno shootout.

MementoMori

dor83 wrote: »

Yes there is, the current rules would have to be changed to do this and UEFA are not about to do that.

This might be the current rules but there is no reason that they can't change the name to the UEFA U24 Championship if they wanted to. These are UEFA rules I presume you are talking about so I don't think UEFA would have masses of difficulty in changing their own rules. They might not have any plans to do so. I don't really know how likely a change is because I'm not really that aware of the inner machinations of UEFA. However I would love to hear what exactly you're using for the basis of your opinion that

UEFA are not about to do that

I said you were wrong because you said

If the call the tournament a U23 or U24 then the age limit goes up from the start of qualifying so, no matter how they name the tournament, the players will always be able to be older than the age limit when the tournament proper starts.

This is a logical incorrect statement or in other words wrong

The part which in particular is wrong

If the call the tournament a U23 or U24 then the age limit goes up from the start of qualifying...

This is a classic if-then statement whereby you state that if they call the tournament a U23 or U24 it automatically must follow that the age limit goes up from the start of qualifying

The reason it is wrong is that if UEFA wished they could change the name of the tournament to the UEFA U24 tournament, and simply not change the age limit.

If they wanted they could call it the UEFA U-75 tournament and change the age eligibility requirement to people born in the month of June in 2009 - it wouldn't make much sense and is pretty unlikely, but if UEFA wanted to they could.

My main point is that they are UEFA rules, so for UEFA to change them would not be difficult if they wanted to. If UEFA get together for their next meeting and someone were to say "Lads I think the U21 Championship is a bit of a silly name, when it's really for players who are U24 when the finals take place. From a marketing and branding point of view it isn't the greatest and leads to confusion. I propose we keep everything else the same and simply change the name to the U24 Championship" then they have a vote and it's name is changed to the U24 Championship. This hypothecial situation is provided to show just why your statement was wrong.

No it's not but you said you didn't understand why it's like that and I explained it but because it didn't suit you, you said I was wrong.

I said you were wrong because I felt and still do that you were wrong.

I'm sorry if pointing this flaw in your reasoning hurt your feeling in any way whatsoever.

MementoMori

Headshot wrote: »

For anyone interested England are 8/1 to get knocked out by a peno shootout.

Given there are only 8 teams presuambly this would only happend in the semi finals? In other words, it's not as if there are a round of quarter finals to take into account.Would losing the finals on penalties count as being knocked out in gambling terms? Also I don't think there is a 3rd/4th play-off and if if there was I really doubt that this would count as being knocked out if it went to penalties.

Bascially it could be a bet on one game going to penalties and at most it would be a bet on two games going to penalties a.e.t and on England losing out on this basis. I'd check the conditions carefully and even then I'd be very wary as it doens't look like great value to me.

Headshot

MementoMori wrote: »

Given there are only 8 teams presuambly this would only happend in the semi finals? In other words, it's not as if there are a round of quarter finals to take into account.Would losing the finals on penalties count as being knocked out in gambling terms? Also I don't think there is a 3rd/4th play-off and if if there was I really doubt that this would count as being knocked out if it went to penalties.

Bascially it could be a bet on one game going to penalties and at most it would be a bet on two games going to penalties a.e.t and on England losing out on this basis. I'd check the conditions carefully and even then I'd be very wary as it doens't look like great value to me.

thanks for the advice but im not going near it,just thought someone might be interested

and i was talking to pp and they told me that bet stands for the semi final and final it self

gustavo

Pro. F wrote: »

lol love that!

I don't have the channels at the mo' fook it anyway. I've got a right dose of SOD!

Shame theres no actual football on in this country over the summer :mad:

dor83

MementoMori wrote: »

I said you were wrong because I felt and still do that you were wrong.

I'm sorry if pointing this flaw in your reasoning hurt your feeling in any way whatsoever.

OK mate, I have explained how UEFA's system works and if you don't understand that changing the rules to your system would involve more than a simple name change then I'm done trying to explain it. No my feelings weren't hurt by you saying I'm wrong but I find it naive when somebody can't see what is plainly obvious and insists that I am wrong for explaining the rules to them.

Anyway, I reckon Italy are the best bet for the tournament, they have a very good squad and their forwards are very good imo, particularly Balotelli and Acquafresca.

Seaneh

gustavo wrote: »

Shame theres no actual football on in this country over the summer :mad:

Er... Yes there is. There's a a live match in your two once every week or two.

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well its starting now

England v Finland

Mikeyt086

Just had a look through the squads...

Xisco from Newcastle is only 22 years old... :eek:

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1-1 so far

england playing ****e

also got a man sent off

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italy v serbia match starting soon

im looking forward to seeing Mario Balotelli and tosic

Eire-Dearg

Me too, haven't had a chance to see either of them yet.

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That Number 10 for italy has been impressive

Eire-Dearg

So far I've been impressed by Giovinca of Italy, a tiny wide player. Great quick feet and trickery.

Serb's keeper Brkic has been fantastic too, couple of great saves.

Balotelli has pots full of ability but my, what an attitude problem!

The Serbs have had nothing to play with up top, Italy defense holding strong, and controlling the midfield.

Want to see more of Balotelli second half, but this short fuse will see him off before long, a clever Serb should do that, coax him into it.

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Eire-Dearg wrote: »

So far I've been impressed by Giovinca of Italy, a tiny wide player. Great quick feet and trickery.

.

ya that's the number 10 for Italy

Eire-Dearg

Yep, only about 5.5"

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how bad was Balotelli,cant believe he got 65 minutes even

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cant believe serbia are 5/1 to win this still

PHB

Tosic is playing well, causing trouble

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PHB wrote: »

Tosic is playing well, causing trouble

yap he's playing well

lad has some skill on him

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that was disappointing from Italy

Soldie

Acquafresca missed an absolute sitter.

titan18

Pretty poor game I have to say.Sweden looked impressive against Belarus though, or Belarus are just shocking, find out next game I suppose.

Some spectacular goals in the game, particularly the Swedes 5th goal.

http://www.101greatgoals.com/videodisplay/2744183/

mink_man

does tosic look like he will be a player for utd one day?

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anybody still watching this tournament

few players catching the eye for me
Giovinca,berb,bejrami and tosic

England side have a great chance to win this tournament

curry-muff

Are either of tonights matches on tv or can anyone find streams for them???

andrewie

curry-muff wrote: »

Are either of tonights matches on tv or can anyone find streams for them???

The semi-finals take place on Friday. No games until then.

andrewie

England off to a dream start against Sweden.

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andrewie wrote: »

England off to a dream start against Sweden.

playing great stuff

Paul Tergat

2 up, get in.

cmon england!

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3-0

****ing hell

and here's me thinking sweden had a chance

Paul Tergat

3

woooooo

andrewie

3-1 now.

Marcus Berg continues his great scoring form.

Necronomicon

3-2, what a free! Gonna be an interesting last quarter of an hour.

andrewie

Great free-kick!!

The wall doesn't jump, and it curls into the corner of the net.

England 3-2 Sweden.

Game on!

Paul Tergat

ffs, dont do this to me england.

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p_larkin99 wrote: »

ffs, dont do this to me england.

:D:D

andrewie

3-3!!!!!!

Marcus Berg.

This is incredible.

England have crumbled.

Necronomicon

What a finish from Berg. 3-3