Unfortunately the news about the broadcasting of all the matches were not true, I think that Eurosport will show only 1 semifinal and the finals like did in the past, let's hope to see at least highlights of the other matches.. Italy lost 1-2 vs. England, that our coach regarded as the best team of the group: considering that in Algarve last spring we lost 0-4 it's a big step in the right direction, we'll play vs. France on Friday, that's will be a decisive match. No highlights so far but there is an official song of the tournament, from the (at least for me) unknown songwriter Triona:
France was defeated 2-0 by the Netherlands, according to coach Gilles Eyquem our girls main problem is the finishing.... no comment...Anyway, our star striker PSG's Marie Katoto is absent despite being healthy because after suffering injuries at the end of last season, PSG didn't wanted to take a risk by letting her play this Euro. Our players are cleary less talented than their predecessors so losing our next game against Italy and be eliminated will not really be a surprise but at least we are already qualify for next year U20 world cup in France......
No highlights of the matches so far but I have found a vlog of a local soccer fan, who is also involved in some way in the event staff, who shows both the goals of the Spain-Northern Ireland and Germany-Scotland matches + a bit about the opening ceremony:
For sure not Italy, after the shocking defeat 1-6 vs France....I think they set a new record ! Since that the italian federation channel won't show anything, I really hope that the FFF youtube channel will show the goals, so we all can have a good laugh ! Meanwhile we have to be happy with the highlights of France - Netherlands (1st matchday) and Northern Ireland - Scotland (2nd matchday):
One funny thing happened between the Italy v France game, the italian coach was always outside this designated area and the fourth referee was telling him to get back in all the time. In the end the guy got booked by the referee. Regarding tv all the northern ireland game are shown on bbc northern ireland. that's it until eurosport takes ober with one semi-final and the final. Note there might be a world cup play off game on thursday if france finishes second in group B. England would play Scotland or Northern ireland ( unless one of those two teams beat Germany or spain )
France defense is all over the place, now I understand why Eyquen changed so many players for the second game against Italy. I don't think there are clear favourites as we know very little from all these teams or even players...
France - Italy highlights: France - England highlights: Today the semi-finals starting in about one hour, both live at Eurosport.
Congrats to the Spanish ladies for making it 4 finals in a row? Although it's hard to have much enthusiasm with the news from Barcelona today. Watching the Germany - France game, Germany is much better. They are easily the best team in the tournament.
My though on the two semi-finals: Spain - Netherlands: 3-2 A very strange semi-final where basically only one team (Spain) tried to win the game while the other (Netherlands) was a spectator on the pitch. I sincerely doubt the Dutch players and coach knew it but they were playing for a final to an European Championship...may be their plan was only to qualify for the next World Cup in that case I understand them not even trying to win the match but personally I've never seen a team so not interested in winning such an important game. Spain performed as they usually do, typical tiki-taka football never changing that slow rhythm....Against a better team they would have lost the game but it was enough against a dull, flat, uninterested, uninspired Netherlands. France - Germany: 2-1 Incredible! One of France less talented generation made it till the final....Germany clearly has better players,some destinated to stardom, they completely dominated us for 45 minutes scoring one goal while they deserved at least two or three....I didn't gave a chance to our girls at the start of the competiton and was very happy for them to reach this stage of the competiton.....However, even I underestimated their incredible soul of this team and their fighting spirit, after coach Eyquem introduced OL new signing Emelyne Laurent...why she didn't started btw?...Everything changed. France fought back, the girls simply wanted it more than the Germans who were completely exhausted after 60 minutes....France deserved that victory reminding everyone, me included, that a football game is won in 90 minutes not 45.... I think France is favourite for the final but just slightly, Spain reached its fourth final in a row second straight against France but lost the last three and by the way Germany didn't reached Euro U19 final since 2011. Germany have better players but they are arrogant. They completely dominated France in the first half but you don't win a game playing for only 45 minutes.......they thought it was enough...Anyway, hard to only talk about football today....All I can say is Animo Barcelona we all are with you.
that's the problem with Meinert as coach, she doesn't condition her teams properly. She had easily the best team at the 2-12 u20 WC. They completely dominated their previous games by scores like 4-0 vs Norway, Japan & USA, 3-0. but when they got to the finals, they ran out of gas towards the end of the first half & lost the game.
Good game by Spain, shame we got undone by two curious decisions at the end of the game that contributed to our defeat. First the referee does not give a foul to Laurent and then gives one against her and Spain scores from the free kick. Then a second booking for trying to play the ball quickly. harsh. Saying that conceding three times from set pieces is unacceptable and our own fault. But the game did not need to turn on its head thanks to the ref.
Euro U19 final resut: Spain - France: 3-2 ; Guijarro 2x, Egurrola /Bourdieu, Laurent Congratulations to Spain who deserved to lift up the trophy after dominating France in the final, it wasn't a great game despite the score, France was poor counting only on Emmelyne Laurent's pace and Mathilde Bourdieu's creativity but as I aready said this team is one of the less talented that we produced so see them reach the final was already a massive success. Spain controleld the tempo as usual thanks to their tiki-taka trademark football but were unable to stop France everytime we raised up the rhythm of our pays...we should have done it more....Anyway, the Spanish scored thanks to three set-pieces badly defended and a calamitous referee but overall deserved the win. Indeed losing four finals in a row woud have been too much, and Spain played better than us even though they scored only on set pieces. So Congratulations. I watched both semi-finals and the finals and wasn't very impressed by what I saw, in terms of physicality the girls are behind their predecessor of the past tournaments....Especially Spain which despite having finally lifted that trophy have many players who will struggle at the senior stage...too tiny for a more physical, quicker football. For individuals I will retain the names of Laurent, Bourdieu, Chavas (France) Bonmati, Lucia Garcia, Paula Hernandez (Spain), Buhl, Freigang, Gwinn, Pawollek, Siems (Germany), Petrova, Noordam (Netherlands) but they all still have a long way to go in almost every aspect of the game before to make an impact at the highest level.
The U17 qualifying round has just started. The following countries are through to the Elite round : Serbia, Belgium, Norway, Hungary, France, Danemark, Republic of Ireland. Germany have a bye to the Elite round. Finals are in Lituania from 9 to 21 May 2018, and will be the world cup qualifiers.
The U19 qualifying started earlier this month Teams through to the Elite round so far are : Germany, Iceland, Denmark, Slovakia, Serbia, Finland, Poland, Russia, Finals in Swizerland from 18 to 30 July, just before the U20 World Cup in France , which means France, Spain, Netherlands, Germany and England might have players who could do both tournaments.
Update on the U17 qualification round Through : Serbia, Belgium, Norway, Hungary, France, Danemark, Republic of Ireland, Bosnia, Austria, Portugal. Germany have a bye to the Elite round.