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After defeating the host Armenia and giving the false hope that this team could qualify by defeating Spain in the final game of the group stage, the Italian under 19 NT lost to the Spanish team 2-1. The Italian team had even scored the first goal with Merola and were leading at the end of the first half but in the second half Spain scored two thanks to one own goal and one penalty.
 
Also clear fitness level difference. Swedish players middle end of season, while Italians starting pre season.
 
I'm not really following the youth teams the way I used to but I'm impressed by this midfielder who has come out of nowhere (actually Milan indeed) and has scored for fun in the last few weeks.
Tommaso Pobega

he seems to make things happen for his Serie A team too, more in the scoring department. I haven't noticed him take over possession yet so he might be limited in that regard, but it is a nice story.
 
I like Nicolato, he's a pragmatist with a dash of Damiano Tommasi intellectualism. Didn't have several tools so he went with a conservative but flexible 3-5-2 for the away win. Always beautiful to have more quality in the midfield with Pobega
 
The under 21 euro tournament has become complex. I thought our team had gained the qualification to the final phase by winning their group. Instead, there is a second group stage with 4 groups of 4 national teams and the best 2 will qualify to the final 8.
Our group is B and the other teams are Spain, the Czechs and Slovenia, who are the host.

The program is:
March 24 in Celje vs Czech Rep.
March 27 in Maribor vs Spain
March 30 in Maribor vs Slovenia

The players

Goalies: Marco Carnesecchi (Cremonese), Michele Cerofolini (Reggiana), Alessandro Plizzari (Reggina)
Defenders: Raoul Bellanova (Pescara), Enrico Delprato (Reggina), Gianluca Frabotta (Juventus), Matteo Gabbia (Milan), Matteo Lovato (Hellas Verona), Riccardo Marchizza (Spezia), Lorenzo Pirola (Monza), Luca Ranieri (Spal), Marco Sala (Spal), Gabriele Zappa (Cagliari).
Midfielders: Davide Frattesi (Monza), Giulio Maggiore (Spezia), Tommaso Pobega (Spezia), Samuele Ricci (Empoli), Nicolò Rovella (Genoa), Sandro Tonali (Milan).
Forwards: Patrick Cutrone (Valencia), Andrea Pinamonti (Inter), Giacomo Raspadori (Sassuolo), Gianluca Scamacca (Genoa)
 
The under 21 euro tournament has become complex. I thought our team had gained the qualification to the final phase by winning their group. Instead, there is a second group stage with 4 groups of 4 national teams and the best 2 will qualify to the final 8.
Our group is B and the other teams are Spain, the Czechs and Slovenia, who are the host.

The program is:
March 24 in Celje vs Czech Rep.
March 27 in Maribor vs Spain
March 30 in Maribor vs Slovenia
This is the final phase.

It has just been split between March (groups) and end May/early June (knockouts) so euro2020 can be played from 11 June. Usually the whole under 21 final pase would be played during June.
 
Yes, the format is new in respect of the expansion from 12 to 16 teams, but there is no intermediate round between the qualifiers and the finals. The games beginning tomorrow are the final phase and were scheduled to be played in June but UEFA had to re-organise it after euro2020 was postponed.
 
I forgot to comment the first game of the under 21 Italian NT vs the Czechs.
It was one of those games in which you think you are in control, then all of a sudden your opponent equalizes thanks to an unlucky own goal and you aren't able to score any more goals.

(3-5-2):

Carnesecchi 6 - one save on instinct in the first half and little more. The own goal could not be avoided.

Del Prato 6 - old school defender. Solid, no nonsense.
Gabbia 6 - a mistake which could cost dearly in the first half, one header which was brilliantly saved by the goalie near the end of the game. I read he has been banned even if he had not been sent off (at least during the game).
Marchizza 6 - two dumb yellow cards. My feeling is that the Czechs were Nedved-esque throughout all the game and probably both yellow cards were excessive

Zappa 5.5 - a few lost balls, often inaccurate (Bellanova 6 - as soon as he entered he missed a tap in but didn't lose confidence and near the end of the game put a ball which just asked for someone to kick it into the goal)
Frattali 6 - a lot of energy up and down the pitch (Rovella 6 - a good intuition from Nicolato who felt Tonali needed an alternative at playmaking)
Tonali 4.5 - I have watched again the episode which costed him a red card. He probably trod on the opponent calf on purpose but I'm not 100% certain. What is certain is that the Czechs marked and kept him out of the game until Rovella came in and gave him some freedom. He also committed a lot of fouls.
Maggiora 6 - I don't want to be harsh with this guy, who had done well till the unlucky own goal. He also had the chance to score on Raspadori's wrong shot but he was again unlucky (Pobega nv)
Sala 5.5 - the left foot is good but we have watched better ones at under 21 level (Dimarco for example). The ball Bellanova gave him just needed a guy with the convinction to shoot it inside the goal, instead he let the defender reach the ball somehow before.

Cutrone 6.5 - a good performance as a supporting forward for Scamacca: an assist for the goal and a smart dummy which could have been finished in a better way by the same Scamacca. Also one shot on goal. Negative: he looked a bit slow as if he was not in great shape (Raspadori 5.5 - more energy, but not nearly as good as the guy who left the pitch)
Scamacca 7 - the goal and a few more chances to score for him. A lot of hard work.

The Cutrone-Scamacca pair didn't convince me before the game but it works.

For the Czechs, a well organized but pretty average team with good cheating skills of a few single players, the forward Lingr (6.5) was a painful mosquito for our defense.
 
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