Teuchert's first touch failed him? Shocking... At least now we understand why Kirsten is so enamored with him...
As far as opportunities go, it's looking like a 60:40 in favor of Germany. Austria's goalkeeper is bad, letting the ball slip multiple times. Need to find a clinical method to getting past him though.
His first touch may not be consistently good but from what he's shown in this tournament, he seems to be a very promising player. He is quick and has good dribbling ability. He's been a threat in all three matches. By the way, Leroy Sane's first touch is not consistently good either.
Okay, every player I'm calling out earlier today ended up having a quality display lol. Horn delivers another assist, as he finds Gül in the center unmarked for Germany's third. Not necessary the most fluid player, but Horn seems to find a way to get things done.
I didn't mean to s*** on the kid completely. Just teasing Kirsten's obsession with size over technique, since he's been posting about Teuchert everywhere. Sane takes some bad touches, but they're not too common...plus first touch is much more vital to a striker than a winger.
How do you fancy England's upcoming match up against Italy? Solanke and Izzy Brown are having a pretty productive tournament so far. I watched a bit of them last season when they were on loan at Vitesse.
Here's my match ratings for each player today against Austria. Starters Müller: 7 - Stable presence as goalkeeper. Wasn't challenged very often though. Austria only had one legit chance on goal in the second half, but was stopped promptly by Müller. Neumann : 7.5 - Solid defensively, and poached home the opening goal. Not pacey, but relies on spacial awareness. Tough to project what kind of pro he will be in the future. Klostermann from the '96 age group is a lot more pacier than him. Mario Fernandes from CSKA Moscow, is also a taller right-back who might possibly draw similar comparisons. Gimber/Gül : 7 - Pretty even defensive coverage from both in the center. Delivered some decent long balls. Didn't get tested too much apart from a few times from opposition's corner kicks, but those headers went too high anyways. Same as Neumann, Gül also converted an easy goal after some absent Austrian defending. Horn : 9 - Started slow, but got better as the game progressed. Provided assists for all 3 goals from some precise crosses. Could be the best set piece taker of the group. Henrichs : 6.5 - Decent but uneventful outing. Had a chance in the first half, where his long range low shot went wide of the far post. Fechner : 6 - An alright defensive presence, but limited in contributing for other areas of the game. Conde : 9 - Strong runs and aggressive dribbler who takes on mutiple opponents up the pitch. Nearly had his own goal from a free kick. MOTM along with Horn, IMO. Ochs : 7 - Not as directly involved as he was against Portugal but was active for most of the game. Reese : 6 - Involved for 2-3 attacking chances but lacked initiative. Teuchert : 7 - Nice header goal for the second, and gets in savvy scoring positions. But a bit wasteful on earlier chances. Possibly could have gotten another goal or 2. Subs Serra : 6 - Brought some positive momentum when entering for the second half. However, his individual actions were kind of sporadic. I give him some leeway for being one year younger than majority of this team, but he need to refine aspects of his game. Serdar/Boeder : Both entered the game late, when everything was already decided.
According to Bild, Arsenal have sent scouts to observe Philipp Ochs at the U19 EM and were impressed. Doubt there's anything more to this though. He's in a good position to make his breakthrough at Hoffenheim, so he won't be making a move this early in his career. http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/hoffenheim/arsenal-jagt-talent-ochs-46864732.bild.html
Alright, but Italy seem to be a bogey team though. We should get more than enough chances against them and if they're halfway to their potential then they should get at least one goal. Hopefully our manager will let the team be creative the whole game instead of sitting on leads. I think England should be able to win the competition with the way things are going. We haven't played at our best and we could very well top the group with a perfect record.
With the results from the other group today finalized, next game to decide qualification for the U20 WC will be against the Netherlands.
As per this article, yes it will be shown on Eurosport. Thursday, 19:00 CET. I won't be able to watch this though. http://www.dfb.de/news/detail/streichsbier-zwischen-erleichterung-und-druck-150239/
Yep, they lost 1-5 against France. The Dutch back line looks like they can be exposed quite easily. Appears they lack defensive options because a full time right-back at club level, Hidde ter Avest is playing as a CB. I've also been reading that Zeefuik has been awful. Their top talent in this age group is Nouri in the midfield though.