Subject: U21 World Cup

Our U21's got their season off to a nice start today with a 1-0 victory over Chile. This will be their only run out before the start of the U21WC which begins in week 10.

The draw is expected to be made this evening by Israel manager Sharoni 123 who also helped organise the recent mini world cup.

40 teams have entered the competition this year and it looks like the format will be 10 groups of 4 with the group winners and the best 6 placed runners up progressing to the last 16 which will be a knock out format.

In the past these draws have been completely random but this season i think that the top ten ranked teams will be seeded and with us not being in that top 10 then we could be in for a very tough group.

Does the U-21 WC begin after the completion of the official WC, or is there some overlap?

Personally I am a little worried about the U-21 WC, England are a little weak.

I thought the teams that are qualified for a certain round of the official WC are automatically free for some rounds in the U21 WC.

That's how Hells done it in the past, the other teams also had group stages from week 7.

Not sure Sharoni has thought this through tbh. The WC finalists wont be able to take part :/

WC final and U21WC both scheduled for week 10...a fixture clash for England? :)

I hope so!

Well, the draw has been made but there's still some sorting out to do i think.

We would be better waiting untill week 11 to begin imo so that each country can use their U21's but with Spain and Italy contesting the world cup final they have been seeded into the same U21 group and their WC final result will stand for the U21 tournament.

Anyway, not much i can do but go along with it .

Here's the full draw....

Group A:
1. Eesti
2. Canada
3. Romania
4. Portugal

Group B:
1. Lietuva
2. Danmark
3. Latvija
4. Chile

Group C:
1. Argentina
2. Brazil
3. Colombia
4. Cymru

Group D:
1. Suomi
2. Sverige
3. Azerbaycan
4. Bulgaria

Group E:
1. Czech republika
2. France
3. Scotland
4. Norge

Group F:
1. England
2. Switzerland
3. Venezuela
4. Croatia

Group G:
1. Belgium
2. Israel
3. USA
4. Peru

Group H:
1. Polska
2. Germany
3. Uruguay
4. Turkiye

Group I:
1. Nederland
2. Slovakia
3. Magyarorszeg
4. Austria

Group J:
1. Italia
2. Spain
3. Mexico
4. Hellas

So, with the French and the Czech's it's certainly a tough looking group for both ourselves and Norway who will be our first opponents. Hopefully we can get off to a winning start against a Norwegian outfit who look at first glance fairly similar in strength to ourselves.
(edited)

So everybody, which of your players are you hoping to see perform in the U21 World Cup?

I've got 3 lads i hope will get a run out:

Iulică Spătaru - Romanian MID - 21 yrs old

Jeroen De Meulemeester - Belgium MID - 20 yrs old

Bruno Aulestia - Spanish MID - 20 yrs old

Problem for the last 2 is that they are a year too young, but i have hopes they cans till squeak into their respective teams.

in a word NONE :(

lol, you were close though Stevie.

There's nobody in the squad faster than my striker who was in the top 4 or 5 at the seasons start Alan MacLennan 7233704.

Fortunately for Scotland though i've managed to find 4 better strikers that have pushed my pacey guy down and out of the reckoning.

i have 1 international player , he plays for panama but its the main team

i hope to have 1 player good enough to play for scotland one day tho !!! :)

I'd love to have a player involved :-(

At one point, I hoped King Lowson of Scotland (copyright Auldreekie) would be able to make it, but he hasn't developed as well as I'd hoped.

Ah well - good luck Reekie!

Good luck Reekie. I expect a tough campaign, hope you can dig something out.

Thanks.

King Lowson was like my guy and StevieR's. In the top 5 or 6 at the season start but the 4 new arrivals have pushed all 3 out of the reckoning, sad for us but good for Scotland :)

The U21WC starts on Saturday and after much debate there will be 32 teams out of the starting 40 going through to the ko stages, so the top 3 in each group and the best 2 4th placed finishers. This gives Scotland a great chance to get past the group stages of this tournament for the first time ever and a win on Saturday v Norway would make life a lot more comfortable with strong French and Czech sides still to be faced.

Please sk mail me all updates on your young stars if they haven't been updated recently and please continue to do so each pop whilst we are still in the competition.
Cheers

Our opener v Norway kicks off at 12.00 local time today.

It should be a fairly close game so hopefully we can take a point or 3 from this one.

3 players miss out due to form or injury but we are still looking competitive enough.

France take on The Czech Republic in our other group match and i would fancy the Czech's to win that one and go on to top the group.

please please please tell me iwelumo WONT be involved :)