2006 U-21 European Championships

[Gaetan]

I'm at school right now so I can't give an preview of the tournament right now, but I know that it starts on May 23rd and ends on June 4th. One of my hobbies includes following and watching young players and scouting for the future, judging and giving my personal grades/predictions so this should be an excellent warm-up for my daily footy fix before the WC.

Here is Italy's squad. Sadly, it seems that Pelle was left out in favour of Fiorentina's Pazzini.

Agliardi (Palermo), Aquilani (Roma), Bianchi, Biondini (Reggina), Bovo (Roma), Canini (Cagliari), Chiellini (Juventus), Coda (Empoli), Curci (Roma), Defendi (Atalanta), Donadel (Fiorentina), Ferronetti (Parma), Foggia (Ascoli), Galloppa (Triestina), Mantovani (Chievo), Mirante (Siena), Montolivo (Fiorentina), Palladino (Livorno), Pazzini (Fiorentina), Pepe (Udinese), Potenza (Maiorca), Rosina (Torino), Sammarco, Scurto (Chievo).

0 Inter players (although Potenza is owned by us but plays for Mallorca in Spain)
3 Roma players
2 Fiorentina players
0 Milan players
1 Juventus player

Feel free to help me kick start this thread by posting some articles or overviews of this tournament!

[Pi]

double post, "deleted"

[Pi]

This are the Portuguese called-ups for the Euro 2006 U-21:

A. Coimbra: José Castro;
Boavista FC: Diogo Valente;
Bolton Wanderers: Ricardo Té;
CD Feirense: Semedo;
CF Estrela da Amadora: Bruno Vale;
CF “Os Belenenses”: Rolando;
FC Penafiel: Bruno Amaro;
FC Porto: Hugo Almeida, Paulo Ribeiro, Pedro Ribeiro, Raul Meireles e Ricardo Quaresma.
CS Marítimo: Filipe Oliveira e Nuno Morais;
PAOK FC: Daniel Fernandes;
SL Benfica: Manuel Fernandes e Nélson;
Sporting CP: Custódio, João Moutinho e Nani;
UD Leiria: Lourenço;
Vitória FC: Varela.

Here are the goups:

Group A:
Portugal
Germany
France
Serbia and Montenegro

Group B:
Dennmark
Holland/Netherlands
Italy
Ukraine

I think the Portuguese team can go far, we play at home, we have good players and we did a good qualifying. I hope we can get to the final (and win it).

[Gaetan]

I was just about to post the groups, but thanks for the help, Pi. Portugal definately has a great chance but I'll have to look at all the team rosters before making a prediction. Here is the UEFA welcome to the tournament from their website:

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you to the final tournament of the 2006 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, to be held at six venues in Portugal.

This is the fifth such Under-21 final round to involve eight teams, after Spain won in Romania in 1998, Italy's triumph in Slovakia in 2000, the crowning of the Czech Republic four years ago in Switzerland, and Italy's victory in 2004 in Germany.

This year's UEFA European Under-21 Championship will be a bit special, as UEFA is going back to Portugal after the success of a fantastic UEFA EURO 2004™.

In addition, it will be the last edition of the tournament to be played on even years as the UEFA Executive Committee decided to move the competition to odd years, to step out of the shadow created by FIFA World Cups and UEFA European Championships.

The 2007 finals will therefore take place in the Netherlands, who have been appointed as hosts and will therefore not take part in the qualification process.

All this together should give us the opportunity to further develop the UEFA European Under-21 Championship and increase its attractiveness to fans, media and sponsors alike.

Just four days after the final match in the magnificent Bessa stadium in Porto, is the start of the World Cup in Germany. Such is the quality of the game at Under-21 level that many of the players that are present at this final tournament in Portugal will rapidly progress to represent their country at full national team level and might possibly be the stars of the UEFA EURO 2008™.

This event therefore promises to be a magnificent occasion for fans to get to know these rising stars and witness their tremendous footballing skills.

I also hope that the teams play fair and enjoy the great atmosphere created by a competition like this and the legendary Portuguese hospitality.

It only remains for me to offer my sincere thanks to Gilberto Parca Madaíl, President of the Portuguese Football Federation and a member of the UEFA Executive Committee, and to the entire Portuguese Football Federation for all their hard work and commitment in preparing and staging such a major tournament. I am sure it will be a success.


Lennart Johansson
UEFA President

©uefa.com 1998-2006. All rights reserved.

[thomas_inter]

Holland could be European Champions... I think

[snake]

No Momente, Dino or Andreolli?

Does anyone know if DellaFiore, Belaid, Goran will play with their teams?

[Gaetan]

You know your a die-hard football fan when you are looking forward to the U-21 Euro on a World Cup year.

In an attempt to figure who might be the most prolific players in the upcoming tournament, I found the top scorers from the qualifying rounds.



Dutch fans are furious that Vennegoor of Hesselink over Huntelaar so you can imagine that their Under 21 team is good, or atleast has a decent strikeforce. One talent out of Holland that I already know of is Ismail Aissati from PSV, a central midfielder, I believe.

No Momente, Dino or Andreolli?

Does anyone know if DellaFiore, Belaid, Goran will play with their teams?

What do you mean? Della Fiore from our youth team? He's Italian, and obviously didn't make it. Tijani Belaid was not called up for France and Goran, Slavkovski? Sweden aren't in the tournament.

Italy, Portugal, Ukraine, Denmark, Serbia, Germany, Netherlands, France are the 8 teams participating. No Inter players involved.

[Gaetan]

U21: Gentile confident of Double

Wednesday 17 May, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Italy prepare to defend their European Under-21 title from next week and Coach Claudio Gentile is optimistic about their chances.

“We are working with a very united squad,” insisted the tactician ahead of the opener against Denmark on Wednesday.


“I wouldn’t say that Italy are necessarily the favourites. We’re approaching this tournament with a healthy respect for all our opponents.”


The Azzurrini qualified for the Finals with flying colours, winning eight out of 10 games, and now face Denmark, Holland and the Ukraine in Group B.


Above all, their pedigree in this competition is second to none, having lifted five of the last seven trophies.


“I have the utmost faith in my lads,” added 1982 World Cup winner Gentile. “If I had to describe them in one word, I’d say they were valiant.”


Cagliari defender Michele Canini is expected to feature heavily in his plans and today Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini confirmed he had signed the player.


The European Under-21 Championships kick off on May 23 in Portugal and the Final is on June 4.

[Michal]

I am also interested in youth players and tournaments so I would like to add something more... At first, Gaetan - where did you find that table of qualification best strikers? On uefa.com there are these players:

Top Scorers - Qualifying
1. Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Netherlands, 10 goals)
2. Paweł Brożek (Poland, 9)
3. Hugo Almeida (Portugal, 8)
4. Morten Rasmussen (Denmark, 8)
5. Jonathan Soriano (Spain, 8)
6. Eduardo Da Silva (Croatia, 7)
7. Anthony Le Tallec (France, 7)
8. Mike Hanke (Germany, 7)

[Michal]

Clichy and Trochowski pull out
Friday, 19 May 2006


France and Germany have both been forced into last-minute changes to their UEFA European Under-21 Championship squads following injuries to key players.

Clichy out
Gaël Clichy was on the bench as Arsenal FC lost the UEFA Champions League final to FC Barcelona in midweek and will now take the opportunity to undergo surgery on a recurring foot injury. His place in the squad goes to fellow left-back Olivier Veigneau who has enjoyed an impressive campaign at AS Monaco FC.

Eigler in
Germany, meanwhile, have called up Christian Eigler from SpVgg Greuther Fürth to replace Piotr Trochowski. The Hamburger SV midfield player, 22, pulled a thigh muscle in Wednesday's 2-2 draw against fellow finalists the Netherlands. The two-week tournament gets under way on Tuesday.


©uefa.com 1998-2006. All rights reserved.

Key players from great teams injured... what a sad beginning

[Michal]

'Le Petit Tigana' set to shine
Friday, 19 May 2006

by Christian Châtelet
from Paris


FC Girondins de Bordeaux midfielder Antonio Mavuba has overcome a miserable start in life to become one of the most promising young footballers in France.

Born at sea
Should he shine at the forthcoming UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Portugal, it would be the next step in a remarkable life that began in 1984 when he was born aboard a boat in the South Atlantic ocean as his family were in the process of fleeing Angola. Mavuba, his parents and eleven siblings were all on the ship that took them away from the civil-war torn African republic. "On my passport it's written 'born on board', nothing else," said Mavuba. "I have never asked my brothers and sisters who were on that journey for details."

Family tragedies
Before his second birthday, Mavuba's mother had died. He came to France aged four where his family were registered as political refugees. He was granted French citizenship in February 2005 by which time his father had also passed away - when the player was 13 years old. At seven, Mavuba joined the youth teams at Bordeaux and was to prove an exciting prospect over the course of the following years. Although he did reasonably well at school, he made no secret of his ambition to be a professional footballer.

Obvious ability
Despite his modest size, there was no doubting Mavuba's ability. "His skills are far above average and he is strong mentally," said Michel Pavon, the coach who gave him his Bordeaux debut in a 3-0 defeat at Olympique Lyonnais on 28 January 2004. "He also has the vision to become a professional." His tiny frame has earned Mavuba the nickname 'Le Petit Tigana' after Jean Tigana who spent eight glorious seasons at Bordeaux and won the UEFA European Championship with France. "This comparison is flattering," the 22-year-old said. "But I am a long way from matching his achievements."

Red card
The player's career seemed to take a turn for the worse when he was dismissed during a 2003/04 UEFA Cup quarter-final against Valencia CF. "I felt like everything crumbled during a single moment," he recalled. "But it was a good lesson for me." It certainly did not dissuade then-U21 coach Raymond Domenech from calling him up, and the quality of his performances soon secured him a senior national-team debut against Bosnia-Herzegovina on 18 August 2004 in one of Domenech's first matches in charge.

Competitive position
However, with Patrick Vieira, Claude Makelele, Vikash Dhorasoo and probably Olivier Dacourt and Benoît Pedretti ahead of him in the competition for places for the FIFA World Cup, Mavuba has had to settle for a trip to Portugal this summer rather than a month in Germany. "To have tasted life at senior international level is something that will help when I'm with the U21s," he said. U21 coach René Girard made Mavuba captain during qualifying, after he was called in because of injuries: "He is an example to his team-mates."

Silent commander
A man of few words, he hopes to lead from the front in Portugal. "I feel that all of us are lucky to be in Portugal with such a squad," he said. "We are keen to work hard for one another. There will be strong sides in Portugal and we are not favourites but we won't be beaten easily."


©uefa.com 1998-2006. All rights reserved.

Nice biography of possible great star (and Inter player )... France as not between favourites??? It seems he is also quite modest.

[Adriano@10]

Wahah mavuba is a great player i always liked him since i saw him first !! and i realy think he s going to be somthing BIG!! if Inter would sign him i would get a heart attack this would just be awsom !!!

[Michal]

Wahah mavuba is a great player i always liked him since i saw him first !! and i realy think he s going to be somthing BIG!! if Inter would sign him i would get a heart attack this would just be awsom !!!

There are many players whose signings would bring me heart attack. Similar situation happened to me few years ago and it is time to exercise my cardiovascular system again

[Gaetan]

Mavuba sounds like an interesting prospect. Can't say that I have ever heard or seen him before, though. Any comparisons?

[InterMilan31]

Dino got the snub probably because he is in Serie C2?

Also Portugal should win this their midfield is stacked.

[Gaetan]

I invite all of you to search for Pepe Rossi on youtube, there is a reason why Manchester United's fans, players and staff has been singing this kid praise.

How the hell can Gentile ignore such a talent?! Please, do me a favour and look at his clips & compilations. A little genius, he is. Reminds me of Gio Zola.

[Adriano@10]

Mavuba sounds like an interesting prospect. Can't say that I have ever heard or seen him before, though. Any comparisons?

I would say he s pretty similar to Viera better technic thought

[brehme1989]

DellaFiore is also Argentine...

I like to watch the U21, U19, and U17, as well, mostly U19 for some reason! Many U21 are known

Portugal will be really close in this one! France, Italy and Holland seem good btw

Can someone post the dates and games of the tournament?

[Pi]

Portugal will be really close in this one! France, Italy and Holland seem good btw

Can someone post the dates and games of the tournament?

I hope Portugal can do well, there's a lot of support and belief in this U-21 team. I have great hopes for:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbK3-L_EKzo

Group A:

23/05 Grp A Portugal - France (19:45)
23/05 Grp A Serbia and Montenegro - Germany (17:15)
25/05 Grp A Portugal - Serbia and Montenegro (19:45)
25/05 Grp A France - Germany (17:15)
28/05 Grp A France - Serbia and Montenegro (19:45)
28/05 Grp A Germany - Portugal (19:45)

Group B:

24/05 Grp B Italy - Denmark (19:45)
24/05 Grp B Ukraine - Netherlands (17:15)
26/05 Grp B Italy - Ukraine (19:45)
26/05 Grp B Denmark - Netherlands (17:15)
29/05 Grp B Denmark - Ukraine (19:45)
29/05 Grp B Netherlands - Italy (19:45)


NOTE: All times are Portuguese times that means (GMT+1), I believe that the time difference for CET times is +1 hour.

Example: Portugal 19:00 --- Italy 20:00

[Gaetan]

The tournament starts today and I won't have any matches available to me. Serbia VS Germany, though.