UEFA European U21 Championship

Didnt see a thread, and it all kicks off this Wednesday.

The final tournament comprises the seven play-off winners and Israel, who qualify automatically as hosts. The eight teams are split into two groups of four. Each team plays each other once in their group with the winners and runners-up advancing to the semi-finals where the winner of Group A plays the Group B runner-up and vice-versa. The winners advance to the final.

Full fixture list is here
annndd full squad lists are here

Group A

England
Israel
Italy
Norway

Group B

Germany
Netherlands
Russia
Spain


The reigning champions (Spain) will travel to the tournament boasting five players who took part in the successful 2011 campaign, namely Manchester United FC goalkeeper and U21 captain David de Gea, FC Barcelona's Thiago Alcántara and Martín Montoya, plus Iker Muniain of Athletic Club and Villarreal CF's Diego Mariño. A recent debutant for the senior Spain team, Málaga CF's Isco, along with fellow full international Thiago, will also feature at the U21 finals as opposed to travelling to the FIFA Confederations Cup, which also takes place in June. 


Dunno if its worth posting the squads individually or not, but Bartra, Muniesa, Montoya, Thiago, and Tello will be there from barca. :barca scarf: and England are quite well represented too, with Henderson, Shelvey, Caulker, Ince and Zaha.. who United signed from Crystal Palace.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Lewis Holtby - Germany

He was one of Germany's key players in their qualifying campaign.
He moved to Tottenham in January 2013 for around £1.5m from Bundesliga club Schalke and earned his first Germany Under-21 cap in 2009.
He made 17 appearances for Spurs this season, 10 of which were as a substitute, and has made three appearances for Germany's senior side.

Rodrigo - Spain

The Brazilian-born Spanish striker topped the goalscoring charts in the qualifying campaign.
He notched 11 goals in nine appearances, including four in the play-off first leg 5-0 demolition of Denmark.
The 22-year-old moved to Benfica from Real Madrid in 2010 before spending the whole of the 2010-11 season on loan at Bolton Wanderers, where he scored once.
Since returning to the Portuguese giants, he has become a regular first-team member, scoring eight goals in 30 appearances this season.

Luuk de Jong - Netherlands

The Borussia Monchengladbach striker, who has seven senior international caps, was part of Netherlands' Euro 2012 squad but did not make any appearances.
The 22-year-old moved to Germany in July 2012, after scoring 39 goals in 76 league games for FC Twente in The Netherlands.
His only appearances in the qualifying campaign came in the two-legged play-off win over Slovakia, when he appeared in both games and scored one goal.

Alan Dzagoev - Russia

The Euro 2012 joint top scorer, 22, has been included in the squad despite being unavailable for the first game on 6 June.
The CSKA Moscow midfielder - one of six players to score a tournament-leading three goals 12 months ago in Poland and Ukraine - has also been selected in Russia's senior squad preparing to play Portugal in a key World Cup qualifier on 7 June.
He will then link up with the Under-21 squad with the aim of being ready for Russia's second Group B fixture against the Netherlands on 9 June. Dynamo Moscow striker Kokorin and Anzhi Makhachkala's Oleg Shatov will also make the same journey.

Wilfried Zaha - England

The 20-year-old winger completed a £15m move to Manchester United from Crystal Palace in January before returning on loan to help the Eagles into the Premier League through the play-offs.
Zaha made his England senior debut in a 4-2 friendly defeat by Sweden in November.
He scored twice in the Championship play-off semi-final against Brighton and won the penalty in the final against Watford, which Kevin Phillips scored to secure the Eagles their lucrative ticket back into the top flight.


.. should be good.

Cheers for the nice intro. Should be a good tournament

Thanks to that list I've got a name of a brilliant Greece's left winger - Giorgos Katidis. Not that I know him really well, I just remember him performing brilliantly in the last Euro U-19 final against Spain.

But then I read the news about him getting banned by the Greek FA for doing a Nazi salute while celebrating a goal.

Luuk de Jong never played in Belgium. FC Twente is a dutch team.

Can't wait for the England game tonight, our under 21's (even though the squad is full of injury's and withdraws) is awesome!

England bashing on tv/press is going wayyy OTT lately, i took great delight seeing Roy Keane with egg on his face after England's C teams 2nd half display against Brazil's A anyway, sat there trying to rub it off without anyone noticing, i did though

Israel drawing with Norway 2-2 in the opening game, but yeh like you said, i have high hopes for our younger team.

England U21: Butland, Clyne, Dawson, Caulker, Robinson, Henderson, Lowe, Redmond, Shelvey, Sordell, Wickham

Italy U21: Bardi, Donati, Bianchetti, Caldirola, Biraghi, Florenzi, Marrone, Verratti, Insigne, Borini, Immobile.



other than Verratti and Borini i dont know much about the italians.

impeh said:

England U21: Butland, Clyne, Dawson, Caulker, Robinson, Henderson, Lowe, Redmond, Shelvey, Sordell, Wickham

Click to expand...

Quite disappointing that starting 11 on paper actually, lost interest now, might just watch the 2nd half if/when Zaha comes on.

McEachran should have started too.

impeh said:

Israel drawing with Norway 2-2 in the opening game, but yeh like you said, i have high hopes for our younger team.

England U21: Butland, Clyne, Dawson, Caulker, Robinson, Henderson, Lowe, Redmond, Shelvey, Sordell, Wickham

Italy U21: Bardi, Donati, Bianchetti, Caldirola, Biraghi, Florenzi, Marrone, Verratti, Insigne, Borini, Immobile.



other than Verratti and Borini i dont know much about the italians.

Click to expand...

That's a good Italian team, i wanted to see Saponara

When are Spain's games?

spain vs russia tomorrow at 5

then germany vs holland after.

Thanks!

impeh said:

spain vs russia tomorrow at 5

then germany vs holland after.

Click to expand...

I'll be there in the stadium. :barca scarf:

Tickets are dirt cheap only $8 for the best seats.

8$? Damn, I need to go to U-21 games at some point!

Forza Azzurrini!