EURO u-21 in Netherlands

Belgium deserved to win. They had more and better chances. Altough the game was quite in balance. So a 0-0 is also a reasonable result.
Belgium played in a very good organisation, so that the Potuguese thechnical players weren't verry dangerous. Nani and Moutinho were dissapointing and the big striker Almeida (of Werder Bremen) even more. He had one good chance, a close header towards goal. But it was to close to Bailly who stopped it with a good reflex.
In the Belgium squad it were especially Vanden Borre and Mirallas who caused danger. Vanden Borre (who is going to Fiorentina after being somewhat kicked out of RSCA Anderlecht, the main reason was his behaviour: it is not that he is a difficult person or a fighter or something like that, but he is verry inattentive, he arrived too late on training and things like that and he also failed a little as rightback because of his defensive skills) ,who played as a rightmidfielder, had some nice dribbels and tricks and a good splitting pass.
Mirallas was for me the surprise of the evening, he plays for Lille. He has a verry good first control, which is offcourse verry important for a striker, he also has a good dribbel and accelaration. Only his finishing skills could have been better, because he missed two good chances.
In the defensive department it were especially the central defensive duo Vermaelen and Lombaerts who played very well. Along with the defensive midfield duo of Faillani, a giant who almost wins every (air)challange, who is good at stealing balls and is calm at the ball and Vertongen.
As I said before Belgium played in a very good organisation, the whole team worked for eachother, so they will not give away much to attacking sides (like Portugal), but they have enough technicall ability themselves to create good chances for themselves and therefore I think they can go a long way in the tournament.

Czech Rep. - England 0-0

Either it is the national team or the u21 team Czech Rep. has the same strong players and the same excellent tactical approach of the game

England in the first half looked like an outsider who is trying to make the big surprise
in the 2nd half they were more determined to win
They try to play better and they showed what they can do

For me this match looked like a scenario
Anyway

Italia should be careful with both this teams

Italy had a slow start looked more threatening as the half progressed with Palladino wasting two great chances in front of goal. They need to abandon that long ball idea and start playing some possession football, using the quality of their midfield. HT 0-0

England were bad as expected

As i said before the squad is drawn from outside the top 4 with the exception of Richardson and these players are not used to winning games, to breaking down defences etc Even after playing quite poorly throughout the game they were practically gifted the win with a last minute penalty, only to miss that too

Italy lost to Serbia too They had plenty of the ball and were neat and tidy with it but also looked to suffer from the same problem as England, an inability to break down a compact organised defence. The Serbia goal was an excellent strike too, from a very good player.

As it stands i'd say this group is totally open and any of the sides could end up 1st or 4th, which at least makes it interesting to watch

Really disappointing result for Italy who I believe deserved to win this one. Palladino's wasted chances came back to haunt them. IMO Guiseppe Rossi would do a better job on the left wing than Palladino. We'll see if Casiraghi makes any changes for the next match/ It's still possible for Italy to make it through of course. They NEED to win the next two games.

I saw the first half and yes I agree Palladino had some good chances . Number 10 (Italy ) don't remember the name showed a good game tonight he had shaved head .
Im interested to know which players from Milan Youth team are a part of Italy U-21 ?

Originally Posted by lked

I saw the first half and yes I agree Palladino had some good chances . Number 10 (Italy ) don't remember the name showed a good game tonight he had shaved head .
Im interested to know which players from Milan Youth team are a part of Italy U-21 ?

Number 10 is Rosina from Torino
There aren't any Milan players in Italian team or in some other team on u-21 EURO.


This was a pretty bad match from the Italians. Actually, it wasn't as bad as the finishing was.
Defense was solid , midfeild good (apart from Aquilani who was imo the worst player on the field while Rosina was great like he was always this season) and attack was sharpless. Pazzini was also very bad and static. He missed few chances also.
Palladino played good but his finishing was pathetic and his chances were the best one on this match. Unforgivable for the young Juventino.
A match Italians should quickly forget and never repeat again.

Serbs didn't suprise me. I know this team and i knew they can beat Italy. Even more, Serbians also had a bad match, below their possibilities. What counts for them is that they won eventhough they played bad. Serbs usually do it the other way around. They outplay their opponents and at the end they draw or lose.
This is another proof how this Serbian team ( most of these guys played in last 2 euro's when Serbia won the silver in 2004 and got to the semis in 2006) is experienced enough and finally ready for the gold.

It will be an interesting group and interesting EURO. All 8 teams have similar qualities and every match will be 50/50 one.

So what is up with Di Gennaro and U-21?? Why isnt he called up?

there are many other, more experienced players in that position before DG.
virtually all of the U-21 players play for the senior squad of either serie A or B teams, while Di Gennaro is still playing for Milan's youth formation and has no experience playing for the senior team.
maybe this year he will be loaned out to gain some of that experience he needs or who knows maybe will be introduced into the Milan A squad little by little.

Belgium - Israel 1-0

This could have been a good match if that stupid scotch referee wouldn't have spoiled it
He had one mission
to change the color of belgian players shirts from red in yellow and back in red again

With 10 minutes before the end of the game i was thinking that Belgium deserves to win but they make it happened anyway

Man of the match : Mirallas
The most stupid man on the field : The scotch referee

Belgium looks ok

The scottish referree did indeed spoil the game. Israel could create some good chances because of the red card for Fellaini in the +/- 15th minute.
But in the end Belgium got the victory thanks to a good finish from Mirallas (who impresses me more and more) and a nice throughball from Vanden Borre.

This is the situation now in group A

1. Netherlands 6 points (3:1)
2. Belgium 4 points (1:0)
3. Portugal 1 point (1:2)
4. Israel 0 points (0:2)

Israel is out while the Dutch are already in. With a draw in the last round match between Holland and Belgium, they'll both go through.
I wonder if it will really be a draw or maybe The Netherlands will play fair and win, or they'll maybe try not to meet the Italians in the semis (if Italy wins tomorrow then they'll most probably be 2nd in their group) and they'll deliberately lose ?

Serbia won against Czech rep ( scored in last secundes) and now only the 2nd traveller to the semis is unknown. The loser of England-Italy will pack the bags after this round already. If ENG and ITA draw tonight then England will be the favourite for the 2nd place because they'll play unmotivated Serbia in the last round.

It's all or nothing for Italy tonight. Only the win counts...everything else means they'll be eliminated !

Should be a good match tonight, pity about the injuries though.
Come on England!

I've not got much confidence in our defence tonight, Lita and Nugent could be a decent pairing and hopefully they'll click tonight...