[X-Offender]

No, the rule is that you gotta be under 21 at the beginning of qualification games that start about two years before the tournament.

Yeah, I thought of that immediately after I made my post. Makes sense.

lol'ed so hard..gosh i'm getting childish

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)

[kurtsimonw]

Trevor Brooking has come out and said England don't have the depth to compete at all levels of International football. More like the big 4 don't have enough age appropriate English players. Norwich won the Youth FA Cup, Villa won the sort of U21 equivalent of the Champions League - only 1 of those players was picked for ANY level of English football. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif)

and then they wonder why we've only won a few youth tournaments. Bunch of retards run football in this country.

[Jack Bauer]

So Italy qualified from 1 place thanks to 94 minutes equalizer from Bertolacci vs Norway, who finished second. Englnad lost to Israel and finished with 0 points.

Holland and Spain qualified from the other group already, tomorrow's game between them will be for the first place.

Italy - Holland can be a great final.

[Zed.D]

Why is this thread so quiet? I almost forgot about the U21's.

Italy beat Holland to reach the final which I didn't quiet expect. but it'll be a real bummer if Spain beat Italy like their senior team did in Euro 2012 final.

[Jack Bauer]

Another Spain title, another poor final by Italy (IMG:style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

This post has been edited by Jack Bauer: Jun 18 2013, 05:43 PM

[Zed.D]

As expected... Spain are the strongest and there's nothing anyone can do. and this titles proves it's not just their first team. great players are coming through the ranks and that means they will probably continue to dominate in the foreseeable future. they chocked and failed for decades, now they can't stop winning everything (IMG:style_emoticons/default/dry.gif)

[Fillipo Simone]

I don't think so. Winning youth tournaments means much, but not that much. It's nothing but a variable. My sentiment is that without Xavi and Iniesta most of the magic will be gone.

[kurtsimonw]

I don't think so. Winning youth tournaments means much, but not that much. It's nothing but a variable. My sentiment is that without Xavi and Iniesta most of the magic will be gone.

Agreed.

Just look at the Holland team that won this competition few years back. De Ridder, Babel, Drenthe, etc. All failures.

[Zed.D]

^^ That really means nothing about Spain.

@ Fillipo

I don't think this is a one-off golden generation thing. sure, winning back to back Euros and a WC in between (and maybe another WC but hopefully not!) is something that'll probably never happen again to them after this generation (as it had never happened to any country). in that sense this is Spain's golden generation. but I think they have enough talented players to dominate football for another 8 years or so. that doesn't mean they'll win everything from now on, but it'll be hard to stop them.

[Fillipo Simone]

I don't think so. Just remember France. There was an age not so long ago where people would say "France will dominate for decades". People thought that even Zidane's retirement won't halter them, but it happened to them even sooner.

I really don't think youth players can tell you that much. Sure, it's a good indicator and you might say "Spain will be a strong team in the forthcoming few years". But that's about it. Their backbone are still Iniesta (29) and Xavi (33) while other key players like Casillas (32) are also not getting any younger. I think Spain dominate because of the way their system works and all segments get connected. I'm not sure that's a thing you can harvest and pass on to the next generation. Barcelona do this, but results are also questionable. Spain is not a club, so they're in a even more delicate situation.

[Zed.D]

What happened to France means nothing about Spain!

I don't think it's only Xavi and Iniesta that give Spain its strength. sure you can say that to make your point seems more valid, but Busquets, Ramos, Pique, Alba, Fabregas, etc. these are important players as well and they're young. Spain is a true team, they don't rely on a few individuals's brilliance. Xavi and Iniesta may take them to another level where they can win 3 major trophies in a row, but they're not Spain's only great players.

Besides, it's too soon to talk about Spain without Iniesta and even Casillas. both of them have another 4-5 years in them IMO.

[Fillipo Simone]

We'll see. I just know that youth tournaments are good indicators, but to say Spain will dominate for the next 8 years is an overstatement, even with the senior teams achievements in mind.

Busquets, Ramos, Pique, Alba, Fabregas - without Xavi and Iniesta - make a very good team, but in no way a dominant one. The striker problem will appear once more, then the defensive problem as well.

But all those predictions are unwise. We should wait and see. But U-21 didn't mean much for Holland, Italy or Serbia for example in the past.

[kurtsimonw]

England U21s break their record beating San Marino 9-0. It's embarrassing.

[Fillipo Simone]

What's embarrassing?

[kurtsimonw]

Getting beat like that. The funny thing is they actually beat Wales. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif)