U-21 European Championship 2013

[magik9113]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_UEFA_ ... ampionship

Group A:
Israel
England
Italy
Norway

Group B:
Spain
Netherlands
Russia
Germany

Idk if there was already something made for this...Games start tomorrow

[magik9113]

I fully expect Italy to win this.
Spain has a good squad also

[El Turco]

there is u-20 world cup starting in a week, kinda odd they scheduled them at the same time

[cgf]

I wish our NT sent its best talents the way the Dutch and Spanish have. We aren't sending any members of the A-team who are eligible, that means no Draxler, no Gundogan and no Schurrle. It think Kroos and Muller would be eligible as well as Mario Gotze, but the first three could really use this tournament to push their cases for PT with the A team.

[Massimo]

Is there any channel show the games tomorrow in the US?

[magik9113]

there is u-20 world cup starting in a week, kinda odd they scheduled them at the same time

it is odd, but I think it has to do with the qualification process... the group of players who qualified for this tournament will be there, therefore you will see several 23-year-olds on all of the teams, despite it being "U-21". This way the age groups are separate and there's less controversy with who plays with which squad. I believe the qualification for the u-20 world cup depends on past youth tournaments like u-19/u-20 continental tournaments.

[cgf]

I fully expect Italy to win this.
Spain has a good squad also

They're strong but I actually think the Dutch will be the strongest, I really like their midfield with Strootman, Van Ginkel and Maher, their front line will always be strong cause they are dutch, but their D is actually very capable as well with de Vrij anchoring the middle and the Blind/van Rhijn FB duo.

The Italian attacking line looks awesome in front of Veratti, Spain has a strong team to and even the Russians have sent stars like Dzagoev, Kokorin, Cheryshev and Shennikov, but it's the Dutch I think are favorites.

[magik9113]

I wish our NT sent its best talents the way the Dutch and Spanish have. We aren't sending any members of the A-team who are eligible, that means no Draxler, no Gundogan and no Schurrle. It think Kroos and Muller would be eligible as well as Mario Gotze, but the first three could really use this tournament to push their cases for PT with the A team.

yea Italy's coach said that if it weren't for this tournament, at least 4 of their young players would have been on the Confederation's Cup roster..they kept only the obvious choices of Balotelli and El Sharaawy. I'm surprised Germany didn't do something similar with at least a couple of them, seeing they aren't even in the Confeds Cup. woulda had one hell of a squad

all the games will be online on espn3...with tomorrows' Italy-England game (and possibly some more) on ESPNU

[magik9113]

group B is ridiculously strong

[J-Mezzy]

All I know is that Colomnbia might win both the U 20 Toulon tournament as well as the U-20 world cup.

[cgf]

I wish our NT sent its best talents the way the Dutch and Spanish have. We aren't sending any members of the A-team who are eligible, that means no Draxler, no Gundogan and no Schurrle. It think Kroos and Muller would be eligible as well as Mario Gotze, but the first three could really use this tournament to push their cases for PT with the A team.

yea Italy's coach said that if it weren't for this tournament, at least 4 of their young players would have been on the Confederation's Cup roster..they kept only the obvious choices of Balotelli and El Sharaawy. I'm surprised Germany didn't do something similar with at least a couple of them, seeing they aren't even in the Confeds Cup. woulda had one hell of a squad

all the games will be online on espn3...with tomorrows' Italy-England game (and possibly some more) on ESPNU

Yeah, we've got some good players there, but Ilkay and Draxler would've been great additions, and maybe even Schurrle to push Herrmann, then we could've gone with

Volland/Lasogga
Draxler-Holtby-Herrmann
Rode-Gundogan
Kolasinac-Ginter-Rudiger-Jung/Jantschke
Leno

As is we're looking at something like
Lassogga
Volland-Holtby-Herrmann
Rode-Rudy/Can
Kolasinac-Ginter-Rudiger-Jantschke
Leno

with only Mlapa and Clemens coming off the bench of much note.

[J-Mezzy]

I wish our NT sent its best talents the way the Dutch and Spanish have. We aren't sending any members of the A-team who are eligible, that means no Draxler, no Gundogan and no Schurrle. It think Kroos and Muller would be eligible as well as Mario Gotze, but the first three could really use this tournament to push their cases for PT with the A team.

Damn, that team would be freaking invincible.

[Man of Steel]

Surprised Morata got called up but Jese didn't. Probably because of Isco.

[cgf]

The Russians will be really good

Kokorin
Yakovlev-Dzagoev-Cheryshev
Shatov-Petrov
Shennikov-Bryzgalov-Burlak-Tsallagov
Zabolotny

That defense isn't great but that attack will be awesome and both Shennikov and Burlak are awesome pieces to build the D around.

[Foye]

I expect Germany to fail in the group stage.

Lol at Spain...Isco, De Gea and Muniain? Thiago I can understand because he doesn't get too many minutes with Xavi/Iniesta/Fabregas in front of him but the other three? WTH?

Just imagine one of those gets injured in such a meaningless youth tourney. His club would be ultra pissed then.

I'm just glad we don't go all in like Spain...I think even Müller, Gündogan and Kroos (well injured but nevermind) would be available.

[BUCKnation]

Too bad Belgium isnt in this. They might have have the most exciting youth in Europe atm.

[5DOM]

I expect Germany to fail in the group stage.

Lol at Spain...Isco, De Gea and Muniain? Thiago I can understand because he doesn't get too many minutes with Xavi/Iniesta/Fabregas in front of him but the other three? WTH?

Just imagine one of those gets injured in such a meaningless youth tourney. His club would be ultra pissed then.

I'm just glad we don't go all in like Spain...I think even Müller, Gündogan and Kroos (well injured but nevermind) would be available.

It's Spain's B team. Might as well let them get some playing time together while auditioning for the first team.

[magik9113]

I totally slept on the Russians. had no idea Dzagoev was on the team

[5DOM]

Too bad Belgium isnt in this. They might have have the most exciting youth in Europe atm.

Most of them are already in the first team which is probably why they are not in this tournament in the first place.

[cgf]

yea I totally slept on the Russians. had no idea Dzagoev was on the team

He and Kokorin are kind of a surprise to me as both are already big parts of the senior team, but many of these players are expected to be cornerstones of the 2018 WC team, Dzagoev, Kokorin, Cheryshev/Yakovlev, Shennikov, Burlak and maybe Shatov should all start for that team, so it makes sense to give them as much time together as you can now, especially since the 2014 WC team will feature a lot of vets making their final runs so outside of Dzagoev, Kokorin and maybe Shennikov, none of them will start seeing much burn until after Rio.

Still weird that Ozdoev wasn't taken a long, cause sticking him next to Shatov would give them a really strong double pivot behind that gifted front four.