2007 UEFA EUROPEAN UNDER-21 FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP

(Redirected from UEFA U-21 Championship 2007)

The 'UEFA U-21 Championship 2007' were held from June 10, 2007, to June 23, 2007. It is the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Football Championship.
For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition — the Netherlands, who are also the defending champions, were exempt from qualifying.
The host nation was chosen on December 15, 2005. England, Italy, Portugal, Turkey and Sweden also submitted bids. Of UEFA's 52 member countries, only the Faroe Islands did not compete in the qualification round for the tournament. That left 50 nations attempting to qualify for the 7 remaining spots at the finals.
This was the first time that the competition's final matches took place in an odd-numbered year. UEFA took this decision with the will to give more visibility to the tournament, since during even-numbered years the competition was clouded by the approaching FIFA World Cup or the UEFA European Championship.
The tournament also served as the European qualifying tournament for the 2008 Summer Olympics, with a place for the 4 semi-finalists of the tournament.[1][2] With the event of England reaching the semi-finals, a fifth-place playoff was necessary.
In this competitition, a new UEFA penalty shootout record was established[3]. The semi final between The Netherlands U21 and England U21 finished in 1-1. No less than 32 penalties had to be taken before the tie was decided. The Netherlands U21 won 13-12,[4] and went on to win the tournament by defeating Serbia U21 4-1 in the final.[5]
After the final some commotion arose in The Netherlands because several Dutch internationals with Surinamese roots carried the flag of Suriname with them during the ceremony of the European Champion in the Euroborg. Dutch coach Foppe de Haan expressed the actions of these players as "inappropriate".

Contents
Qualification
Finals Tournament
Draw
Venues
Squads
Finals group stage
Group A
Group B
Olympic Qualifying Play-Off
Knockout stage
Semi-finals
Final
Result
UEFA Team of the tournament
Goal scorers
Man of the Match awards
References
External links

Qualification


Steward outfit displaying the logo of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship 2007

The Dutch team celebrating their victory after the final

The final, Netherlands - Serbia, in the rain

Main articles: 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship qualification

In order to make the switch from odd to even-numbered years, the 2007 edition was a shortened version, condensed from a two-year campaign into a one-year campaign. Therefore, a completely new qualification format was devised to eliminate the weaker nations early, and saw a decrease in the size and duration of qualification groups.

Finals Tournament


Draw

The draw for the finals took place in Arnhem on 24 November2006, putting the eight qualifying nations into two groups. The provisional dates for the group games are June 10 to 17 June2007, with Heerenveen and Arnhem each staging a semi-final on June 20. The final is scheduled take place on Saturday 23 June at the Euroborg stadium in Groningen.
The opening game was between Netherlands and Israel at June 10.
Venues

City Stadium Capacity
Arnhem Gelredome 30,000
Heerenveen Abe Lenstra Stadion 28,000
Groningen Euroborg 20,000
Nijmegen De Goffert 13,000

Squads


Main articles: 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squads

Finals group stage


In the following tables:

★ 'P' = total games played

★ 'W' = total games won

★ 'D' = total games drawn (tied)

★ 'L' = total games lost

★ 'GF' = total goals scored (goals for)

★ 'GA' = total goals conceded (goals against)

★ 'Pts' = total points accumulated
Team has qualified for the knockout stage. If place within group is known (1st or 2nd), it is indicated
Team cannot qualify for the knockout stage.

Group A

Pos.TeamPWDLFAPts
'1' 3 2 1 0 5 3 '7'
'2' 3 1 2 0 3 2 '5'
'3' 3 1 1 1 5 2 '4'
'4' 3 0 0 3 0 6 '0'

----
----
----
----
----
Group B

Pos.TeamPWDLFAPts
'1' 3 2 0 1 2 2 '6'
'2' 3 1 2 0 4 2 '5'
'3' 3 1 1 1 5 4 '4'
'4' 3 0 1 2 1 4'1'

----
----
----
----
----

Olympic Qualifying Play-Off


The four semifinalist nations would qualify automatically for the 2008 Olympic Games, with the exception of England as their players would only be able to participate at the Olympics as part of a United Kingdom team. Because England did qualify for the semifinals, a play-off between Portugal and Italy, the two third-placed teams in each group, was necessary to decide the fourth European berth for the 2008 Olympic Games. Italy defeated Portugal through a penalty shoot-out booking their Olympic place in Beijing.

Knockout stage



Semi-finals

----
----
Final

'NETHERLANDS:'
GK '1' Boy Waterman
RB '2' Gianni Zuiverloon
CB '4' Arnold Kruiswijk
CB '18' Ryan Donk
LB '5' Erik Pieters
DM '6' Hedwiges Maduro (c)
CM '8' Royston Drenthe
CM '11' Daniël de Ridder
AM '10' Otman Bakkal
CF '13' Maceo Rigters
CF '9' Ryan Babel
'Substitutes:'
GK '16' Kenneth Vermeer
GK '23' Tim Krul
DF '3' Ron Vlaar
DF '19' Calvin Jong-a-Pin
DF '21' Frank van der Struijk
MF '12' Luigi Bruins
MF '17' Haris Medunjanin
FW '7' Julian Jenner
FW '14' Roy Beerens
FW '15' Robbert Schilder
FW '20' Tim Janssen
'Coach:'
Foppe de Haan
'SERBIA:'
GK '1' Damir Kahriman
RB '3' Antonio Rukavina
CB '2' Branislav Ivanović (c)
CB '11' Duško Tošić
LB '6' Aleksandar Kolarov
DM '7' Milan Smiljanić
DM '13' Nikola Drinčić
RM '19' Dušan Basta
CM '10' Dejan Milovanović
LM '8' Boško Janković
CF '9' Đorđe Rakić
'Substitutes:'
GK '23' Aleksandar Kesić
DF '4' Nemanja Rnić
DF '5' Gojko Kačar
DF '15' Predrag Pavlović
DF '20' Slobodan Rajković
DF '22' Nikola Petković
MF '14' Stefan Babović
MF '16' Đorđe Ivelja
FW '18' Dragan Mrđa
FW '21' Zoran Tošić
 
'Coach:'
Miroslav Đukić


★ Assistant referees:


★ Manuel Navarro


★ Tomas Mokos

★ Fourth official: Stéphane Lanoy


Result


2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Winners

'Netherlands'
'2nd Title'

UEFA Team of the tournament


;







[1]

Goal scorers


;4 goals

Maceo Rigters
;3 goals

Leroy Lita
;2 goals

Alberto Aquilani

Ryan Babel

Giorgio Chiellini

Kevin Mirallas

Dragan Mrđa

Miguel Veloso
;1 goal

Otman Bakkal

Luigi Bruins

Matt Derbyshire

Royston Drenthe

Manuel Fernandes

Boško Janković

Aleksandar Kolarov

Hedwiges Maduro

Dejan Milovanović

Nani

David Nugent

Michal Papadopulos

Sebastien Pocognoli

Giuseppe Rossi

Ricardo Vaz Té

Man of the Match awards


;Group A

★ Netherlands v. Israel: Royston Drenthe

★ Portugal v. Belgium: Marouane Fellaini

★ Israel v. Belgium: Kevin Mirallas

★ Netherlands v. Portugal: Maceo Rigters

★ Netherlands v. Belgium: Sebastien Pocognoli

★ Israel v. Portugal: Miguel Veloso
;Group B

★ Czech Republic v. England: Nigel Reo-Coker

★ Serbia v. Italy: Dejan Milovanović

★ Czech Republic v. Serbia: Duško Tošić

★ England v. Italy: Alberto Aquilani

★ Italy v. Czech Republic: Giuseppe Rossi

★ England v. Serbia: James Milner
;Semi-finals

★ Netherlands v. England: Maceo Rigters

★ Serbia v. Belgium: Branislav Ivanović
;5th place playoff

★ Portugal v. Italy: Emiliano Viviano
;Final

★ Netherlands v. Serbia: Ryan Babel

References


1. De Sart wants Belgium's backing
2. Match schedule
3. Netherlands News
4. Holland U21 1-1 Eng U21
5. Holland U21 4-1 Serbia U21

External links



Draw and Fixtures ''at uefa.com''

This article provided by Wikipedia. To edit the contents of this article, click here for original source.

psst.. try this: add to faves