sne Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 With no proper competitions this summer, FIFA and UEFA are offering us who are suffering from footy withdrawal the Confederations Cup and the Euro U-21 tournaments. Kicking off this weekend in Russia and Poland respectively. The Confederations Cup or "World Cup prelude" contains hosts Russia, along with Portugal and Mexico in group A And World Champions Germany along with Australia, Cameroon and Chile in group B. It's a cute nothing competition used to check the state of the stadiums and organizations ahead of the big WC and is mostly remembered for the Roberto Carlos free kick back in 97 ahead of the France WC Still, it's football. The Euro U-21's is played in Poland, and since UEFA likes to change thing around and make things complicated it has 3 groups containing 4 teams each. Group A has raining champs Sweden , host Poland, Slovakia and England. Group B has Portugal, Spain, Serbia and Macedonia Group C has Germany, Denmark, Italy and the Czech Republic. The opening game is played as I type, between Sweden and England and our own Jack Grealish is on the bench. Sweden shocked everyone and won the tournament last time out, but won't repeat it this time (bar a miracle) since we've had almost 40 players turning down the chance to defend the gold due to various reasons. 4-5 players in the squad can be considered regulars at this level. The England squad looks pretty good on paper, as does losing finalists Portugal. Italy, Germany and Spain all have amazing squads on paper and must be considered favorites IMO. The 2015 tournament is probably the most fun I've had watching football in a very long time, obviously in large part down to Sweden winning it in the end and the great yellow wall of Swedish fans who traveled down to Czechia. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom_Wren Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 We were shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villakram Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Hi. My name is Mark and I have a football problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rosenthal Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 I've had a blast watching the U20, U17 was okey too. This U21 however doesn't excite me much, looking more forward to the U19s in july. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Confederations cup is usually more entertaining more the the main tournament, enjoyed the last one in Brazil, Taithi actually scoring a goal was a great moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 Roberto Carlos goal was Le Tournoi and not Confederations Cup 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 16, 2017 Share Posted June 16, 2017 I like the tournament its an enjoyable affair and with 8 teams doesnt take too much time or effort, though reputation wise this is probably one of the weaker tournaments the Confederations Cup has had. Except Germany and maybe Portugal with Ronaldo its a weak field for reputation 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 17, 2017 Author Share Posted June 17, 2017 I think it will be interesting to see what kind of team and performance Mother Russia puts out since they are not playing qualifications football. Always tricky just playing friendlies. From what I remember Brazil mostly played minnows for cash before their home tournament, and I think they suffered for it in the WC. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 3 minutes ago, sne said: I think it will be interesting to see what kind of team and performance Mother Russia puts out since they are not playing qualifications football. Always tricky just playing friendlies. From what I remember Brazil mostly played minnows for cash before their home tournament, and I think they suffered for it in the WC. they arent bringing in Kokorin or Dzuyba and looks like a very young squad they are bringing cant be worse than team they fielded in the Euros Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 12 hours ago, Zatman said: I like the tournament its an enjoyable affair and with 8 teams doesnt take too much time or effort, though reputation wise this is probably one of the weaker tournaments the Confederations Cup has had. Except Germany and maybe Portugal with Ronaldo its a weak field for reputation Isn't the Chile team full strength? Plenty of quality in there and Mexico are playing very well atm also. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 3 minutes ago, Zatman said: they arent bringing in Kokorin or Dzuyba and looks like a very young squad they are bringing cant be worse than team they fielded in the Euros Yep had a look at their squad and they've finally stopped calling up the over 30s that seemed to be half their squad at the last euros bar the captain and a defender I think. Interesting the two strikers have fallen out of favour as they were both highly rated a year ago so goals might be an issue for them. Russia will probably be round 16 as host nation is always pot 1 and gets easy group as a result. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 2 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Isn't the Chile team full strength? Plenty of quality in there and Mexico are playing very well atm also. I was thinking more a marketable way as last few tournaments had Spain, Italy and Brazil involved I fancy MExico to win it for some reason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 17, 2017 Author Share Posted June 17, 2017 The Sweden England game in the U-21 Euros was a pretty even affair. Sweden came closest to winning but missed a penalty due to a pitiful Rabona flop by RB Wahlqvist. England was surprisingly poor. Fast on the wings and good on set pieces but no real tactic. They looked tired and lethargic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coda Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 Collymore's shilling for RT during the Confederations. They've got a mangy psychic cat as their oracle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted June 17, 2017 Share Posted June 17, 2017 27 minutes ago, sne said: The Sweden England game in the U-21 Euros was a pretty even affair. Sweden came closest to winning but missed a penalty due to a pitiful Rabona flop by RB Wahlqvist. England was surprisingly poor. Fast on the wings and good on set pieces but no real tactic. They looked tired and lethargic. It is what happens when you put Aidy Boothroyd, manager of the one of the most negative, dire, long ball teams in English football history and put him in charge of the Nation's young hopes. It is an utter disgrace. They are going to learn nothing from this Gary Megson wannabe. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 17, 2017 Author Share Posted June 17, 2017 (edited) Russia looking lively so far, although they are facing a pub team in a very poor New Zeeland. Edited June 17, 2017 by sne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 VAR ruling out a Portugal goal after 15 seconds, good stuff. I really think we'll look back in 5 years time and wonder how on earth football stayed in the dark ages for so long. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 What a pass by Ronaldo, I expected him to go for goal himself. I was jsut about to question why Quaresma was playing as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
a m ole Posted June 18, 2017 Share Posted June 18, 2017 stunning header! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 18, 2017 Author Share Posted June 18, 2017 2 nice goals so far and really entertaining game. Defending might be a bit sloppy, but fun for the neutrals as they say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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