Subject: U21 News & Matches

This season I will not candidate for U21 Slovenia coach

Želel bi se zahvaliti vsem uporabnikom(DeJvX, Čevap, rotom, deni24, ekstream, polček, orange-slo, ktrout kelt in elannm), ki so dali to izjemno generacijo mladincev, da smo se konkurenčno borili za napredovanje na U21 svetovno prvenstvo ampak na koncu je malo zmanjkalo.

Lep pozdrav in želim vam še tako dobro delo z mladinci v naslednjih sezonah ter doseganje še večjih uspehov na svetovnem nivoju

This is the list of friendly games this season. There are still several weeks available. Hopefully, the schedule will be complete this week

Week 1 - Malaysia
Week 2 - Al Maghrib
Week 3 - Bolivia
Week 4 - MiniWC
Week 5 - MiniWC
Week 6 - MiniWC
Week 7 - Knock-out stage MiniWC or Crna Gora
Week 8 - Knock-out stage MiniWC or Hong Kong
Week 9 - Free
Week 10 - Kypros
Week 11 - Cuba (mix of U20/21)
Week 12 - Malta
Week 13 - Cameroon
Week 14 - Philipinas
Week 15 - Ukraine
Week 00 - Russia


The are two aims for this season: to improve our rating and to play well in MWC (mini World Cup).
Currently, Slovenia U21 stand at 56th place with 1585.31 points. We are about 200 points below 46th place which is the threshold of basket 3 of the qualification draw next season. It's a challenge to get there in one season but that's the idea.
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Slovenia U21 starts tomorrow against Malaysia U21. Tactic flexibility is very limited given the amount of players I can use. Unfortunately, we lost our best striker Arnold Veter due to injury.

In my database I've got 39 players whose skills has been updated within 1 month time. I don't have skills for 14 players and 12 players have not been updated for a while. Unfortunately, I don't know the skills of Polde Karantic and Goran Brezovar. I have to use the former as a substitute in the midfield but can't use the latter.

The players that can take in the match are listed below in alphabetical order:

Goalkeepers
Slavc Knavs
Maksimilijan Skubic

Defenders
Denis Cvelfer
Zoran Golob
Viktor Gregorčič
Iztok Kek
Edi Kralj
Rado Lorbek
Branko Trubar

Midfielders
Nikolaj Bekar
Dejan Jelenko
Polde Karantic
Zmago Tomažič

Forwards
Jernej Vidmar
Matija Voh
Jernej Žagar

I will play 5-3-2 as the opponent has better players and quite good strikers. This is the first game and I don't really know how the team will perform but we need to start well and win the game. The opponent's keeper is not that skillful so we have chances to score

Good luck

My debut was not great.

Malaysia : Slovenia 1:0

The result of the first game is a bit disappointing. We lost to a team which was equal to us. From my perspective there were two mistakes: the tactic and the defense line movements. Maybe there was something else but these two factors resulted in the lost game.

As that was the first game, I didn't really knew the strength of the team and players. Slovenia has issues in every line except for the goalkeeper. Defenders are rather slow, limited number of midfielders to choose from (that's why 4-4-2 is difficult to implement) and forwards (and we lost the best one right before the game).

Hopefully, I'll manage to find a balanced tactic soon.

Slovenia U21 lost 40 ranking points

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Vidmar is monster and next season will be big star already is equal to Veter

Knavs now this:

Slavc Knavs, age: 21

club: Flooderia, country: Slovenija,
value: 639 700 000 Ft, wage: 6 915 000 Ft,
superdivine [17] form, formidable [11] tactical discipline,
height: 176 cm, weight: 76.9 kg, BMI: 24.83

adequate [6] stamina divine [17] keeper
formidable [11] pace poor [3] defender
unsatisfactory [2] technique unsatisfactory [2] playmaker
good [7] passing poor [3] striker

Indeed, Vidmar is very good. He achieved 55 mark in the game against Malaysia! Even now he is almost as good as Veter but 1 year younger. Also, if Jernej Žagar and Matija Voh improve attacking, they will be very good strikers next season. S0 I don't worry about ATT next season.

A big issue is a keeper though. When Kvans leaves, I don't know who can successfully substitute him

The second match was better in terms of a result but we played against a weaker team.

Slovenia : Al Maghrib 3:1 Zagar - 2; Karantic

19yo Viktor Gregorčič played his first game for U21. Another 19yo Matija Voh appeared for the second time (his debut was last week against Malaysia). The owner of 20yo Goran Brezovar sent me the actual skills yesterday. The defender is very solid so he will play as a wing defender in the starting 11 subject to his form. Overall, the team has a good combination of 21yos and younger players so we are well positioned for this and next seasons. The only worrying area is a goalkeeper. There is a huge gap behind Slavc Knavs but this is a headache for the next season.

The win over Al Maghrib earned us 26 ranking points and we closed the gap between us and Bolivia which is at 55th place. This week we should play against them so a win will help us to get 1 place up in the ranking table.

nov manager Slovenije U21 je v skrbeh zaradi prihodnosti slovenskih vratarjev in če kdorkoli pozna in je v stiku z Batmanom iz druge slovenske lige FC Quercus Bees naj prosim mu sporoči, da naj golmana Maksimilijana Skubica proda ali pa trenira ker jst sm imel namene z njim dobit še enega vrhunskega golmana za U21 ampak takoj po sprejetju iz mladinske sm mu poslal dva maila zgleda da ju je preebral in me ignoriral in nato ob koncu prejšnje sezone še dva in tudi na ta dva ni bilo odgovora preprosto ni timski uporabnik hvala

Thank you Gunner. I hope we'll get a trained keeper for the next season.

In a meanwhile, we are going to play against Bolivia, a team which is 1 place higher in ranking table. If we win the game we'll overtake them. The selected players (in alphabetical order) who will play today.

Keepers:
Slavc Knavs
Maksimilijan Skubic

Defenders
Denis Cvelfer
Goran Brezovar
Zoran Golob
Viktor Gregorčič
Janko Jelenko
Iztok Kek
Rado Lorbek

Midfielders:
Nikolaj Bekar
Dejan Jelenko
Polde Karantic
Zmago Tomažič

Forwards:
Arnold Veter
Jernej Vidmar
Jernej Žagar

Veter recovered from his injury so he will start from the 1st minute. I decided to drop Voh for this game. Another change is Brezovar who will also be among starting 11 players.

I think we have good chances to get 3 points

Edited: Dejan Jelenko is included instead of Paul Kranjec
(edited)

I am on holidays. We start MiniWC with a game against Scotland. A strong team so I chose a defensive 5-3-2. We'll see how it works

Knavs mistake

Finally, a nice gameplay! I am satisfied with the result. A draw 1:1 against Scotland is a good start of the MiniWC. We scored a good goal. My only mistake is Nik Padeznik should substitute Tomazic at position 9, rather than Bekar at position 8! But I'll blame the heat here =)

I am very pleased with a draw against Scotland! Scotland 1:1 Vidmar
Slovenia U21 gained 11 ranking points

The next game is a second round of miniWC against Daehan Minguk

The selected team is
Goalkeepers:
Slavc Knavs
Maksimilijan Skubic

Defenders
Goran Brezovar
Denis Cvelfer
Zoran Golob
Rado Lorbek
Zdenko Jug

Midfielders
Nikolaj Bekar
Janko Jelenko
Damjan Jenko
Polde Karantic
Nik Padežnik
Zmago Tomažič

Forwards
Arnold Veter
Jernej Vidmar
Jernej Žagar

Obviously, it should be an easy game for us so it's a good chance to use some young players and give them experience. A 19yo Zdenko Jug will make his debut in U21 tomorrow
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