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UEFA European Under-21 Championship - Denmark 2011

5K views 23 replies 5 participants last post by  Rebrov 
#1 ·
So Yakovenko announced the final squad on June 2nd. This is what we look like for the Tournament:

Goalkeepers: Denys Boiko (Dynamo), Dmytro Nepohodov (Metalurh Donetsk), Anton Kanibolotsky (Dnipro).

Defenders: Olexander Matvieiev (Vorskla), Yaroslav Rakitsky (Shakhtar), Temur Partsvania (Dynamo), Yevhen Selin (Vorskla), Bohdan Butko (Volyn), Serhiy Kryvtsov (Shakhtar), Olexiy Kurilov (Vorskla), Artem Putivtsev (Illichivets).

Midfielders: Mykola Moroziuk (Metalurh Donetsk), Vitaliy Vitsenets (Shakhtar), Denys Harmash (Dynamo), Taras Stepanenko (Shakhtar), Yevhen Konoplianka (Dnipro), Volodymyr Chesnakov (Vorskla), Valeriy Fedorchuk (Kryvbas), Oleh Holodiuk (Karpaty), Maxym Bily (Zoria).

Forwards: Andriy Yarmolenko (Dynamo), Artem Kravets (Dynamo), Roman Zozulia (Dynamo).
 
#2 ·
For anyone in Canada, TSN has surprisingly offered brilliant coverage of the tournament:

Saturday 6/11, 11:55am – Belarus vs. Iceland – TSN2
Saturday 6/11, 2:30pm – Denmark vs. Switzerland – TSN
Sunday 6/12, 3:00pm – Spain vs. England – TSN
Sunday 6/12, 6:00pm – Czech Republic vs. Ukraine – TSN2
Tuesday 6/14, 11:55am – Switzerland vs. Iceland – TSN
Tuesday 6/14, 2:30pm – Denmark vs. Belarus – TSN
Wednesday 6/15, 11:55am – Czech Republic vs. Spain – TSN
Wednesday 6/15, 2:30pm – Ukraine vs. England – TSN
Saturday 6/18, 2:30pm – Iceland vs. Denmark – TSN2
Saturday 6/18, 8:00pm – Switzerland vs. Belarus – TSN2
Sunday 6/19, 6:00pm – Ukraine vs. Spain – TSN2
Sunday 6/19, 8:00pm – England vs. Czech Republic – TSN
Wednesday 6/22, 11:55am – Semifinal #1 – TSN2
Wednesday 6/22, 2:30pm – Semifinal #2 – TSN2
Saturday 6/25, 8:55am – 3rd Place Game – TSN2
Saturday 6/25, 2:30pm – Championship Game – TSN

Listings are E.S.T. I cannot wait, and amazingly, the games work perfect around my school and work schedule :D The only games I will need to book time off will be for the 3rd place playoff and the Final, but lets take it one game at a time and hope the boys get into the later rounds. Lets be fair, Ukraine's squad can win this tournament. Overall, this is a very strong and generally well-balanced squad.
 
#3 ·
In terms of the squad, the only player who will be truly missed is Pavlo Pashayev who is out with injury. Surprisingly also Lysenko was left out of the squad, hence we could be a little lacking in terms of options for pure strikers, but there is a lot of makeshift options in the midfield if we have some injuries to the usual forwards
 
#4 ·
Lyopa too. He was getting decent time off the bench this spring and in pretty good form for us. We are pretty stacked though, if we have the right mentality we can do well.

First game with the Czech's is going to decide a lot. 3 pts gives us a great shot, a draw or loss pretty much screws us.
 
#7 ·
Dynamo's Voronkov scored from the spot and played well for Belarus in their win against highly rated Iceland. Good for him, he was a good player in qualifiers and for Kryvbas during the season - lets hope for big and bright things from this guy
 
#9 ·
In a nutshell, a few of the U-21 who have played for Ukraine senior NT already are the logical names that come to mind:

Koval (GK)
Rakitskyi (D)
Stepanenko (M)
Konoplyanka (AM)
Yarmolenko (F)

All are at the Championships in Denmark right now with the exception of Koval who is still too young and Stepanenko who got injured in the 1st game.
Then players like Harmash (Garmash), Pryima, Taschy, Shakhov are a bit younger, but high hopes are associated with that bunch. The U-19s are current European Champions, but its impossible to know how they will develop until we see more of them.
 
#17 ·
Not only that, but if England had held on to beat Czech's, Belarus would have already automatically qualified for the Olympics :howler::howler::howler: unfortunately for them, now they have to beat Spain.

One thing not to be forgotten was that our group was absolutely brutal. 4 of the 5 best teams in this tourney easy. Even the Czech's have proven to be a really solid team, not individually great but as a team they are really tough. We caught a really bad break. But it was good getting to the tourney, top8 teams in Europe isn't bad although we could have had more!
 
#15 ·
Ha, this team of stars embarrasses themselves, unreal. Dont always agree with him, but caught some clips of 3it taim and Leonenko in his typical brutal fan like rant was destroying this team. But he is right, they all think they are stars and they aren't shit, Yarmo, Konoplaynka, Rakitzi, some of the best players in UPL couldn't hang with Spainish league B youth squads. Blah.

Gotta stop buying into the hype about these losers. Footyfan, you're the #1 culprit when it comes to this, these guys are simply not as good as advertised.

It was also funny how everyone on the show ripped into Zozulya and his style of play. Even on the penalty they called him a moron. He went to his righ which was the absolute wrong way to go. All he cared about is throwing his body at the keeper which look really awkward. If he didn't get it, he would have cut down the angle and had a very hard shot at the goal. Instead of doing left where the net is essentially empty or even passing to the guy to his left who was wide open and could tap it in easily. Glad to i'm not the only one who hates scum like this. The whole team came into the turney and preferred to dive rather then play. Its ****ing embarrassing, is that what they teach these fools in UPL? Funny how the refs were having none of that, our guys must have a reputation already.

Ohh and another moron worth pointing out is Garmash, thanks for another red card idiot, and a penalty. Some stud you're developing into. Midfield version of Hacheridi that thinks he has Roberto Carloses shot.
 
#16 ·
Ha, this team of stars embarrasses themselves, unreal. Dont always agree with him, but caught some clips of 3it taim and Leonenko in his typical brutal fan like rant was destroying this team. But he is right, they all think they are stars and they aren't shit, Yarmo, Konoplaynka, Rakitzi, some of the best players in UPL couldn't hang with Spainish league B youth squads. Blah.

Gotta stop buying into the hype about these losers. Footyfan, you're the #1 culprit when it comes to this, these guys are simply not as good as advertised.

It was also funny how everyone on the show ripped into Zozulya and his style of play. Even on the penalty they called him a moron. He went to his righ which was the absolute wrong way to go. All he cared about is throwing his body at the keeper which look really awkward. If he didn't get it, he would have cut down the angle and had a very hard shot at the goal. Instead of doing left where the net is essentially empty or even passing to the guy to his left who was wide open and could tap it in easily. Glad to i'm not the only one who hates scum like this. The whole team came into the turney and preferred to dive rather then play. Its ****ing embarrassing, is that what they teach these fools in UPL? Funny how the refs were having none of that, our guys must have a reputation already.

Ohh and another moron worth pointing out is Garmash, thanks for another red card idiot, and a penalty. Some stud you're developing into. Midfield version of Hacheridi that thinks he has Roberto Carloses shot.
Spanish B league?? lol Javi Martinez and Mata were on the World Cup squad last year. Yes we sucked ass, but its also pretty ridiculous Spain called up those two...England on the other hand left Wilshire off cause they said he was too good :proud: Iker Muniain is a sick impact sub for Bilbao at 19 and been visible since he was 16, their goalie De Gea has started 2 years at Atletico and most likely going to Man Utd this summer. Adrian their goal scorer is Deportivo's striker I can go on and on...

Zozulya is a joke, the commentator was laughing at him when he earned the pk :howler: also Butko and Selin are unfortunately not going to solve our wing back dilemma, had hopes but nope, no way. Only quality players who at least play with confidence and joy of the game are Bily, Garmash, Kono, Yarmola and Rakitsky. Everyone else is typical Ukraine.
 
#18 ·
Belarus can go to the Olympics - they only need to win the third-place playoff against Czech Rep.(likely).

Spain has sent their best squad. Mata and Javi Martinez aren't even eligible for the Olympics, yet they are very serious about winning this tournament. (Only Busquets was the exception. Canales didn't get picked due belonging to a wrong club.)

This was a tough group, yes. But Ukraine didn't deserve to finish bottom, behind England and the Czechs. There wasn't a team. Some of the players were embarrassing to watch.

Sad fact - Ukraine is as deep as Dynamo and Shakhtar. Every talent gets picked by either by the age of 18. The remaining youngsters aren't very talented. :D Then comes the competition for the first team and the presence of players who rarely have minutes.
Konoplyanka seems to have stopped progressing. Yarmolenko has some attitude problem - he can deliver stellar performance but doesn't know to keep up. And what were they trying to do upfront with ...Zozulya? I've no clue, it was a mystery to see him as sole striker. Not even sure why he's been still with Dynamo?
Rakitsky is OK - but does he need to look so FAT? Krivtsov screwed big and, though still young, is about to join the stockpiled. Garmash is a talent. He was the only bright spot up until the removal. It's just too much is expected and he can be easily driven out of the club if he fails to hold a place.

Looking forward ... err... who's coming up from the youth ranks? :eek:
 
#21 ·
Belarus can go to the Olympics - they only need to win the third-place playoff against Czech Rep.(likely).

Spain has sent their best squad. Mata and Javi Martinez aren't even eligible for the Olympics, yet they are very serious about winning this tournament. (Only Busquets was the exception. Canales didn't get picked due belonging to a wrong club.)

Sad fact - Ukraine is as deep as Dynamo and Shakhtar. Every talent gets picked by either by the age of 18. The remaining youngsters aren't very talented. :D Then comes the competition for the first team and the presence of players who rarely have minutes.
Konoplyanka seems to have stopped progressing. Yarmolenko has some attitude problem - he can deliver stellar performance but doesn't know to keep up. And what were they trying to do upfront with ...Zozulya? I've no clue, it was a mystery to see him as sole striker. Not even sure why he's been still with Dynamo?
Rakitsky is OK - but does he need to look so FAT? Krivtsov screwed big and, though still young, is about to join the stockpiled. Garmash is a talent. He was the only bright spot up until the removal. It's just too much is expected and he can be easily driven out of the club if he fails to hold a place.

Looking forward ... err... who's coming up from the youth ranks? :eek:
Ah that's true, they can still hope to win the 3rd place game I forgot. But still, if the England result held after the 89th min Belarus would have automatically clinched an Olympic berth :howler:

How come Canales wasn't called up? He played a lot for Racing last season and impressed before coming back to Real this past season and not having first team action. Surprised he was absent.

Been saying Konoplyanka hasn't been growing much. He peaked spring 2010 for Dnipro (owning Srna hard) and in his first taste of national team friendlies last May. He had a pretty average club season, nothing too special. Even so, he's still better than most Ukrainians and will still improve some in my opinion. At least he takes good touches and its hard to take the ball from him....LOL there's a difference in being fat and looking fat. People have different builds, he's a stocky kid with a wide chest. Might need to scale back a bit haha, but its absolutely ridiculous that fayban said someone (maybe Kryvtsov) is more athletic than him :howler: (cue Spain's 1st goal) :howler:

Are we supposed to know of 16 or 17 yr old kids already? :confused: Ramos gave Babenko several sub appearances late in the season btw. Hope he's not another Karnoza :D

Ohh and Mata with Martines came on as subs for 1 game at the WC, played a combined 30 some minutes. Hardly huge names. Same goes for starting for Deportivo. Spain is the best team in the tourney, but they looked like Barca against us and the difference in talent is not THAT big, at least so i thought.
First of all what is the deal with all your weird spellings? Its pretty crazy, nobody spells it Martines, for a second you had me thinking Obafemi Martins. Seriously, what is with that?

Second of all you called them Spanish league B players, and now you're ridiculing them for 'only' getting action in the World Cup on a team that's won back to back Euro's and World Cup? C'mon man stop flip flopping, we lost to some top class young La Liga players. This Spanish generation is very strong, now they shed their inferiority complex of never winning major tourneys so they are playing with even more swagger. Still, I agree with you the talent level shouldn't be that stark of a contrast, that was ridiculous how bad we sucked.


Also Tactics were completely wrong for Ukraine I thought. Ukraine only looked imposing in the first 45 minutes vs. the Czechs and the rest of the tournament we had no penetration in the final third.

I still think the talent was/is there - but the way this team came together was poor. Furthermore, on paper - this team looked better than the team we had in 2006 that reached the final (fact). Mentally, Ukraine was never in it though.

Ukraine is a top 10 youth team nation in Europe, this much is clear, especially over the last 5/6 years - they have demonstrated it. But our players stagnate by playing in the UPL too long I feel. I don't like saying that, since the league is also progressing very evidently, but maybe not quickly enough as we would want it to. But hey, the big clubs have the money to keep them in the UPL, so this is the nature of our dilemma. We keep our best players at home - but maybe thats hurting the UNT's progress in the long-run. Who knows...
Great post, agreed.
 
#19 ·
I agree that Konoplyanka has stopped progressing. He has that 1 move and thats about it, 1 move and fire is what his game is all about. 3-iy time guys were making fun of him too, and that 1 move. Defenders in UPL have him figured out by now. They also said something pretty funny and true about how he gets worse on the field with every minute he is on. Yarmolenko is the talent in this group, he is just inconsistent and i'm not sure if he has the mentality for greatness, being around Milevsky and that group cant be good for him either.

Ohh and Mata with Martines came on as subs for 1 game at the WC, played a combined 30 some minutes. Hardly huge names. Same goes for starting for Deportivo. Spain is the best team in the tourney, but they looked like Barca against us and the difference in talent is not THAT big, at least so i thought.
 
#20 ·
Also Tactics were completely wrong for Ukraine I thought. Ukraine only looked imposing in the first 45 minutes vs. the Czechs and the rest of the tournament we had no penetration in the final third.

I still think the talent was/is there - but the way this team came together was poor. Furthermore, on paper - this team looked better than the team we had in 2006 that reached the final (fact). Mentally, Ukraine was never in it though.

Ukraine is a top 10 youth team nation in Europe, this much is clear, especially over the last 5/6 years - they have demonstrated it. But our players stagnate by playing in the UPL too long I feel. I don't like saying that, since the league is also progressing very evidently, but maybe not quickly enough as we would want it to. But hey, the big clubs have the money to keep them in the UPL, so this is the nature of our dilemma. We keep our best players at home - but maybe thats hurting the UNT's progress in the long-run. Who knows...
 
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