Holy shit, I just saw the 4th goal. UNBELIEVABLE! How could Iceland even reach the semis? That must be the worst goalkeeping performance I ever saw during a women's football match. Imagine a "shot" (more like a pass) which travels at the speed of 0.5km/h. The goal keeper can't pick it up and then the defender stumbles over the ball and it's an own goal. There wasn't even a Spanish striker in the area...
The French coach Rubio made a few changes from the team that played in the qualification round. For the penalty shootout, it looked a bigger lottery than usual with many shots not on target
Indeed. 5 players (2 French, 3 German) failed to convert their penalties, but only 2 were actually saved by the keepers. You could see how nervous they were. And the German women are really not like the German men when it comes to penalties. I think they lost all of their last shoot-outs.
It is a good preparation for bigger tournament like the world cup, they might have to take a penalty as well.
If anyone wants the links to download both matches in "HD" (broadcast from Eurosport), then PM me on here, and I will send you to the links to one or both matches (depending if you want to download one of them, or both of them). I have these two semifinal matches (shown below in bold) that I downloaded from the Internet, and the links still work (both matches are over a couple of gigabytes each, due to the files being in HD, 720p). These teenagers can actually play, as their skill is even higher than I thought. The U17 talent is better than it was just a couple of years ago, that's for sure (unless your Iceland's goalkeeper, ouch). Iceland vs. Spain (missing first 6 minutes, but the rest of the match is there) France vs. Germany (whole match, including through the ending)
Seeing as Germany already lead 5:0 at half time, I must ask what kind of teams England and Sweden fielded during the last qualification round? I know England and Sweden U-17 are not like their senior teams, but how could they lose against Iceland? I am really sorry if I am unfair towards Iceland, but I just can't explain it.
Looking at the line-up, England put their best 11 and lost 2-0. but because I am curious I will ask on Thursday about it, the England goalkeeper at that game I am meeting her at the Arsenal v Lincoln game. I have her on bbm might ask her today !
I have to agree, how the hell can England and Sweden lose to Iceland . I hope Spain actually get to play Germany in the next U-17's, as Germany is a test their yet to pass winning the last two titles. Germany looked to be the strongest side yet again, but at this level they can't stop finding new and creative ways to lose in the semi's. I can't help but think that if Spain had a situation like France with Lyon, with all the young talent they have, Spain would be a far more advanced women's football nation right now. If a Barcelona, Real Madrid etc... helped the best of the domestic talent to play as pro's, I could see Spain doing something similar to France in a few years.
This and last season the German team was nearly the same, so we will see a totally new team (only Däbritz will stay) next season. And hopefully... a little bit less "creative" team. I think Spain can become a very good team even without a "Spanish Lyon". What they need is the attention and money Lyon/France have.
There's definitely potential, but sadly in Spain nobody invests into something that won't give them profit within a short time. The situation of women's football here has improved in the recent years, but it seems it will remain an amateur sport for many years and that's a serious burden. Regarding the final it was a great battle of styles, I'm glad we could impose ours but France was equally deserving. While I guess we were lucky avoiding Germany indeed, winning the U17 Euro twice is a great sign and a praiseworthy feat considering the lack of tradition and support. I think Alexia Putellas could become a great player.
Less creative . Why would you want to see that? Dabritz is small and crafty within a fairly small and crafty midfield. Is this a new direction for the German set up? If so I for one like it a lot. It would be nice to see the German national team have players in the mould of Wiegmann, Meinert, and Lingor, running the midfield again. If just one decent Spanish club did what Lyon does for French women's football, Spain could finally take it's place at the big people table. They already have genuine talent within the senior team right now, but if the talented youngsters had better environments to develop within, who know's what they could achieve.
That was a reference to "they can't stop finding new and creative ways to lose in the semi's". Actually Däbritz isn't that small. While she looks like 1.50m she is 1.71m in reality. But yeah, overall we have many creative, technical accomplished players in our youth teams. E.g. Ramona Petzelberger the captain of the U-19 team.
After watching the Iceland match on Sunday, the one I want to see a lot more of is Lina Magull. I don't know who was MVP (if there was one), but it should have been her. I also liked Linda Dallmann and Franziska Bröckl a lot and hope to see them again at U19 level. To be honest, Lena Petermann, who played a great first round at the U17 WWC, didn't impress me at all. Maybe the Icelanders knew how to take her out of the game, but she didn't get anywhere. Nor did, unfortunately, the much-praised Fabienne Dongus.
Sorry, don't know why I missed that France must have some big girls in the middle then, or I just do the opposite to most people and think every female player I see must be smaller than she looks on TV. I guess when your used to seeing the strange broad but very technical frame of Kulig stomping around the central areas for the seniors, every young German player will seem physically small in comparison. Magull looks like a little star. Her and Isabella Schmid during the U-17 WWC were excellent together. Never looking to play safe, both of these players always keep possession no matter how much pressure they are put under. It's a shame Germany couldn't of played Spain at some point in the last two editions of this tournament. Both sides have quality midfielders that would have made an interesting match up.
But maybe that was not the best DM pair? I think you need one more defensive DM like Kathrin-Julia Hendrich, who is an excellent counterpart to Schmid in the U-19s. Well, she surely is more defensive minded as she plays as CB for Bayer Leverkusen. But indeed Magull has everything to become a future senior national player. Maybe she should transfer to a Bundesliga team soon. Yeah, I hope they'll face each other the next season. The last encounter was that 7:0 thrashing which shouldn't happen again. But I can't even say how good the next German U-17 are gonna be.
Hmmmm, I don't think a dedicated DM matters too much if you can retain the ball well enough. Germany keep suffering from central defensive issues, or weak forward play, not poor combinations of players in the center of the field. I wouldn't mind seeing what Magull looked like when stepping up to a tougher level either. She's a small girl that will be having to compete with some of the most intimidatingly statuesque athletes found in modern women's football, if she want's to make the grade for any senior call ups. Exactly. The core of both sides will move up to the U-20's levels, and totally new teams will replace them at the U-17's. We will never now how much closer Spain were to Germany after that initial 7-0 beat down.
Today the First Qualification round of the U-19 EURO 2012 began. The first qualifying round, played in September, is made up of ten groups of four teams playing in one-venue mini-tournaments. The top two from each progress, alongside the third-placed team with the best record against the top two in their groups, to join three top seeds: Germany, France and England. Standings and results No surprises so far.
The second round line-up : Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, England*, Finland, France*, Germany*, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Northern Ireland**, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, Russia, Scotland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Wales * given byes to second stage ** best third-placed team
U17 Tournament First qualifying round group winners Group 2 : Republic of Ireland, Group 4 : Norway Group 6 : England Group 7 : Denmark Group 8 : Belgium Group 9 : Spain (holders) Group 10 : Iceland Byes to second qualifying round: Germany, Netherlands 4 runners-up will also qualify.
Tomorrow is the BIG day : "On Tuesday four draws will be made for the two women's youth competitions starting at 08.30CET, with the draws for the respective 2012/13 Women's U17 and Women's U19 first qualifying rounds following by the draws for this season's Women's U19 and Women's U17 second qualifying rounds. The Women's U19 finals will be held in Turkey during July, with the U17 competition concluding in Nyon the previous month. Forty-four UEFA member associations will be present at the draw at UEFA headquarters."
UEFA 2011/2012 Under-19 EURO Second qualifying round draw Group 1: Norway, Czech Republic, Belgium, Portugal Group 2: Germany*, Sweden, Poland, Northern Ireland** Group 3: France*, Iceland, Romania, Netherlands Group 4: Denmark, Republic of Ireland, Switzerland, Serbia Group 5: Spain, Scotland, Italy, Russia Group 6: England*, Austria, Finland, Wales Group 1 looks like a walk in the park for Norway. I would say Belgium is the most likeliest contender to challenge them. Group 2 could be dangerous for Germany, because there is one strong opponent and two very weak ones. But the German U-19 just recently won 4:0 against Sweden, so I don't think they'll have many problems. If Germany and Sweden draw their match I suspect the second placed team from this group could be the best 2nd placed team. Group 3 will be tricky for France, because the Netherlands are so much better than their pot 4 position indicates. Also Iceland are usually quite good. Group 4 should be a two-horse race between Denmark and Switzerland Group 5 contains 3 teams from last seasons final tournament + Scotland, which are not bad at all. Very hard to predict. Group 6 should see no surprises and England comfortably winning all three matches.
UEFA 2011/2012 Under-17 EURO Second qualifying round draw Group 1: Switzerland, England, Belgium, Iceland Group 2: France, Norway, Republic of Ireland, Poland Group 3: Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland Group 4: Germany, Spain (holders), Czech Republic, Serbia U-17 groups are usually much harder to predict, so I don't even try. Of course Germany are paired with Spain, so at least one of them won't make it to the world cup. But I am not unhappy with this match-up. I always had the feeling that Spain wouldn't have won the U-17 Euro if they had met Germany. However Germany always ********ed it up so badly during the semi-finals, that you surely can't blame Spain for it.
The Wales team is a lot better than their 4th seeding. They have 4 players who have recently played for the senior team. I wouldn't be surprised if they beat England.