Amazing win. US announcers said that the total transfer value of the French team was about €500M and not other team was over €150M. France were the better team but could not convert the chances. Two best Dutch players were Bijlow and Schuurs. both Teze and Malacia were more than decent. Boadu was poor all match long but converts the two chances given him which in the end is all that matters. De Wit does not belong on the pitch.
France U21s starting XI today has a combined 61,479 minutes of playing time in Europe's top 5 leagues under their belt.— Get French Football News (@GFFN) May 31, 2021 Since the team also played well, this is very good.
Jong Oranje quite fortunate in 2nd half as France started to over run the Dutch lacking midfield, but were seriously wasteful. Botman turned badly near midfield was left for dead on one occasion. Bakker comes in game and on his throw in it goes right to France who nearly score. Next throw by Bakker it’s a foul throw. Really? what a scrub! Thought Oranje were ok in possession a few times but as game went on they got stretched and sloppy with ball, getting turned. I thought Malacia was pretty good and Bijlow in goal. Teze at right back pretty decent although he was very lucky allowing French player to get goal side and wasted a free header. Stengs has to show more.
One of the 2 big centerbacks have to dominate that cross. Inexcusable that lack of focus. Feeble effort by lazy Stengs on that corner. Perhaps a man on the post too? Shambolic defending there.
Kadigolu was also ineffective. Harroui was dropping deep in build up as a third CB with full backs overlapping. 3-4-3 . I really didnt get what position was De Wit playing. Attacking mid is area of concern for JO. Kadigolu plays more as a winger at fenerbache.
JO were also lucky that there was no VAR. Boadu might have been off sides on the first goal, it was really tight. France CD was claiming Justinho was off sides on the second but I think not by the replay I saw.
I think a few players were missing, including some of the strongholds of the qualification and group phase (the ones highlighted by the reviews at least). About eleven players were missing and then I don't include surefire senior players as Malen or Gravenberch. Considering this, and De Looij his reputation, it was solid. Yes the 500 million French team was better but it wasn't a destruction and walkover. There were chances in both halves. It could have been a demolition with Lang, Koopmeiners and Gakpo gone (as strongholds), and then also Brobbey and the rest. What remained wasn't feeble.
I'd love to see some of these young players incorporated into the senior squad for the WC qualification instead of LDJ, Van Aanholt, Veltman, Klaassen, Promes... Next will be Germany or Denmark.
I think we should be really proud of the result. Boadu has that power of being crap and still bang the goals. He has to work harder and be more consistent but he is 20 only so yeah I have a lot of faith in him. Stengs has to do more but his pass to Kluivert on the second goal was sublime. JO need to drop De Witt who doesn’t have a future anyway and play for this tournament Harroui and Matusiwa in the middle. They badly missed Gakpo I must say.
I think neither was offside. Here in this twitter thread you can see the stills of the second goal. The offside at the first goal is less visible but cancelled by the trailing white boots. I think the white boot of the defender is lower than the legit parts with which you can play the ball.
These people know nothing! France shouldve been the slight favourite, but no way were Oranje a heavy underdog. Unfortunately I wasnt able to watch the game, but I'm thrilled they made the semi's
Should be a cracker! Repeat of the group match... JO and Germany u21 shared a point in a 1-1 draw back in March. J. Kluivert was the scorer. Germany u21 haven't lost in 8 matches.
My two men of the match were Bijlow and Malacia. Malacia was defensively rock solid (his highly praised opponent got subbed) and attacking wise he contributed very much. Schuurs made some iffy decisions in the first half (he should have been guarding the goal scorer) and around the 32nd minute allowed a French player freely to shoot a pass directly free in front of Bijlow. Fortunately he kicked it high over. Botman defensively was solid in the first half, but both him and Sxchuurs werenot very good in moving the ball forwards. Second half Schuurs improved defensively, but it took a bit of luck for both him and Botman to keep the goalnet clean. Justin really has to work on his first touch, because against class defenders you donot get the time to handle the ball in two steps. Both he and Boadu werenot really playing well. Stengs had his highs and lows during the match. He needs to get to the level of performing at his best during at least 75% of the match. Now it's about 50/50. Overall it's telling the French had to sub several players (apart from the injured one) to put pressure on the Young Orange Squad. Given the drainage of players the Orange ones had from the selection that was active before this quarter final, that was quite an achievement. Final comment is about the French national teams coaching. It seems to be the French disease to play unattractive/reactive football despite their top quality players. It appears to be a national trait not confined to the first national team of France.
https://www.getfootballnewsfrance.com/2021/sylvain-ripoll-seeks-to-explain-france-u21-euros-exit/ Sylvain Ripoll seeks to explain France U21 Euros exit Speaking to reporters following France U21s’ surprise defeat at the hands of the Netherlands team, Les Bleuets boss Sylvain Ripoll sought to explain the 2-1 quarter-final defeat. How do you react to this elimination? Obviously, this is a huge disappointment. Football is paradoxical. We did not have a good first half and yet we were ahead. The second half, on the other hand, we were very consistent, with three or four chances and on the contrary, we were the ones who conceded two goals. The balance of power was then in our favour and it is all the more difficult that we conceded this goal in the 91st minute, on something improbable and when they were faltering. Did your side underperform? Obviously. We intended to go through and the reality is we are eliminated. The regret is really in the 2nd half when we have these opportunities to score and win. There is a lot of annoyance, frustration, because with the second half we had, qualification was right in front of us. It escapes us because we narrowly missed our chances and because on two unfortunate shots, we did not do the right thing defensively. In the first half, we did not have enough control, we lost the ball on the counter. We had to defend in difficult conditions and we were not quick on the ball. Then we rectified, we pushed them back. They no longer found the out-ball. What we lacked was converting our opportunities. How might this failure influence preparations for the Olympic Games? There will be lessons to be learned with a clear head. There always are. That will be the subject of my thinking and we will try to put together the best performing squad for the Olympics. But first we will have to digest the disappointment. Because losing like that is hard.
Spot on regarding France not playing to their “expected “ level. Coaching is critical to a teams success. Should not do less with more talent ever. That said I believe some of these French players are a little bit overrated.
There was one sequence in the first half when Malacia robustly challenged an opposing player, robbed the ball, went to overlapping in a speedy attack and ultimately delivered a pinpoint cross to the box (Stengs unfortunately couldn't finish as his shot was weak and too straight to the center). That is exactly one what I like to see from a wing back! Superb defending and positive contribution to the offense. More of this please!!