Good news for the U21’s. Zaniolo, Kean, Barella are apart of the final squad Goalkeepers: Emil Audero (Sampdoria), Alex Meret (Napoli), Lorenzo Montipo (Benevento) Defenders: Claud Adjapong (Sassuolo), Alessandro Bastoni (Parma), Kevin Bonifazi (SPAL), Arturo Calabresi (Bologna), Federico Dimarco (Parma), Gianluca Mancini (Atalanta), Giuseppe Pezzella (Genoa), Filippo Romagna (Cagliari) Midfielders: Nicolo Barella (Cagliari), Manuel Locatelli (Sassuolo), Rolando Mandragora (Udinese), Alessandro Murgia (SPAL), Lorenzo Pellegrini (Roma), Sandro Tonali (Brescia), Nicolo Zaniolo (Roma) Forwards: Federico Chiesa (Fiorentina), Patrick Cutrone (Milan), Moise Kean (Juventus), Riccardo Orsolini (Bologna), Andrea Pinamonti (Frosinon
From the mids to attack, there is a definite balance in this selection. Di Biagio has options to play this team in different ways Locatelli and Tonali are as good as it gets for deep midfielders. Pellegrini and Barella are also good options to round out the midfield. Kean is a joker card that you can play anywhere in the front 3. The only question for me is how he plays Zaniolo. Chiesa is a lock for the RW, and he has a really good sub in Orsolini. #10?
Question. Other than one calendar year in age, what's the difference between the U20's & U21's and how many players play for both?
Ive been hearing that our young guys are going to come good since the Giovinco days....Hopefully we get something out of this group...
The qualifying date (players must be born on or after) for this year's U20 WC is 1 January 1999, while the qualifying date for the U21 EuroCup is 1 January 1996. UEFA had to shuffle the qualifying date for the Under 21s for the 1992 competition (it moved to odd years in 2007) which was the first year that the Olympics became an under 23 competition.
Actually , the Olympics have been U23 since the 1992 efidyion in Barcelona. The 1984 & 1988 tournaments were using regular pros and the only exception was they could have appeared or played in a World Cup game.
Yes since 1992, so the under 21 championship had to then be made an under 23 competition in order for UEFA to align it with the Olympics for qualification purposes. After the IOC decided to open the Olympics to professionals in 1981, FIFA decided in 1982 that for 1984 and 1988 any professional could compete in the Olympics except UEFA and CONMEBOL players who had already played in the WC. This rather unsatisfactory situation led to FIFA deciding in 1988 to limit it to under 23s, a rule it has maintained to this day.
It’s really not a fair rule though. I mean other Olympic sports do not have age limits. If the NBA and NHL can field dream teams , why can’t FIFA nations field their best? I can easily see the Olympic committee or FIFA changing that rule sometime down the line.
1:0 to Italy after 22 minutes off an own goal from a conrer-kick, and now Mali have had - correctly - a player sent off! Forza ragazzi!