Alert: Ukraine and Belarus at the 2011 UEFA U-21 European Championships

goliath74 · Jun 3, 2011

Ukrainian and Belorussian U-21 NT's matches:

June 11 Belarus - Iceland
June 12 Ukraine - Czech Republic
June 14 Belarus - Denmark
June 15 Ukraine - England
June 18 Ukraine - Spain
June 19 Belarus - Switzerland

Group "A"
Belarus
Denmark
Iceland
Switzerland

Group "B"
Czech Republic
England
Spain
Ukraine

Shevafan · Jun 3, 2011

Lol I hate UEFA. Our group is so BS. They're paving the way for Denmark to make it out of the group stage so hard.

Chacal · Jun 3, 2011

BTW Georgia's U-21's beat Croatia's U21's tonight; just thought I'd mention that here, nice victory.

Dimuha · Jun 3, 2011

Well that's just great, even Belarus can qualify for this thing.

FootyFan365 · Jun 3, 2011

Dimuha said: ↑

Well that's just great, even Belarus can qualify for this thing.
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Its actually pretty difficult to qualify. Belarus for some reason always seem to have good youth teams. When was the last time Russia was in a big youth tourney though?? That's fuked up!

Ukraine's team is stacked hope we play to our potential and qualify for the Olympics that would be amazing. Lyopa didn't even make the final cut and he was in great form making sub appearances for Dnipro this spring. and he's one of the vets, prolly 21-23

Real Corona · Jun 3, 2011

FootyFan365 said: ↑

Its actually pretty difficult to qualify. Belarus for some reason always seem to have good youth teams. When was the last time Russia was in a big youth tourney though?? That's fuked up!

Ukraine's team is stacked hope we play to our potential and qualify for the Olympics that would be amazing. Lyopa didn't even make the final cut and he was in great form making sub appearances for Dnipro this spring. and he's one of the vets, prolly 21-23
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Dimuha · Jun 3, 2011

FootyFan365 said: ↑

Its actually pretty difficult to qualify. Belarus for some reason always seem to have good youth teams. When was the last time Russia was in a big youth tourney though?? That's fuked up!

Ukraine's team is stacked hope we play to our potential and qualify for the Olympics that would be amazing. Lyopa didn't even make the final cut and he was in great form making sub appearances for Dnipro this spring. and he's one of the vets, prolly 21-23
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Russia should have made this tournament easily. Dzagoev, Shennikov, Dzyuba, Mamaev, Gatagov, Yakovlev, Parshivlyuk, Kokorin, etc. could have all suited up for us. On paper Russia should kill most u-21 teams.

FootyFan365 · Jun 3, 2011

Hahaha RC are those the guys that were famous for being drunk underage at an airport in the U.S.?

Real Corona · Jun 3, 2011

FootyFan365 said: ↑

Hahaha RC are those the guys that were famous for being drunk underage at an airport in the U.S.?
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The one and only.........uh.....ones

FootyFan365 · Jun 3, 2011

Dimuha said: ↑

Russia should have made this tournament easily. Dzagoev, Shennikov, Dzyuba, Mamaev, Gatagov, Yakovlev, Parshivlyuk, Kokorin, etc. could have all suited up for us. On paper Russia should kill most u-21 teams.
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Yea its pretty crazy they didn't, some of those guys have good pro experience and success. Can't remember who was in their group maybe it was a tough break. But seriously when was the last time you guys were in a big youth tourney? Excluding U-17's lol

Dimuha · Jun 3, 2011

2009 maybe? If not then the only one I can think of is the u-17 win.

goliath74 · Jun 4, 2011

I agree I have never seen such a disparity in quality between the groups!

Zenit · Jun 5, 2011

goliath74 said: ↑

I agree I have never seen such a disparity in quality between the groups!
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Agreed. One might think Batka himself drew the groups.

Like FF said, Belarusian youth teams have actually had a pretty good track record that just hasn't translated to the senior side. They made a nice run in the 2004 U-21s, which IIRC involved knocking off both Italy and Germany. But youth results are not always the most meaningful predictor for future success - witness the Russian U-17 (or what it U-18? Dima will know) that won the whole ball of wax 4-5 years ago - not one player from that team ever turned into anything at the professional level.

goliath74 · Jun 5, 2011

Zenit said: ↑

Agreed. One might think Batka himself drew the groups.

Like FF said, Belarusian youth teams have actually had a pretty good track record that just hasn't translated to the senior side. They made a nice run in the 2004 U-21s, which IIRC involved knocking off both Italy and Germany. But youth results are not always the most meaningful predictor for future success - witness the Russian U-17 (or what it U-18? Dima will know) that won the whole ball of wax 4-5 years ago - not one player from that team ever turned into anything at the professional level.
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It was U-17 in 2006, I remember, because it was the year of Ukrainian U-21 losing in the final match of the 2006 U-21 UEFA Championships. That Ukrainian U-21 included Aliyev, Chyhrynskyi, Milevskiy, and a few players who had made an odd UNT appearance (Hodyn, Romanchuk, etc)

In general U-17 NT players have far less of a chance to have a future than an U-21 NT player

Real Corona · Jun 5, 2011

U18 teams are basically useless for projecting full national teams. I agree though with Goliath that U21 teams you can generally see which players will be full timers.

Sheva7 · Jun 5, 2011

I would agree about U17 being worthless as most of them haven't fully physically developed yet. U21 will atleast tell you which guys will get playing time with the NT or have a role. But what about U19?

goliath74 · Jun 5, 2011

Ukrainian U-21 NT is leading France, 1-0, at the half-time of their last friendly match before the U-21 UEFA finals. Bright start, looked decent enough, had a very opportunistic goal and, sat back the rest of the first half, defending. French had a chance or two. Kartushov looked good, very active. Plastoun got his head on almost every top ball in the middle of our defense.

U-21 UNT looks very strange, no Yarmola, no Konoplya, no Zozulya. Rybalka had a nice shot that led to the goal. I think this is, actually, that OTHER U-21, the one for the 2012 cycle.

FootyFan365 · Jun 7, 2011

We haven't played any serious friendlies leading up to the tourney. All we've done is play like 2nd division Ukrainian sides behind closed doors, no news on rosters etc. they must not want Czech, England & Spain to scout them and try to catch them by surprise haha. Pretty lame if you ask me but we'll see.

Fortunately no injuries in the squad (knock on wood) but one of Belarus guys suffered a knee injury and is out 6 months

Dimuha · Jun 9, 2011

22 year olds ae eligible for u-21 play right? If so then Russia's u-21 squad is ridiculous right now.

Zabalotniy
Parshivlyuk-Burlak-x-Shennikov
------Mamayev-Makhmoudov
Yakovlev---Dzagoev------Gatagov
-------------Dzyuba

Real Corona · Jun 9, 2011

Dimuha said: ↑

22 year olds ae eligible for u-21 play right? If so then Russia's u-21 squad is ridiculous right now.

Zabalotniy
Parshivlyuk-Burlak-x-Shennikov
------Mamayev-Makhmoudov
Yakovlev---Dzagoev------Gatagov
-------------Dzyuba
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I believe you could theoretically be 23 as I think the cutoff is 1988.

FootyFan365 · Jun 9, 2011

Dimuha said: ↑

22 year olds ae eligible for u-21 play right? If so then Russia's u-21 squad is ridiculous right now.

Zabalotniy
Parshivlyuk-Burlak-x-Shennikov
------Mamayev-Makhmoudov
Yakovlev---Dzagoev------Gatagov
-------------Dzyuba
Click to expand...

On paper they seem good, on the field the Russian mentality rules the day lol

Shevafan · Jun 9, 2011

Just found out that in Canada TSN is gonna coer this tournament. Then I look at Saturday's games and they're all live. Then look at Sunday's games, and only f*ckin Spain vs England is like while the Ukraine vs Czech Republic is gonna be on replay at 6pm. I was like FFS!!!

FootyFan365 · Jun 9, 2011

Shevafan said: ↑

Just found out that in Canada TSN is gonna coer this tournament. Then I look at Saturday's games and they're all live. Then look at Sunday's games, and only f*ckin Spain vs England is like while the Ukraine vs Czech Republic is gonna be on replay at 6pm. I was like FFS!!!
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I thought we play on Sat.

Shevafan · Jun 10, 2011

FootyFan365 said: ↑

I thought we play on Sat.
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We play on the 12th which is a Sunday.

Real Corona · Jun 10, 2011

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/jun/11/players-to-watch-european-under-21-championship

Taras Stepanenko (Ukraine)

Ukraine are one of the most experienced sides in the tournament, featuring several players who have played in the Champions League. Dynamo Kyiv's Andriy Yarmolenko is a potent attacking force but the pivot around whom the team are built is their defensive midfielder and captain, Stepanenko. Since moving to Shakhtar Donestsk last summer his performances have been accomplished enough to earn him a call-up to the senior national team.
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