Aguero and Messi have won this tournament, if its good enough for them its bloody good enough for me!!
And I think I'm right in saying they've won nothing with Argentina since. Not in anyway trying to diminish this young team's achievements, is great to see an England team at any level finally do something at a tournament, but sadly it doesn't mean it's a sign of things to come at senior level.
Aguero and Messi have won this tournament, if its good enough for them its bloody good enough for me!!
And I think I'm right in saying they've won nothing with Argentina since. Not in anyway trying to diminish this young team's achievements, is great to see an England team at any level finally do something at a tournament, but sadly it doesn't mean it's a sign of things to come at senior level.
Messi and Aguero (and quite a few others) who won the U20 world cup then won the Olympics a couple of years later
It's all well and good us winning an U20 World Cup and the U21 Toulon tournament until Chelsea decides to sign them up for them to sit in the U23s for a couple of years. That's where the problem lies and that's why we rarely see these players progress.
Interestingly, the team that won the Toulon Tournament were not the usual U21 team and were all around 18/19 years old.
Not often I agree with Danny Mills but he's right about St George's Park, we are beginning to see its effect in that generation.
I'd be more inclined to believe that this is simply a particularly gifted age group. Let's not forget most of this team won the U17 Euros in 2014 (Solanke was top scorer there) and then reached the semi-finals of the U19 Euros last year.
Although having said that we were about 10 seconds away from winning the U17 Euro's again last month so maybe there is some hope.
England U21 start the European Championship finals soon. Not sure how many of those have played PL football this season, can't imagine its a lot either
Just realized that I started this thread and never came back to comment on the final (which I was a couple days late in watching due to a power outtage to half the city caused by a squirrel). So, timely as ever, a week on...
Watched every minute of every England game. After the 3-0 win against Agentina and then the performance against Guinea I thought they looked like a decent team of good players, but a taditional English one--playing in flat lines, toothless possession, not able to create chances unless it's on the break. The performance against South Korea was much better, and you could see they really started to grow into the tournament. Should have killed off Costa Rica, but were very good for much of the game there. The second half against Italy, really the last 20 odd minutes of the first half too, were brilliant. And in the final they looked very good, very professional, defended well.
Freddie Woodman looks a real prospect, what a great penalty save. Clarke-Salter looked the weak link in the defense but that didn't look a pen to me. The fullbacks, Walker-Peters and Kenny, looked really good, technically gifted players. Solanke is a class above. Calvert-Lewin is awkwardly incredibly effective, and manages to find time and space due to a lot of clever running. Onomah, who looked like he'd never seen a football in the first game, was a class above the rest. And Lewis Cook was a fantastic runner who always seemed to be there to break up play or stop the ball.
I watched Lookie with a real sense of pride. For all of the "he won't be sold in January" nonsense, he was, and let's be honest, he is at a level far, far above where we are now, and I have to think that a few months under Koeman did him far, far more good than getting kicked up in the air in League One. He has all the tools. Still a bit raw, but he's 19. And he's clearly growing and learning. Was nice that Ez got a run out at the end of the Italy game. He looked like he'd put on ten pounds of muscle from when I'd last seen him. Perhaps it was because the kit was tight, I don't know.
A really nice win. And there is Maitland-Niles who looks a real talent, ditto Ejaria who didn't play loads. Plus there's Patrick Roberts, Izzy Brown, Joe Gomez, (all part of the Euro U-17 win), Kasey Palmer, and a couple others who were eligible to play but didn't either because of club commitments or being saved for the U-21s (which none of them made). I would put all of them near the top of the list in terms of talent and potential.
Comments
Obv special mention to Looky & Konsa...:-)
Interestingly, the team that won the Toulon Tournament were not the usual U21 team and were all around 18/19 years old.
Although having said that we were about 10 seconds away from winning the U17 Euro's again last month so maybe there is some hope.
I wonder how many of that squad will pay regular, or even semi regular first team football next season
Watched every minute of every England game. After the 3-0 win against Agentina and then the performance against Guinea I thought they looked like a decent team of good players, but a taditional English one--playing in flat lines, toothless possession, not able to create chances unless it's on the break. The performance against South Korea was much better, and you could see they really started to grow into the tournament. Should have killed off Costa Rica, but were very good for much of the game there. The second half against Italy, really the last 20 odd minutes of the first half too, were brilliant. And in the final they looked very good, very professional, defended well.
Freddie Woodman looks a real prospect, what a great penalty save. Clarke-Salter looked the weak link in the defense but that didn't look a pen to me. The fullbacks, Walker-Peters and Kenny, looked really good, technically gifted players. Solanke is a class above. Calvert-Lewin is awkwardly incredibly effective, and manages to find time and space due to a lot of clever running. Onomah, who looked like he'd never seen a football in the first game, was a class above the rest. And Lewis Cook was a fantastic runner who always seemed to be there to break up play or stop the ball.
I watched Lookie with a real sense of pride. For all of the "he won't be sold in January" nonsense, he was, and let's be honest, he is at a level far, far above where we are now, and I have to think that a few months under Koeman did him far, far more good than getting kicked up in the air in League One. He has all the tools. Still a bit raw, but he's 19. And he's clearly growing and learning. Was nice that Ez got a run out at the end of the Italy game. He looked like he'd put on ten pounds of muscle from when I'd last seen him. Perhaps it was because the kit was tight, I don't know.
A really nice win. And there is Maitland-Niles who looks a real talent, ditto Ejaria who didn't play loads. Plus there's Patrick Roberts, Izzy Brown, Joe Gomez, (all part of the Euro U-17 win), Kasey Palmer, and a couple others who were eligible to play but didn't either because of club commitments or being saved for the U-21s (which none of them made). I would put all of them near the top of the list in terms of talent and potential.
Currently leading 2-0 after we scored in the first minute and then straight after HT; Jay Dasilva playing