That used to be the Italian way as well .. Maybe even they will revert to type in the upcoming matches
Spain, Italy (and England) all have many young players in the team. They are coming back to the top. Most of Spain's players are from U21 (2011, 2013, 2019), U19 (2007, 2011, 2015, 2019) and U17 (2007, 2008, 2017): Simon, De Gea, Garcia, Azpilicueta, Rodri, Koke, Fabian, Thiago, Olmo, Oyarzabal, Torres, Sarabia and Morata, mostly under 26. 3 are not from any of U teams: Sanchez, Laporte, Moreno. Many only have 8-10 matches with NT. They are gearing for WC 2022 but now they may be ahead a bit with this Euro. Spain stays loyal with their possession dominance, passing game. The loss to Sweden for wC 2018 qualification also changed Italy. Rumour has it on the return leg, Italy needed to score and Ventura wanted to sub De Rossi instead of Insigne. De Rossi asked something like "sub me in to do what? We needed to score goal, perhaps there are better players to be subbed in". Mancini had NL to start his idea and they also looks good now. They play pressing well and keep attacking (although there are still acting/theatrical performances sometimes). Of courses these countries are bigger and have more players to choose from, but those are 2 ways to build contenders: incorporating young players and have a good coach. I feel even Germany and England and Portugal incorporate more young players than Oranje. As many already said, this Oranje has decent foundation and Koeman showed a flash of what they can do with NL. Let's hope we are not missing another WC and to be honest, the goal is to challenge for Euro 2024 title (in Germany where we won the only title in 1988) so the WC qualification + WC (if qualified) should be to build up the team to win in 3 years). If we can harvest the fruit better than great, if not, don't put too much expectation for this year and next year.
Oranje for 2022 if you guys qualify, I would say the team is set up pretty nicely in terms of overall talent but more youth has to be brought in. What is Netherlands' youth system looking like these days?
They have won the past two UEFA U-17 championships. They reached the semifinals of the most recent U-21 Euro.
Yeah for whatever reason there has been a massive reluctance to bring in youth players to Oranje. I think Nation's League doesn't help with this, because we now have almost no games where coaches can simply "test" players and systems without negative repercussions. I wish coaches would see the Nation's League more as a higher quality test and less as something they need to play safe for to try and win. Really these last years have been played way too safe. Constantly holding on to and playing players who will guarantee you a 6/10 performance while maybe we should be testing players who can bring an 8/10 performance, even if that means sometimes accepting a 4/10 performance during their learning process. Honestly there just aren't enough friendly games anymore.... coaches dont want to risk it during the qualification because obviously you need to perform to qualify. Then by the time you reach the tournaments you have never given it a chance because you always played the safe team.
The problem with NL matches is that these impact your rating coefficient. So you really have no choice than to treat them as full blown matches. It was just an UEFA money grab. They wanted a part of the money made by the FA's by playing friendlies and in the process killed a tool to work out tactics/team combo's and inserting new players.
UEFA claims to want to foster the development of football but creates competitions that do exactly the opposite.
Totally disagree with the idea of not putting more expectations on Upcoming and future Oranje matches. The players need to perform simple as that, and truthfully it’s not that big of an ask to do well as there is a lot of balance between all of the countries at this moment proven by the recent results in these Euro’s. The mentality needs a lot of improvement within many of this current Oranje squad, and I really believe the future can be very bright with a proper Manager who can identify talent with true tactical flexibility and the results will come.
Perhaps I mislead you, and I agree with your above point. My point is that it is not realistic to expect a new manager to come in and take this team to become a WC contender. Given the team at this point and uncertain who the manager is, I'm not sure if this team can qualify for WC or not. I still expect a new manager to instill a playing hard to win, not giving up in every match, even a friendly (like BVM 2009-2010 period). What I would like to see is the manager comes in with a plan for a tactic, and begin it with this WC qualification, hopefully qualify and stick with it through the WC to better/improve it, don't be afraid to fail, and has a vision such that this team can challenge for Euro 2024 title. I don't mind small change from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 but going to 5-3-2 is a big change. The manager needs to be strong (player need to put the team above individual). consistent (don't select player warming bench, poor form), incorporate young players and give them playing time as much as possible, players can be benched or dropped and making too many critical mistakes. If a manager comes in and worry too much about result, he will tend to pick experienced players over young players (Babel, LDJ, Van De Beek,....). That is what I means.
Read this article (in google translate) https://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/fotboll/a/vAEvGB/skitig-politisk-och-falsk-varld
Also smart to let Kuipers do the final (another final for him) and Makkelie the semi final. Kuipers is at the end of his career, Makkelie at the start. He has everything to lose. They can't control it if Kuipers (who is multi-millionaire and at the end of his career) acts independent in Denmark vs England on Wembley. And no, this is not by definition a consciously biased referee. It's just that he will be careful and the psychology works that way. He can't angry certain people and ruin his career.
Interesting read on penalty taking (you have to click on the guy's twitter account to read the full 13 page study) The penalty shootout in football is the essence of performing under pressure. I spent 5 years of my life studying the Psychology of this event. Here's what I learned, which can also help understanding it in the current Euros/Copa America. Thread based on 10 of our studies. (1/13) pic.twitter.com/Yyt53VN00g— Geir Jordet (@GeirJordet) July 6, 2021
1. Practice, practice, practice. 2. Mix up (don't kick at the same spot for the same player) 3. Mentally strength 4. Luck 5. At least make the goalie save, don't miss the net. A few observations: 1. Less pressure on the early kickers. Not many remember the early miss, most of the times they remember the one who missed last. 2. More pressure on the kickers than goalkeeper. If goalie can save, he is the hero. Same for the last scorer, but if the last PK taker miss, he is the villain. Less critics for goalkeeper even if he cannot save (unless it is Cillessen or Van Der Sar until 2004). 3. At this Euro, I think the team kicked first won so far. I'm cheering for Messi to win his first title with national team.
It's forgotten but VdS saved the penalty of Italy's captain, hero and talisman Paolo Maldini. The player known for his mental strength and composure. VdS was just (sometimes) unlucky his team mates messed up. And Toldo did really go off his line too early at a few occasions.
To come back to this, he had a controlled and composed game yesterday. There were nevertheless still a number of yellow worthy fouls where promising attacks were broken up or close to the end of the first half Busquets went with his studs on someone's foot/shin. Italy got annoyed a bit near the end of the first half when some clean and controlled dispossessions were called as fouls. Or the other way around. It didn't boil over and it had a good flow for the spectator, but a bit random it was nonetheless. In the end both teams reached higher peaks as e.g. France ever did.
The number of own goals with this one now exceeds the total of own goals in all previous EURO editions.
Oranje used to have good wingers. I don't recall English wingers at any time better than Oranje except this year. England play well and so is Denmark. Denmark's tactic is right. They don't have talent like England so they sit back and absorb pressure, defend well, pay attention to English set pieces, attack when you have a chance and make the most with their set pieces. Not sure if they can keep up but they should be proud. If England score the 2nd goal then it is over. If it goes to PK anything can happen.