U21 Euro Championships

catfish78 · Post by **catfish78** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 8:15 am

I don't think the draw could have been tougher.

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simon · Post by **simon** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:33 am

Well the other group isnt that much weaker. All the teams in the tourno are quality and must see the Finns as a easy 3 pointer.

FinnBrit · Post by **FinnBrit** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:37 am

simon wrote:Well the other group isnt that much weaker. All the teams in the tourno are quality and must see the Finns as a easy 3 pointer.

Are the Finns that bad at this age group? The senior team seem to be able to hold their own nowadays.

simon · Post by **simon** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 10:46 am

FinnBrit wrote:
simon wrote:Well the other group isnt that much weaker. All the teams in the tourno are quality and must see the Finns as a easy 3 pointer.
Are the Finns that bad at this age group? The senior team seem to be able to hold their own nowadays.

Not saying they are bad but the other for instance England will deffo fancy their chances more against them rather than say the Germans or the Spanish.

otyikondo · Post by **otyikondo** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:29 am

About the only lifeline the Finns might have is the date of the tournament. Since it will come at the end of the English/Spanish/German season, there's always the off-chance some players might be in holiday mood, and it's probably best to get a strong England side out of the way first, just in case they can catch them cold. Then again, Pearce is no fool, and he'll know that a bad result in the opening game will leave him on the back foot and dangling off a press precipice. Especially if it rains and he has an umbrella.

Damage limitation seems the order of the day for Kanerva's lot, I'm afraid. But hey, "this is football" (and other stock platitudes).

simon · Post by **simon** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:41 am

Any reason why the Swedes dont kick off the tourno? I thought it was normal practice for the host nation to play the first game

catfish78 · Post by **catfish78** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 11:52 am

I think the advantage that the Finns should have is that every may be writing them off. If they go out and put the pressure on starting at the first whistle I think they will surprise a lot of people.

FinnBrit · Post by **FinnBrit** » Fri Dec 05, 2008 12:52 pm

catfish78 wrote:I think the advantage that the Finns should have is that every may be writing them off. If they go out and put the pressure on starting at the first whistle I think they will surprise a lot of people.

Let's hope so (except against England anyway

).

TampereOwl · Post by **TampereOwl** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 12:41 pm

The biggest problem I see for the Finns is that they don't promote players quickly enough. Wales completely reorganised their junior sides so that players played at the highest age group they were able to, which pissed off a lot of age group coaches who wanted to keep working with players as long as possible. I can't imagine that ever happening in Finland, and look how cautious Baxter is about throwing in Pukki (who deserves to play in the senior squad, having a similar level of experience to pre-World Cup selection Theo Walcott) and Lauri Dalla Valle (who I'm not at all sure about, as he's never played a league game and didn't look anything special in Ykkönen when he got the chance):

http://www.nelonen.fi/videot/urheilu/de ... page=1&c=2

It will be interesting to see which of those gets more consideration, given Hyypiä's position in the set-up. I doubt kanerva will drop any of the U21 squad that qualified, though, as the rest of the players 'will have another chance' and it's so easy to let seniority decide everything.

Salopian · Post by **Salopian** » Sat Dec 06, 2008 2:43 pm

Finland played some genuinely impressive, expansive football during the qualifying, from what I saw. Austria - in the play-offs - were no push-overs: they'd won their group undefeated. As long as they don't believe themselves to be whipping boys, then they can make life very difficult for the youth of the established senior footballing nations. England have a strong team and squad, but even so, Wales - of all teams - pushed them all the way for a tournament berth. In fact, I think I'll go take a gander in the summer.

TampereOwl · Post by **TampereOwl** » Sun Dec 07, 2008 10:08 pm

I'll be there too, it should be a laugh.

Teemu Pukki is on the bench for Sevilla away at Real madrid tonight, btw, and the game is on urheilukanava. Some are expecting him to get a game later on, although they might not need fresh strikers as they're already 1-0 up after just 4 minutes.

Salopian · Post by **Salopian** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 12:40 am

TampereOwl wrote:I'll be there too, it should be a laugh.

Teemu Pukki is on the bench for Sevilla away at Real madrid tonight, btw, and the game is on urheilukanava. Some are expecting him to get a game later on, although they might not need fresh strikers as they're already 1-0 up after just 4 minutes.

Absolutely bonkers match. Casillas is really shipping goals of late - though he's not been given the best protection. But that's a constant...a shame Robben was sent off - he was electrifying tonight. Petulant, but electrifying. Palop was immense, despite being beaten three times. Top show. And the montage of emotions that the Spanish broadcasters put together and reel off give some extra to the coverage - even though La Liga is a soap opera already.

krash · Post by **krash** » Fri May 08, 2009 11:40 pm

I was wondering if any of you that are going in the summer if you have any idea weather its cheaper to fly over or boat and train ? I really fancy going over for a few England games. Also not sure weather to go for the group games or chance it for the final..

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