Just noticed the second qualifying phase for the U-19 European championship will take place from May 18-24 in Viterbo. Italy's group includes Israel, Belarus, and the Czech Republic. The group winner advances to July's U-19 European finals in Switzerland. The finals will also serve as UEFA's qualifying tournament for the FIFA World Youth Championships. Italy has never been as strong at this level as at U-21 and only won the European tournament for the first time last year, so they will be hoping to continue off that success. Here is the team called up by coach Paolo Berrettini (these are all players born after Jan 1 1985): Goalkeepers: Curci (Roma), Viviano (Brescia); Defenders: Battaglia (Torino), Canini (Atalanta), Di Dio (Ternana), Masiello (Juventus), Nossa (Inter), Teoldi (Milan); Midfielders: Bentivoglio (Juventus), Carotti (Parma), De Martino (Roma), Galloppa (Roma), Nocerino (Avellino), Parolo (Como); Forwards: Alberti (Brescia), Bongiovanni (Torino), Bortolotto (Milan), Defendi (Atalanta), Piccolo (Milan), Sorrentino (Avellino).
Re: Italy's U-19s As much as i follow football and i do know and am a fan of many of the u-21's i have no clue as to any of the u-19's which probably be too young a unit for me. I can only think of hand of Cristiano Ronaldo (PORTUGAL) and Wayne Rooney (ENGLAND) as players who would be eligible. But i'll take not to see if any future stars do come through as they should.
Re: Italy's U-19s I started to do some research on some of these kids to see if I could compile some sort of listing of their accomplishments until now, but there are very little in the way of on-line records at this age. Obviously, most if not all of these kids play for primavera squads. I found some basic info and pictures on Masiello and Bentivoglio, the Juve players, but no stats or anything.
Re: Italy's U-19s Bortolotto and Piccolo both played in the last game of the 2002-03 season, when, three days before the Champions League final, Milan fielded several Primavera players at Piacenza and lost 4-2. Piccolo played the whole match (IIRC he hit the post as well) and Bortolotto came on as a sub in the last 20 minutes. Sorrentino has a couple of goals for Avellino in serie B this year. He's on loan from Parma.
Re: Italy's U-19s Italy faces Israel to open this qualifying tournament on Wednesday, May 19 at 3 pm local time (9 am EDT).
Re: Italy's U-19s Canini and Defendi were injured in training and have been replaced on the squad by Coda (Empoli) and Scotto (Siena): http://www.figc.it/italiano/archivi...aggio_2004/180504_under_19/primo_piano_01.htm
Re: Italy's U-19s I haven't checked yet, but I doubt it. I think they're probably airing the Giro d'Italia cycling tour which is going on as well.
Re: Italy's U-19s Couldn't find any on-line chronicle of the game in progress, but Italy won 2-0 on two goals from Juventus primavera player Simone Bentivoglio. Meanwhile, the Czech Republic beat Belarus 3-0. Next games are Friday with Italy facing Belarus and the Czechs playing Israel. At this point, it looks likely to come down to Sunday's game between Italy and the Czech Republic to see which team advances to the finals this summer. http://www.figc.it/italiano/primo_piano_01/primo_piano_01.htm
Re: Italy's U-19s These were the starters for Italy vs Israel - Viviano, Nossa, Teoldo, Nocerino, Masiello, Battaglia, Bentivoglio, Alberti, Galloppa, Sorrentino, Didio. Today, Italy faces (faced? I think they started at 9 am again) Belarus. Trying to find the result.
Re: Italy's U-19s Italy came from behind to defeat Belarus 4-1 while Israel surprised the Czechs, 1-0, meaning Italy just needs a tie with the Czechs on Sunday to advance to the final phase. Tonino Sorrentino scored three goals. Perhaps he will be Parma's next Gilardino. http://www.figc.it/english/archivio...004/210504_u19_bielorussia/primo_piano_01.htm
Re: Italy's U-19s Another article on the game, from uefa.com: http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under19/fixturesresults/round=1663/match=73858/Report=RP.html
Re: Italy's U-19s The draw for July's European tournament is set for today in Switzerland. uefa.com is covering it live at http://www.uefa.com/live/Competitions/Under19/Draw/2004.FR/draw_basic.html The other teams, besides Italy and Switzerland, are Spain, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland and Belgium. Only Switzerland is seeded. The other placements are completely random. The top 3 teams in each group will qualify for next summer's FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands (who also qualify as hosts, I assume).
Re: Italy's U-19s Italy has been drawn with the hosts Switzerland along with Belgium and Ukraine. I'm sure they will be pleased that they avoided Germany and Spain although they would be likely semifinal opponents if Italy can advance out of the group.
Re: Italy's U-19s Many of these players will be in action in the Primavera championship tournament which starts today. I think it's going to be shown live on the web: http://www.fastweb.it/streaming/raisport.asx First game is scheduled for 11 am EDT today - Juventus vs Ascoli. Then Inter vs Roma at 3 pm. The other games are Friday - Atalanta vs Brescia and Milan vs Lecce. From the national team list in the first post, I'd expect to see the following taking part in this tournament: Juventus - Masiello, Bentivoglio Roma - Curci, De Martino, Galloppa Inter - Nossa Milan - Teoldi, Bortolotto, Piccolo Brescia - Viviano, Alberti Atalanta - Canini, Defendi
Re: Italy's U-19s Here is the 22-man squad selected for next month's European championships: Portieri: Curci (Roma), Galetti (Torino), Viviano (Brescia); Difensori: Battaglia (Torino), Canini (Atalanta), Coda (Empoli), Dellafiore (Inter), Masiello (Juventus), Nossa (Inter), Teoldi (Milan); Centrocampisti: Agnelli (Verona), Bentivoglio (Juventus), Carotti (Parma), Esposito (Napoli), Galloppa (Roma), Montolivo (Atalanta), Nocerino (Avellino); Attaccanti: Alberti (Brescia), Bongiovanni (Torino), Meggiorini (Inter), Sorrentino (Avellino), Volpato (Padova). Training begins on Sunday.
Re: Italy's U-19s Speaking of Young Italian Hopefuls, this tournament begins on Tuesday. Here is Italy's group match schedule. It'd be nice if one or more of these would be shown on RaiSport. I doubt it, but we'll see: July 13 vs Switzerland July 15 vs Ukraine July 18 vs Belgium
Re: Italy's U-19s [R] Article on the Italian squad from Uefa.com. Interesting to note that starting center back Paolo Dellafiore was born in Argentina: http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under19/news/Kind=1/newsId=205012.html
Re: Italy's U-19s [R] Here is the final list of 18 players - Goalkeepers: Curci (Roma), Viviano (Brescia); Defenders: Battaglia (Torino), Canini (Atalanta), Coda (Empoli), Masiello (Juventus), Nossa (Inter), Teoldi (Milan); Midfielders: Agnelli (Verona), Bentivoglio (Juventus), Carotti (Parma), Galloppa (Roma), Montolivo (Atalanta), Nocerino (Avellino); Forwards: Alberti (Brescia), Bongiovanni (Torino), Meggiorini (Inter), Sorrentino (Avellino). NOT included, from those who were in training - Galetti, Dellafiore, Esposito and Volpato. I guess Dellafiore doesn't start after all. Unless he was hurt or something.
Re: Italy's U-19s [R] Expected starters for Italy: Viviano, Nossa, Canini, Coda, Battaglia, Carotti, Noverino, Gallona, Montolivo, Alberti, Sorrentino Preview article from the FIGC: http://www.figc.it/english/archivio...uglio_2004/130704_under_19/primo_piano_02.htm
Re: Italy's U-19s [R] Don't know if they will have text commentary but it's worth a shot. http://www.eurosport.co.uk/home/pages/V4/L2/S22/E6933/live_Lng2_Spo22_Evt6933.shtml
Re: Italy's U-19s [R] No dice, but at last they have the result of the earlier Germany-Spain game before even uefa.com has it up.