European Under 21 Championship 2013

Headshot

I thought yet again a ref is destroying a game but on the replay it looked a red for me, no attempt to get the ball what so ever. He wanted to take the player out full stop

Headshot

What is up with the dutch and their heads, they really are ****ed up mentally

Andersonisgod

The Ditch are good technically but they lack conviction, I'm not sold on them as potential winners.

titan18

Very nice goal there. Really surprised Clasie isn't playing, really good player imo

titan18

Also, interesting thing, this is Dzagoev's debut for the under 21s I think, due to being involved with the senior side for a while

Headshot

Tello is so frustrating to watch, all that talent but yet awful in the final third

Andersonisgod

Spain are turning up the heat now. Germany should be down to 10 men.

Headshot

Go wan Spain

good riddens to the Germans

Andersonisgod

Great individual goal from Morata, he looks like a really impressive prospect. Spain fully deserve their victory and now match on to the semi finals. The most complete side in the tournament, I can't seeing them being beaten.

titan18

One of the very few who took it seriously and sent a full strength side aswell. Considering they'll also be in the Confederations Cup and under 20 world cup, there are players who could have been sent to those tournaments. Only the Russians and to a lesser extent the Dutch did the same out of the top sides.

inforfun

titan18 wrote: »

One of the very few who took it seriously and sent a full strength side aswell. Considering they'll also be in the Confederations Cup and under 20 world cup, there are players who could have been sent to those tournaments. Only the Russians and to a lesser extent the Dutch did the same out of the top sides.

The Dutch have 12 full A internationals in their squad.
There is not a single Dutch player i can think of who is eligible for this tournament and should be in this squad and isnt there.

titan18

inforfun wrote: »

The Dutch have 12 full A internationals in their squad.
There is not a single Dutch player i can think of who is eligible for this tournament and should be in this squad and isnt there.

Willems for one unless he's injured, and possibly Bruma, Duarte, Nelom, Boetius (not sure is he still out or not, possibly might be). Duarte and Nelom are a stretch, but unless the other three are unavailable, I think they'd have played

inforfun

Willems is a liability and shouldnt be near a national team.

Boetius would have been there but is injured and will be lucky if he is fit at the start of the next season.

Bruma played for the 2nd team of Hamburg the last few months and lost his place in the squad to De Vrij and Martins Indi. There is also still Nuytinck of Anderlecht who was the captain of the U21's before those 12 joined.

Nelom didnt play much for Feyenoord while Blind played about every match for Ajax.
Duarte, nice player as he is, just is unlucky that there are so many good midfielders. Fer and Clasie are on the bench. There is just no need for Duarte.

Duarte and Nelom are with the Dutch team in Asia at the moment. Basically traded places with Blind and one of Clasie/Fer/Maher

titan18

inforfun wrote: »

Willems is a liability and shouldnt be near a national team.

Boetius would have been there but is injured and will be lucky if he is fit at the start of the next season.

Bruma played for the 2nd team of Hamburg the last few months and lost his place in the squad to De Vrij and Martins Indi. There is also still Nuytinck of Anderlecht who was the captain of the U21's before those 12 joined.

Nelom didnt play much for Feyenoord while Blind played about every match for Ajax.
Duarte, nice player as he is, just is unlucky that there are so many good midfielders. Fer and Clasie are on the bench. There is just no need for Duarte.

Duarte and Nelom are with the Dutch team in Asia at the moment. Basically traded places with Blind and one of Clasie/Fer/Maher

Ah, ok, going from your avatar, I'd imagine you watch more Eredivisie than me, so probably right, I'd put Willems in over some of the guys selected just on what I've seen, and Bruma got frozen out in Hamburg imo, I think he's more talented than others ahead of him. Wasn't sure on Boetius' injury though

Headshot

Infor is the man for Eredivisie.

inforfun

titan18 wrote: »

Ah, ok, going from your avatar, I'd imagine you watch more Eredivisie than me, so probably right, I'd put Willems in over some of the guys selected just on what I've seen, and Bruma got frozen out in Hamburg imo, I think he's more talented than others ahead of him. Wasn't sure on Boetius' injury though

Yes, it wasnt a fair "fight"
I am Dutch and more than interested in the game

Smithwicks Man

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Great individual goal from Morata, he looks like a really impressive prospect. Spain fully deserve their victory and now match on to the semi finals. The most complete side in the tournament, I can't seeing them being beaten.

Can't see them even reaching the final myself if they get Italy in the semi's. They have some excellent players (Isco is the player of the tournament so far imo) but my god are they infuriating to watch.

They may be the best team in the world at senior level (hard to judge at u21) but I know very few neutrals who would say they play the best football. They really struggle to finish chances unless they can pass the ball into the net.

In my opinion, Italy look a much more complete side. The netherlands must be respected too, it's a pity they didn't meet Spain earlier in the group when it would have mattered more.

roanoke

OT, but I just noticed that as well as the two games today there's actually 8 qualifying games on too for the 2015 Euro U21 tournament.

I wonder how rare an occurrence this is (ie where qualifying games for the next edition of a tournament are going on the very same day that a finals is being played?)

Kiwi_knock

Stuart Pearce is putting up a pretty persuasive argument for a new contract with this performance.

Mars Bar

What a hit! It came back quite a distance after hitting the bar!

Nuri Sahin

Penalty to Norway in their game..

Norway lead late on, 1-0!

Francie Barrett

Stinking performance from England.

Nuri Sahin

Italy equalise through Bertolacci deep in stoppage time.

England pathetically go out by losing every game. Kudos to them.

Kiwi_knock

The win means a lot to the Israel manager. The last time the majority of the England squad will ever wear the English jersey.

Royal Legend

Pearse has been a joke of a manager for some time now, fails again at a tournament. The excuse that the senior players were not released is bollox, he had enough of a squad to get out of that group. English FA have cocked it up again, another clueless coach for a clueless FA

homerjay2005

inforfun wrote: »

Yes, it wasnt a fair "fight"
I am Dutch and more than interested in the game

do you think Strootman is good enough to be first 11 player at United?

Andersonisgod

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Can't see them even reaching the final myself if they get Italy in the semi's. They have some excellent players (Isco is the player of the tournament so far imo) but my god are they infuriating to watch.

They may be the best team in the world at senior level (hard to judge at u21) but I know very few neutrals who would say they play the best football. They really struggle to finish chances unless they can pass the ball into the net.

In my opinion, Italy look a much more complete side. The netherlands must be respected too, it's a pity they didn't meet Spain earlier in the group when it would have mattered more.

I disagree. I'd fancy them against Italy, they are occasionally just a little bit careless in possession (certainly more so than the senior side) but they dominate possession, they will control every game they play at the tournament, they create chances, they defend well (Inigo Martinez is particularly outstanding) and they have enough individual brilliance to win any game. They also have the player of the tournament so far, imo, Thiago Alcantara.

I think their football is excellent, just like the senior side, just like the under 19's last Summer, they play a terrific possession based game through the middle and with a lot of cutting edge down the flanks.

I don't think Italy will be able to handle the Spanish passing game, I don't think The Netherlands can handle it either.

inforfun

homerjay2005 wrote: »

do you think Strootman is good enough to be first 11 player at United?

Well, i am not a big fan if him so my judgement might be tainted.
His progression in the last 2,5 years is pretty spectacular though. 2,5 years ago he was still playing for Sparta in the Jupiler league and since then he made 2 transfers, first to Utrecht, later to PSV.
I guess he could grow to the level of UTD and at the moment he quite possibly could get a lot of matches at UTD.
But imo that has more to do with the fact that midfield isnt the strongest part of the squad. Any other club at the level of UTD, i cant see him too many matches tbh. Cant see him get many games at City, Chelsea or Arsenal.
At 23 he would be better off going to Spurs or Liverpool and if he continues to "grow" make the next step in 3 years or so.

Dont know if the year he just had, playing with Van Bommel will turn out good or bad for him. He was taking over some of the less attractive traits of Van Bommel.

So in short, if he would be the only adition to midfield for UTD, he will get his games. If they are really getting active on the transfer market and more midfielders, i am not too sure if he would get many more games as Buttner had last season.

Dutch players are a bit reluctant at the moment with going to the real big clubs. Van Gaal has made it pretty clear: dont play at your club, dont play for the national team. And they all want to be in Brazil next summer.
It is really simple, they have a much better chance going to Brazil next year when they play (well) every week in Holland than when they keep a seat warm on the bench somewhere abroad.

Andersonisgod

Netherlands make 11 changes for the game this evening, Spain also with a lot of changed but they retain star men Thiago and Isco in the starting line up.

Andersonisgod

Man this Spanish side is something else entirely. 2-0, the Spanish brilliance continues.

Corvo

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Man this Spanish side is something else entirely. 2-0, the Spanish brilliance continues.

I'd say going to Spain with you on holiday would be just painful.

Like Bill Oddie on speed

Oat23

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Man this Spanish side is something else entirely. 2-0, the Spanish brilliance continues.

You should just change you name to Alejandro and move there.

Andersonisgod

After the goal Spain really took control of the game, as so often happens with Spain at any age level. Towards the end of the half they were playing some really super football all over the pitch. The tempo and off the ball movement (especially in the early Israel heat) were particularly impressive.

Smithwicks Man

Andersonisgod wrote: »

After the goal Spain really took control of the game, as so often happens with Spain at any age level. Towards the end of the half they were playing some really super football all over the pitch. The tempo and off the ball movement (especially in the early Israel heat) were particularly impressive.

Israel heat?? It's 25*C over there and 31*C in Spain? Spain has a much hotter climate than Israel. Would you ever quit spouting sh***. At first I thought you were a troll but now I realise you're just deluded.

Holland have half a team out you clob.

Will be delighted if Italy beat the boring tiki taka Spain in the final - (They'll have to beat an impressive Netherlands side in the semi's first however)

Smithwicks Man

Andersonisgod wrote: »

I disagree. I'd fancy them against Italy, they are occasionally just a little bit careless in possession (certainly more so than the senior side) but they dominate possession, they will control every game they play at the tournament, they create chances, they defend well (Inigo Martinez is particularly outstanding) and they have enough individual brilliance to win any game. They also have the player of the tournament so far, imo, Thiago Alcantara.

I think their football is excellent, just like the senior side, just like the under 19's last Summer, they play a terrific possession based game through the middle and with a lot of cutting edge down the flanks.

I don't think Italy will be able to handle the Spanish passing game, I don't think The Netherlands can handle it either.

I think it's boring, just like the senior side.

It's funny how neither of us are wrong as it's only our opinions, yet I won't go on to say they're boring in every post I make whereas you most likely will do the opposite.

Nuri Sahin

FT:

LA MASIA and Friends 3-0 Holland
Germany 2-1 Russia

Rekop dog

I tell ye barely an exciting competitive match all summer and then Italy v Holland clashes with Japan v Brazil later.

Surprised to see Italy favourites for the match based on the tournament so far but should be a cracker.

Andersonisgod

Interesting that Rodrigo gets the nod ahead of Morata. Koke starts ahead of Muniain. Very strong starting side for Spain.

Rekop dog

So Thiago is more articulate speaking English than most British players.

Always amazes me how well rounded these young Spanish lads are, the personal development side of things is often overlooked but it's a huge part of their success.

*Realised I began to sound like Andersonisgod so I'll stop now heh*

Andersonisgod

Rekop dog wrote: »

So Thiago is more articulate speaking English than most British players.

Always amazes me how well rounded these young Spanish lads are, the personal development side of things is often overlooked but it's a huge part of their success.

*Realised I began to sound like Andersonisgod so I'll stop now heh*

Funnily enough I agree, it was quite a good interview. What really comes across is both how mature he is for a player still pretty young and how much he sounds like Xavi Hernandez. The way he talks, the things he says, the man might well be Xavi incarnate. An impressive young man aswell as a hugely impressive young player.

Andersonisgod

Great start to the game for Spain, pinging the ball around, causing real problems for Norway early on.

CSF

Andersonisgod wrote: »

Funnily enough I agree, it was quite a good interview. What really comes across is both how mature he is for a player still pretty young and how much he sounds like Xavi Hernandez. The way he talks, the things he says, the man might well be Xavi incarnate. An impressive young man aswell as a hugely impressive young player.

Haha there is absolutely no 'funnily enough' about your agreement on that!! Come on now!!

Rekop dog

CSF wrote: »

Haha there is absolutely no 'funnily enough' about your agreement on that!! Come on now!!

Good to see your sarcasm detector is switched on.

carlop

Their domestic game is an absolute shambles, but the you have to say the future of Spanish football is in scarily good hands player-wise.

Professional Griefer

That was some strike.

Jax Teller

Should have been a peno .

Andersonisgod

Spain denied a clear penalty, Bartra fouled after a scramble from an unreal Montoya volley. Bartra wrongly booked.

Amirani

Isco really is fantastic to watch.

Rekop dog

Was just a matter of time really.

Andersonisgod

Goal! Spain 1-0, via a clever flick from Rodrigo. Absolutely a deserved half, a quite brilliant half of football, only denied more goals by an impressive goalkeeping performance. The level of this Spanish side is different to any other team at the tournament.