Day four at #U19EURO: Group B preview
Thursday, July 9, 2015
Article summary
Spain and the Netherlands hold the initiative in Group B after one game, with next opponents Russia and Germany aware they can ill afford a second defeat.
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Matchday one results:
Netherlands 1-0 Russia
Germany 0-3 Spain
Spain (3 points) v Russia (0) (18.00CET, Veria)
Suspended: Alfonso Pedraza (Spain), Aleksandr Likhachev (Russia)
Available after ban: Dzhamaldin Khodzhaniyazov (Russia)
Misses next match if booked: Aaron Caricol (Spain)
History
• Georgi Melkadze was in the Russia side that drew 1-1 with Spain in the 2013/14 UEFA European Under-17 Championship elite round, Jorge Meré playing for Spain with Aaron Caricol an unused substitute. Neither side reached the finals, however, Russia finishing second and Spain third.
Spain
• Coach Luis de la Fuente: "The only downside of the first match was that Alfonso Pedraza was sent off. He's a great character and he works a lot. We're losing a very important piece of our team, but we'll do the best we can to cover for him. We have faith in the player who will take his place."
Russia
• Coach Dmitri Khomukha: "We lost the first game mainly because we didn't take our chances. We had more chances than the Dutch but didn't take any of them. We need to keep calm – you always have to stay cool in football. That can be decisive, particularly when it comes to taking your scoring opportunities."
Germany (0) v Netherlands (3) (20.00CET, Katerini)
Available after ban: Max Christiansen (Grmany)
Misses next match if booked: Marius Funk, Luca Waldschmidt, Jonas Föhrenbach (Germany)
History
• Timo Werner converted a penalty against the Netherlands in the 2012 European U17 Championship final – but the Netherlands went on to win 5-4 in the shoot-out after a 1-1 draw in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
• Germany beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the 2009 U17 finals but lost 5-2 in 2011 prior to that 2012 defeat.
• Germany's first game of 2014/15 was a 3-2 friendly win against the Netherlands on 5 September with goals from Werner (25, 35pen) and Leroy Sané (67). The Netherlands replied through Suently Alberto (10) and Jari Schuurmann (54).
• The teams in Cologne were:
Germany: Husic, Klostermann (Regäsel 76), Baumgartl, Föhrenbach (Nkansah 63), Kijewski (Mayer 63), Kurt (Cueto 63), Christiansen (Barry 76), Ristl (Stenzel 76), Dahoud (Amiri 63), Avdijaj (Parker 63), Werner (Sané 63).
Netherlands: Houwen, Owusu, Van Bruggen, Riedewald, Alberto (St Juste 65), Nieuwkoop, Van de Beek, Paal (Schurrmann 46), Bergwijn (Ould-Chikh 46), Zivkovic (Van Amersfoort 46), Kallon (Kada 46).
Germany
• Coach Marcus Sorg: "Nobody can lift the players or support them but themselves. They don't have any 30-year-olds to lift them up like they might do in their clubs – it's all down to them here and that's the beauty of this tournament. The team will certainly raise their game on Friday. We will discuss what didn't go well [against Spain] to put that right. On Friday we'll show a different face."
Netherlands
• Coach Aron Winter: "The players were really looking forward to the first game but there was some tension at the beginning of that match. For the next two games that won't be a problem. Against Russia the heat made it hard, it was the first time they've played 90 minutes at this level and in this climate. The next game kicks off at night so it should be cooler then. We've got things we can still improve, and we'll show you what that is on the pitch."