Czech Republic - U21 Euro Championship

I can't wait for the new Foetus League to kick off. Then we'll have a chance.

 

Didn't watch this at all so it's no comment on the actual game, but I follow Spanish and Portugese football a bit and I know they rate their own current "crop" of youngsters very highly, best group for years they reckon, so it may not be that terrible a result for young England.

 

The Spanish U21 of 2013 was the best Spanish U21 side imo, that was ridiculous. As for Portugal I believe you're right. It's been my belief since before the World Cup that Portugal need to bump some of these up to the senior team and start them over the current crop. They're still playing Ricardo Carvalho (aged 37) in defence ffs.

 

I get to watch the Serbia vs Czech Republic game after all :]]

Reckon the Czechs will win today... can get 2/1 on them to win which surprises me!

 

Any reason for that? Didn't think much of Czech against Denmark, and Serbia did well against Germany. Didn't realise Djurcic played for them until I saw him. Absolute livewire and enjoyed watching him at Southampton.

Don't necessarily disagree with you by the way - just very interested why you think so, as you tend to have a very good analytical view of football. Trust your instincts more than mine!

 

Czechs had 2 of their star players (Kadlec who I mentioned in my original post as well as Kalas from Chelsea) suspended for the first game. They seemed to be lacking a bit up front because of that, i'm sure they'll pose a bit more of a threat now with his return. Djurcic will be the one to watch, he was great against Germany and i'm sure he'll pose the biggest threat for the Czechs. I'm not entirely confident they'll win, but at 2/1 they're certainly good value and I wouldn't be surprised if they win. Think the freshness of Kadlec will be a big boost!

 

Haha, argument justified already

 

Serbia on the ropes early on. Lucky to only be 1 goal down.

 

Indeed. Lumped on Czech -1 after reids' explanation and that opening 10 minutes.

And there's the second goal. Sublime stuff, that. Great call on the win reids.

 

Can't believe they were 2/1 for the win before KO. Thought they'd scrape it but didn't think it'd be this easy...

Great little dummy by Kadlec that led to the goal there, sublime little shift to take the defender out the game completely.

 

Great call. I went down coral and stuck £20 on over 0.5 first half goals which returned 30, stuck that on another and now have £50 on over 2.5 first half goals!

 

:dismay: Unlucky there.

 

Unlucky there, could've been 4 or 5 by ht!

 

I wish you would do another betting tips thread for the summer. Keep things interesting before the season starts.

 

got greedy there ha

i couldnt choose between another first half goal and czech -1 or over 1.5 second half goals (which im sure will now fly in)

 

if you want something now which is relatively safe, go for next goal before 80

 

The Czech manager looks like Fisk from Daredevil.

 

I have Czechs to win -2 handicap at 6/4.

 

went for over 3.5 and by the time i got home it was 4-0 :]]

 

The commentator just said "A Czechsican wave is going round the stadium". Brilliant.

 

Trouble is, only things I know about that are on over the summer are youth tournaments like this and internationals. The internationals played so far (Copa America mostly) have been pretty unpredictable. Youth football is both predictable yet unpredictable at the same time (for instance, this match as an example, never would've expected 4-0).

 

That's partly the reason why Serbia are getting spanked here. They have a brilliant U21 team usually, but a majority of the best players are 18/19 and it seems they prioritised the WC rather than the Euros.

African teams always do well at youth tournaments, where power, physique and speed tend to triumph over technique (which is why England U17s spank Spain U17s, but when it reaches the U21 or higher levels, we get spanked).

 

If theres over 1.5 goals in the germany & uruguay games ill pocket 50 quid which ill probably stick on over 1.5 goals in the germany womens game

edit:

paraguay just made it 1-1 and germany scored 2 mins into the second half, easy :naughty:

and ofc i didnt do germany over 1.5 because coral didnt settle the bet until the games had finished ffs!

 

If defeat to Sweden would mean Southgate never gets a stiff of the senior England job it would be a sacrifice worth making

 

What on earth are the FA thinking hiring Boothroyd and Southgate to nurture our young players? You can tell that the teams we face seem tactically better and our players are clueless in how to adapt to it.

 

Gone for over 1.5 goals but Simms I'd wait til the 50th min and bet on 1 goal

This ref loves Sweden! S

 

Difference between the likes of Guidetti who needs a contract and Chalobah who doesn't is both astonishing and unsurprising.

This has been absolutely dire.

 

Day 3 summary:​

Serbia U21 (0) vs Czech Republic U21 (4)

Before the match I reckoned Czechs were over-priced at 2/1 and fancied them for the win due to the return of 2 of their key players in Kadlec and Kalas. I really didn't expect the match to be as one-sided as it was though, it was all Czech Republic for the first 15 minutes, with Kliment grabbing an early goal after just 7 minutes (goal here: http://streamable.com/xmht). The onslaught showed no signs of letting up and it wasn't long before Czechs grabbed their second, with a beautiful little dummy by Kadlec setting himself up perfectly for the shot, the shot was saved by the keeper and came nice for Kliment to grab his second (goal here: http://streamable.com/q1qq). Sadly Kadlec had to be taken off halfway through the half due to an ankle injury, was really looking forward to seeing what he could offer and based on the 20-25 minutes of him I saw, I wasn't disappointed, hopefully he'll recover for the game against Germany. Serbia had no massive chances of note during the first half and Duricic was kept quiet which was odd based on his fantastic match against Germany. 10 minutes into the second half Kliment completed his hat-trick with this little beauty: http://streamable.com/pgix . The Czechs completed the rout with this great volley just 3 minutes later: http://streamable.com/y9d1

The Czechs were impressive, and I reckon they'll progress alongside Germany.


Germany U21 (3) vs Denmark U21 (0)

Sadly was out so couldn't watch this match, but Germany sounded impressive. Both the German and Danish managers seemed to have read my report on the first matches, and made both the changes I suggested (for Denmark, Fischer dropped and Sisto started. For Germany Bittencourt started)!

Based on the score and stats it didn't seem a particularly hard win for Germany. Kevin Volland got 2 (including this beaut of a free kick) with the CB Ginter (mentioned in my original post) grabbing the other one.

 

Battocchio playing in starting 11 right now in Italy-Portugal.
Italy must win after the bad defeat against Sweden.
Battocchio had a bad game (not alone). Let's hope he shows better tonight.

 

He's playing on the left side of a 4-3-3 as an attacker. Always thought he was more of a central midfielder.

 

Took Italy at 9/4 before the game. Can't believe they haven't scored, they've been fantastic a bar a couple of shaky minutes in the second half.