Italy's Class of '81-'82 - 2004 UEFA Under-21 Champions

Published by: jack 2009-01-08

Guess I missed this news from before the holidays.

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/Under21/news/Kind=1/newsId=134407.html

The European U-21 championship, which also serves as UEFA's Olympic qualifying tournament, will be played in Germany. Germany and Italy have received the two top seeds in the 8-team tournament. Italy's games will be May 27, May 29, and June 1 in Bochum. Their opponents will be determined during the draw on Feb 11. The other 6 teams are Belarus, Croatia, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and Serbie&Montenegro. The top two teams in each group proceed to the semifinals. The two finalists and 3rd-place winner will qualify for Athens 2004 (along with host Greece).

Italy usually does well in this tournament but not in the Olympics, in part because UEFA insists on sending U-21 teams to the Olympics, which is (for the most part) a U-23 tournament.

I watched the Italy U-21s last friendly ahead of the European Championships/Olympic Qualifying tournament. Wow, what a showing. They totally outclassed a Sweden team that is also in the 8-team finals next month (but in the other group). 4-0!! Gilardino scored twice and was taken out half-way through the first half. Caracciolo and Sculli scored in the second half. Just a brilliant display from these kids:

http://www.channel4.com/sport/football_italia/apr27l.html

They are obviously one of the favorites to win the tournament, as one of the two seeded teams, along with Germany. It would be a tremendous shock if they somehow miss out on Athens, but we'll see.

Italy's captain, Daniele Bonera, has been sent off for a harsh challenge. Now that is a clever move .... not only sabotage any faint hopes of getting an equalizer but also gut your defense for the next one or two games.

The Official All Time Draft Thread [Archive] - Jets Insider.com Forums::
Guerin Sportivo magazine's player of the Italian championship L'Équipe French Champion of Champions . UEFA Team of the Year: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006
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Cobblers comments::
With August's Serbian game bizarrely ruled by UEFA as a non-competitive international - so when will they play this bloody qualifier, then? - Italy away
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If baggio does not get into the Euro 2004 team, it will be nice if he goes to the Olympics as an overage player.

Finally, De Rossi enters for Pinzi in the 81st minute. And people question Trapattoni's lineup choices .. :rolleyes: 88th minute, and it looks hopeless. Italy will have no option but to beat Serbia and Montenegro on Saturday - the only team to beat them during the qualifying stages of this tournament.

Thanks for the updates Sue.

The draw took place, and Italy is in the group with Serbia-Montenegro, Belarus and Croatia. Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and Portugal make up the other group. The top two finishers in each group make the semifinals with the two finalists plus the 3rd-place winner qualifying for Athens.

Tournament runs from May 27-June 8.

I guess there's a CHANCE they might be on RAI, which showed many of the qualifiers leading up to this tournament. But the tournament itself (the U-21 European Championship, for that is what this really is - it just serves as Olympic qualification every four years) wasn't shown last time around, so I'm not optimistic.

The tournament starts tomorrow with Italy playing Belarus at 2:45 pm EDT. As far as I know, the only TV coverage in the US is closed-circuit coverage via Setanta. There have been a couple of injuries in recent days with replacements called in. Paolo Cannavaro and Fabio Gatti were hurt and replace on the roster by Alessandrao Gamberini (Bologna) and Alberto Aquilani (Triestina).

2-1!! Reggina's Giandomenico Mesto enters the game and on perhaps his first touch, gets a cross off to Gilardino which the Parma marksman heads on target.

calcio spagnolo: ottobre 2006::
Stadio da quattro stelle secondo la UEFA, ma non sarà il caso di far entrare .. la Spagna Under 21 non raccoglie gli stessi successi inanellati dalle
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A disastrous start for Italy as Belarus has scored on a corner in the 6th minute. I hope Italy's highly-touted strike force featuring Sculli and Gilardino can make up for this early setback.

Today's U-21 friendly against Greece is on RAI International.

Can't seem to find a link to the squad chosen by Gentile. Just know that Gilardino is hurt and not making the trip.

I don't think it rules it out 100%. Way back when, I remember there were discussions about whether Cassano could compete in both, and the conclusion was, yes, it's possible. The big problem would be that he (Gilardino, I'm talking about now) won't be able to participate in the senior team's training camp, so how can Trap get a good idea of how he performs alongside the other players.

Italy's starting lineup vs Belarus -

Amelia
Zaccardo
Moretti
Bonera
Pinzi
Gilardino
Brighi
Sculli
Barzagli
Donadel
Del Nero

The pressure is definitely on Italy to win this game as Belarus are considered rank outsiders in a group which also contains Serbia&Montenegro and Croatia.

Looks like www.uefa.com will be doing text webcasts of these games. The Italy game starts at 2:45 EDT. Doesn't seem like RAI radio will be airing it, unfortunately.

Just when an equalizer seemed inevitable, Belarus has doubled their advantage in the 44th minute with a goal by their star, Aleksander Gleb. I wouldn't to be these guys facing Gentile in the locker room at half time. Can you say "overconfident"?

Do you know where we can watch some of these matches on the tele?

D'Agostino has entered the game replacing Del Nero. Meanwhile, Gilardino has been booked - for diving. Agliardi was booked in the first half.

Here are the 24 players called up for the U-21 European championships:

Portieri: Agliardi (Brescia), Amelia (Parma), Zotti (Roma);
Difensori: Barzagli (Chievo Verona), Bonera (Parma), Bovo (Lecce), Cannavaro (Parma), Moretti (Bologna), Potenza (Parma), Zaccardo (Bologna);
Centrocampisti: Brighi (Brescia), De Rossi (Roma), Donadel (Parma), Gatti (Perugia), Mesto (Reggina), Palombo (Sampdoria), Pinzi (Udinese), Rosina (Parma);
Attaccanti: Caracciolo (Brescia), D'Agostino (Roma), Del Nero (Brescia), Floro Flores (Sampdoria), Gilardino (Parma), Sculli (Chievo Verona).

I find it hard to imagine that a team with the likes of Bonera, De Rossi, and Gilardino won't qualify for Athens.
Well, if you look at the squad that failed to qualify from Brazil you won't be that surprised if Italy fail to qualify. Since Gilardino has been called up for this squad I guess it's safe to assume he won't be going to Portugal.