Reply With Quote2 nil up just over 20 mins to go.
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Originally Posted by Baloo
I don't even notice how wrong they are anymore.
2 nil up just over 20 mins to go.
2 - 1 grr not posting again until ft!
3 - 1 ft
Did you manage to watch much of it? I was very pleased with that performance even if the quality of the opposition was poor. I don't think we deserved to concede at all and great way to end the group too.Cheers for link
The performers worth mentioning for me were Harry Wilson, Regan Poole (as a holding midfielder) and Dom Smith.
Smith was my MOM, though he did have a period in the middle of the game where his distribution was poor. He won more battles than anyone else. He seems to have physically developed over the past couple of years. He is on loan to Barrow until January which is a better move for him than perhaps it sounds. Barrow are now in the Conference and in the play off spots and Smith is playing games.
Wilson was much much better than his last poor outing for Wales. he was positive and direct. The second goal came from his forced cross which he drove in first time on his right foot rather than cut back on his left like he does a lot.
Poole showed why United snapped him up. Not so much for his technical prowess, but because he shows terrific determination desire - two traits I associate with Ferguson type players. I can imagine him taking the captain armband for the u21s for the next campaign.
Williams got his subs right too. Off came George Williams who faded and wasn't having a lot of impact on the game. On came Dan James who Swansea stole off of Hull's academy as soon as they got category one status. James made an instant impact and our second goal came from his direct running... Jake Charles came on for Harrison and also impressed. I think he looks much more confortable as a striker rather than on the wing.
Also a mention to Bluebirds O'Sullivan and John. Declan assisted Tommy's goal with a low cross into the goal. O'Sullivan also assisted Harrison's fine headed goal with a cross from the right hand side.
A REVIEW OF THE U21 QUALIFYING CAMPAIGN.... (Taken from the FAW website)
http://www.faw.cymru/en/news/review-...ying-campaign/
Wales will not be taking part in next summer’s UEFA U21 European Championship tournament in Poland, but what is very much a fact is that this has been a very positive campaign overall for Geraint Williams’ next generation of Welsh footballing talent.
FAW.Cymru takes a look back at the last campaign this group of players will contest together, with only seven of the players in the squad to face Armenia on Tuesday eligible to feature in the next campaign.
Wales 3-1 Bulgaria, Cardiff City Stadium, 31 March 2015
25 minutes of sheer brilliance saw Wales put this tie to bed in style as a Tommy O’Sullivan brace and a Josh Yorwerth header had Bulgaria 3-0 down before the half-hour mark.
Three days after the senior team had thrashed the previously undefeated Israel 3-0 in UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying thanks to a Gareth Bale brace and Aaron Ramsey header, the young Dragons put on a fantastic display.
Confidence radiated throughout the youngsters, and it could have been a lot more than three goals on the night, as Bulgaria were able to get a consolation goal just after halftime, however over 1,000 fans at Cardiff City Stadium were treated to an excellent performance.
It would also prove to be a big moment for Harry Wilson, who made his Under-21 debut in the fixture as a late substitute – he would go on to be an essential part of the team in the remainder of the campaign.
Luxembourg 1-3 Wales, Stade de la Frontière, 4 September 2015
3-1 away sounds like an easy night, but it wasn’t at all for Williams’ side. They had to defend resolutely to cope with a side who are very good when in possession, and take their chances when they came on the break.
Thankfully, Bristol City’s Wes Burns was in fine form on the night and was able to notch a brace, and Harry Wilson proved why he is so highly regarded by all those who are involved with Welsh football by scoring his first Under-21 goal just three minutes after coming on for Ellis Harrison on the hour mark.
A late consolation goal for Luxembourg in second half injury time brought the scores back to a more respectable 3-1, but the home side should have done more with the ten shots they attempted; a testament to Wales’ defence on the night, however, that Luxembourg weren’t able to do that.
Denmark 0-0 Wales, Nordjyske Arena, 9 October 2015
Considering this was matchday three and we’re now in matchday nine, Wales are still the only team in this group to have taken any points from Denmark during this campaign.
Semi-finalists at the 2015 Under-21 European Championships, Denmark’s performance reflected that quality, as they put Wales under a lot of pressure, but the likes of Ellis Harrison, Ryan Hedges and Harry Wilson all forced smart saves out of the home goalkeeper, and could have snatched what would have been a fantastic three points.
The draw, between two teams who traded blows at various points of the match while failing to land the decisive knock-out punch, saw Wales drop from first in the group to third, with Bulgaria and Luxembourg overtaking them in the standings, but the toughest game of the group – on paper – was out of the way.
Wales 2-1 Armenia, The Bangor University Stadium, 13 November 2015
Harry Wilson playing for Wales at the Bangor University Stadium usually means that the wing wizard scores and Wales win. It happened when the Liverpool star was at Under-16 level, and it happened on this day in Bangor, with Wilson netting a last gasp winner.
Ellis Harrison had opened the scoring after nine minutes from the penalty spot to give Wales a dream start, but they couldn’t capitalise on their lead and seize the initiative, as Armenia equalised moments before the hour mark to make for a very nervy affair going into the last half hour.
Fortunately, the Bangor University Stadium is used to contesting such affairs, with Bangor City usually coming out on top of such occasions when the Dafabet Welsh Premier League giants play there, and so it proved here as Wilson’s goal one minute into injury time sealed a crucial win for Wales.
Wales 1-1 Romania, The Racecourse Ground, 17 November 2015
Two minutes in, Wales found themselves 1-0 down. However, 12 minutes later, they were back on level terms again as Wes Burns took his tally for the campaign to three goals connecting with Declan John’s cross with a powerful header to bring the scores level.
Romania goalkeeper Laurentiu Branescu was sent off just before halftime for kicking Cardiff City’s Tommy O’Sullivan, giving Wales a fantastic opportunity to come out of the blocks flying in the second half and chase the winner, but Romania withstood a battering to see out the draw as Williams’ side held onto top spot in the group.
Bulgaria 0-0 Wales / Romania 2-1 Wales, 25/29 March 2016
A lack of a cutting edge in one game and a difficult playing surface in the other contributed to Wales’ struggles in these two fixtures and FAW.Cymru spoke to U21 Goalkeeper Billy O’Brien to get his insight into the performances:
“They were two games we should have won. In the first game against Bulgaria we could have been 3-0 up at half-time, and then we start chasing the game in the second half because we feel like we should win, and we almost get caught out and lose.
“I think we played the wrong type of football for the pitch. The pitch was sticky and dry in the first half and we tried to pass it short and we were getting caught out and losing the ball. In the second half, when it became a bit wet, we were zipping balls around but we were already losing the game and then we conceded a silly second goal as well. I think the first goal was the one that killed us, the ball has come from our own corner, and a few seconds later they've got a corner because we've tried to do something daft.”
Wales 0-4 Denmark / Wales 1-1 Luxembourg, September 2/6 2016
It is very rare at any level of football that you come up against someone who is just too good, who on their day is so exceptional that you just cannot get near them. Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi … these are the sorts of individuals you think of, but in Wrexham on 2 September, Wales came up against someone who is surely going to be a massive star in the future: Pione Sisto.
With a brace against Wales in Wrexham – one in particular being a spectacular solo effort – the Celta Vigo striker has since gone from strength to strength, starting regularly for the Spanish side, scoring recently in a 2-0 win against Espanyol and notching the winner in Celta’s fantastic 4-3 victory over Barcelona.
Clearly a very special talent, and on this day he and his Denmark side were just too good for Wales.
The first goal came after 20-odd minutes, a scrappy one from a corner as Denmark put away a ball that was pinging around the six-yard box, and the nature of the goal unsettled Geraint Williams’ side somewhat and before they knew it Denmark had scored again – Sisto scoring his first of the game – before a goal early in the second half put the tie to bed and Wales went on to suffer a 4-0 defeat.
Regan Poole made his U21 debut as a second-half substitute but on this day Wales were just beaten by the better team.
A game in Bangor against Luxembourg followed and Wales went 1-0 down to a contentious penalty. Josh Sheehan narrowly missed an attempted sixty-yard lob that had the keeper beaten but Wales could only manage to score an equaliser in the 91st minute through Jake Charles – his second of the campaign.
This game in Armenia on Tuesday presents an opportunity for this group to play their last game together and end the campaign on a high. (Which they did!)
[QUOTE=Blue in the Face;4683340]Did you manage to watch much of it? I was very pleased with that performance even if the quality of the opposition was poor. I don't think we deserved to concede at all and great way to end the group too.
Just bits and pieces during the second half in between domestics and annoying adverts that kept popping up! I used to take a very active interest in welsh youth football around the time Rambo was 13/14 but alas that interest has waned somewhat over the last few years.
I do periodically read TOBW, Gringo and Lormanski's youth updates and having read your thread and like your idea for grouping such thread together decided to take a browse following the link you provided.
However being totally honest, it was only our players I recognized and if Declan had been on the far side of the pitch I'm not sure I would have done that given the size of the picture I was watching! Somewhat harsh booking, but a lovely cross for our third. A team sheet would most definitely have helped! Keep up the good work!
A goal for Tommy O'Sullivan.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37538819
Yes it is hard to work out the players when they've gotten some Dad to film the thing on his handycam! The team was...
................................... Crowe .........................................
Jones (c)......... Rodon ................... Smith ................. John
.................................. Poole ...........................................
Wilson............ O'Sullivan ........... Sheehan ................. G.Williams
.................................. Harrison ..............................................
O'Sullivan pushed up like a 2nd striker at times, while Sheehan sat deep. Dan James came on for Williams. Charles for Harrison. Both like for like. Connor Roberts came on for the injured Poole toward the end though I coudln't see if him or Jones went anchor man.
He had a good first half I thought. Tommy had an assist to as did Declan.
The FAW write up here...
http://www.faw.cymru/en/news/wales-u...campaign-high/
Just reading through the FAW write up now.
There was a Yeovil player who chose to make an appearance for his club rather than play in a now "meaningless" (his word) game for Wales and, though he scored for Yeovil, I'm not sure if I support that move. He's said that he spoke to the Welsh set-up and they still are on good terms and he knows him not making an appearance can allow another to get their debut so there is positive to it as well.
Is that Liam Shepherd? If so he's a right back who's on loan from Swansea. He might have gotten some game time today as he can play centre mid too and our squad was way light in that department. At right back though both Gethin Jones and Connor Roberts are ahead of him.
Not many will agree with me but I actually support players who choose to play league football over youth internationals. The priority is to help their careers and I think competitive club duty better served that purpose.
A few have opted out of this Armenia game which was a dead rubber. It just means others get the spot like you say. But I remember Tom Bradshaw getting critisised for years for pulling out for Wales u21s. But he's gone from Aberystwyth Town to the championship and finally into the Welsh squad over the past few years.
Brief highlights from the u21's Armenia game. I have to admit the only bit of the game I missed was about 30 seconds when the Armenians scored (went to take a waz!). I had no idea it was such a screamer!
Also for anyone who's interested in all things Welsh footie and is on Twitter (I'm not), you might want to follow this guy as he seems to vast knowledge on the matter and takes the time to share info constantly...
https://twitter.com/dragonsoccer58
He runs this terrific webstite...
http://www.dragonsoccer.co.uk/
I also thought this was worth sharing. This is the list of u21 players who were on the stand by to join the squad. Surge mentions Liam Shephard above. I think quite a few names here might have had a clash with club duties and lots of this lot are getting league experience at a young age which is great. The top two names are goalkeepers. Louis Gray was nicked by Everton from Wrexham a year ago and is still under contract there it seems. And the top name is a very interesting one - Tom King is a 21 year old keeper who has made a few appearances for Millwall this year and has played for English youth sides. But it seems perhaps he has defected to Wales.
Stand by players:
Tom King (Millwall)
Louis Gray (Everton)
Tom James (Cardiff City)
Theo Wharton (Cardiff City)
Rob Evans (Wrexham)
Cian Harries (Coventry City)
George Thomas (Coventry City)
Jamie Thomas (Burnley, on loan at Ayr Utd)
Liam Shephard (Swansea City, on loan at Yeovil Town)
Tyler Roberts (West Bromwich Albion, on loan at Oxford Utd)
Ethan Ampadu (Exeter City)
Callum Saunders (Crewe Alexandra)
Owain Jones (Swansea City).
This is Welsh squad for the 2016 Victory Shield. Notice now that sore losers England no longer take part in the tournament as they were worried about the indelible psychological scars that beatings from the mighty Welsh would inflict on them.
Great news for Cardiff City. Once again Cardiff are the dominant team when it comes to numbers in a Welsh youth team. Well done to the Cardiff academy!
Wales 22 player squad:
Dan Barnham (Arsenal)
Luke Burton (Shrewsbury Town)
Ryan Barrett (Newcastle United)
Michael Ellery (Everton)
Cameron Evans (Swansea City)
Ryan Astley (Everton)
Jamie Taylor (Bristol City)
Morgan Boyes (Liverpool)
Jac Davies (Cardiff City)
Terry Taylor (Aberdeen)
Keenan Patten (Cardiff City)
Sam Bowen (Cardiff City)
Neco Williams (Liverpool)
Callum Watts (Southampton)
Josh Hosie (Everton)
Bradley Gibbings (Swansea City)
Lewis Clutton (Bristol Rovers)
Jack Vale (Blackburn Rovers)
Isaak Davies (Cardiff City)
Dan Griffiths (Liverpool)
Steffan Bulkeley (Wrexham)
Cavan Williams (Cardiff City).
Fixtures:
Scotland host the four nation tournament.
Venue: The ORIAM, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh.
Sunday 30th October.
Scotland v Northern Ireland - kick off 2pm
Wales v Republic of Ireland - kick off 5pm
Tuesday 1st November.
Republic of Ireland v Northern Ireland - kick off 1pm
Scotland v Wales - kick off 4pm
Friday 4th November.
Northern Ireland v Wales - kick off 12:30pm
Scotland v Republic of Ireland - kick off 3:30pm
Thought I'd wipe the dust off this ol' thread for the Toulon tournement as someone asked for links for the Wales games...
Wales play their 2nd fixture pf the group today.
Bahrain U20 v Wales U20
http://www.footballstreamings.com/li...Wales-U20.html
Hopefully there'll be a youtube stream with very good Saes commentary like there was for the France game. I'll post that too if I find one.
This is the updated squad out there (that I know of). Quite a few significant withdrawals -Mitchell Clark, Matt Smith, Aron Davies, Rhys Norrington-Davies and a defection - David Brooks.
WALES SQUAD
Luke Pilling (Tranmere Rovers)
Lewis Thomas (Swansea City)
Cole Dasilva (Chelsea)
Aaron Lewis (Swansea)
Cameron Coxe (Cardiff City)
Regan Poole (Manchester United)
Cian Harries (Coventry City)
Rhys Abbruzzese (Cardiff City)
Joe Rodon (Swansea City)
Chris Mepham (Brentford)
Lloyd Humphries (Cardiff City)
Nathan Broadhead (Everton)
Jack Evans (Swansea City)
Mark Harris (Cardiff City)
Rhyle Ovenden (Watford)
Keiran Evans (Swansea City)
Liam Cullen (Swansea City)
Tyler Roberts (West Bromwich Albion)
Daniel James (Swansea City)
George Thomas (Coventry City)
Plenty of live streams on youtube for anyone who's interested. One of these should work. Should hopefully be English commentary on one of the youtube streams...
https://www.youtube.com/results?sp=E...=Bahrain+Wales
Game about to start. Going off the faces in the anthem, I think the only Cardiff starter is Harris. Think Aaron Lewis has come in for the very impressive Coxe and Cole DaSilva in for Abbruzzese.
Looks like Page is taking the tournament seriously with few changes for the rest though.
English commentary...
http://www.usagoals.com/c/football/2...-live-stream/#
0 - 0 half time. Looks like very hot conditions. Bit of a sloppy game.
Wales team:
Pilling, Lewis, Rodon (c), Harries, Dasilva, J. Evans, Poole, G. Thomas, James, Broadhead, Harris.
Subs:
L. Thomas, Abbruzzese, Coxe, Mepham, Ovenden, K. Evans, Humphries, Cullen, Roberts.
WATOTL
A 1-0 win for Wales thanks to a controversial late penalty which saw Bahrain also be reduced to ten. The commentator thought Wales got lucky with the decision, but I thought it was a penalty, the double punishment of a red card seemed harsh to me though.
Only watched the last twenty minutes, but Bahrain looked the better team to me until the penalty award.
Mark Harris was the only City player involved and he didn't do a great deal in the bit I saw except pick up a yellow card.
It seems at all levels, Wales's playing standard is rises or falls with the standard of the opposition. It was an incoherent performance in tough conditions - high wind and temperatures. The game was even, but Wales had a lot more quality and it told in the end. Think it was one of those very useful learning exercises.
From a City perspective, we might see our full backs get back in the team and get a shot against the Ivory Coast. I'd expect to see Tyler Roberts get his first start if he's fit. Harris may be one of the players to make way if so.
Toulon Tournament: Wales U20s were not at their best - Page
http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40140892
Intermediate teams manager Rob Page says Wales Under-20s were under par despite a 1-0 win over Bahrain in the Toulon Tournament.
Daniel James' late penalty gave Wales a first win in the competition after an opening draw against hosts France.
Page's side face Ivory Coast in their final Group B game on Monday with the top two teams in the group advancing.
"It's always a good sign when you win games of football and you haven't been at your best," said Page.
"We probably played better against France and didn't win.
"If someone would have said before the tournament that we'd be two games in and with four points going into the third game I'd snap their hand off.
"It's our first time in this tournament and we've been up against excellent opposition against France and a different challenge against Bahrain."
Wales are second after their win over Bahrain with next opponents Ivory Coast top of Group B after they beat France.
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