Subject: U21 World Cup

I'll open only one thread for the whole U21 WC, I guess it's enough, otherwise we have too many NT related topics on top ... ;-)


Here the draw, like always they were no seeded teams! ;-)


Group A
1. Cymru
2. India
3. Peru
4. Norge

Group B
1. Hrvatska
2. Schweiz
3. Venezuela
4. Ceska

Group C
1. Andorra
2. Danmark
3. Slovensko
4. Israel

Group D
1. Sweden
2. Colombia
3. Scotland
4. Magyarország

Group E
1. Hong Kong
2. República Dominicana
3. Ireland
4. Austria

Group F
1. Slovenija
2. Romania
3. Portugal
4. Argentina

Group G
1. Deutschland
2. Russia
3. Hellas
4. Bulgaria

Group H
1. Mexico
2. USA
3. Canada
4. Malaysia

First games will be number 1 in the group vs number 2 and nr 3 - nr 4.

Oh yes, I think I don't have to mention that we were pretty lucky! ;-)

:) Pretty nice alright.

Looks like we got the best group of the lot

It could have been worse, yes ...

Its a very good draw

Lucky as usual GeG.

Good luck!

These players are already in the U21 NT team, some more will follow later this week.

Keeper
David Croly
Gerard Place

Defender
Corey Hogan
Liam Caffrey
Graham Treacy
Clayton Kinsella

Midfielder
Anthony Sanabria
George Elce
Jon Davey
Jared Cramer
Ben Abbott
Jonathan Holt

Striker
Corey Curley
Kevin Stapleton
Kevin Fitzgibbon
Lee Coyne


Like I wrote above, some more players will be added to the NT later this week! ;-)

Strangely enough Holt has been included after his worst game. I'd take a look at Richard Kemp.
Looking through the database from the start of the season, Jimmy McHugh and Stuart Foran might be worth looking at.
(edited)

Yep, I don't have the actual skills of all players, that's why I'm nominating the other players later.

The difference between Holt and Kemp is the defense skill, and that's why Holt is in.

I've never bothered with defence for Kemp because he's a winger. There's no benefit in him having him track back into a defensive position so he's purely attacking.

That seemes to be our squad for the U21 qualifications!


Keeper
David Croly, Best mark: 51
Gerard Place, Best mark: 50
George Smith, Best mark: 43

Defender
Corey Hogan, Best mark: 42
Liam Caffrey, Best mark: 44
Graham Treacy, Best mark: 42
Clayton Kinsella, Best mark: 35
Dave Draper, Best mark: 44

Midfielder
Anthony Sanabria, Best mark: 53
George Elce, Best mark: 48
Jon Davey, Best mark: 43
Jared Cramer, Best mark: 49
Ben Abbott, Best mark: 45
Jonathan Holt, Best mark: 42
Jamie Lennon, Best mark: 41
Richard Kemp, Best mark: 43
Glen Hegarty, Best mark: 43
Robbie Mannion, Best mark: 42

Striker
Corey Curley, Best mark: 51
Kevin Stapleton, Best mark: 49
Kevin Fitzgibbon, Best mark: 50
Lee Coyne, Best mark: 50
Stuart Foran, Best mark: 51
Jimmy McHugh, Best mark: 43



We're more playing with an U20 than an U21, that's a good sign for the future! ;-)

A short notice to every position:
Keeper
Most of the other teams will have keepers who are around magical, our keepers are between solid and excellent, and their pace isn't higher ...
So, if you know somebody who doesn't really want to invest time here and who doesn't care about results, ask him to train Irish GKs! ;-)

Defender
There's only one defender who has pace and defender on at least excellent! :-(
Most have nice secondaries, but no pace ...
An 18yo may even get the chance to play.

Midfielder
We have some nice midfielders, we especially have quite a lot good players! Most of them aren't even 21, for the future it looks nice! ;-)

Striker
We have some bad luck with injuries, but from the skills most of the strikers aren't far behind the senior ones. Curley of course is the star of the team!


I also noticed that many players have huge form problems.
I might use some midfielders as defenders, that's why I nominated much more midfielders than defenders ...


Anyway, I'm looking forward to the matches with this team! :-)
Though we can't expect miracles! ;-)
(edited)

Yeah the defence is big problem.
I'm fairly certain there is a young keeper who is at least formidable around somewhere.

At least our strikers shouldn't be too far off the pace at this level.

I'm fairly certain there is a young keeper who is at least formidable around somewhere

There's that chap I sold for nearly a mill last week. Alan Blanche. He's 20