2007 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

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2007 UEFA Under-21 Championship
Europees kampioenschap voetbal onder 21 - 2007
2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.png
Tournament details
Host country Netherlands
Dates10 June–23 June
Teams8 (from 1 confederation)
Venue(s)4 (in 4 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Netherlands (2nd title)
Runners-up Serbia
Tournament statistics
Top scorer(s)Netherlands Maceo Rigters (4 goals)
Best player(s)Netherlands Royston Drenthe
2006
2009

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship 2007 were held from 10 June 2007 to 23 June 2007. It was the 16th staging of UEFA's European Under-21 Championship.

Summary[]

For the first time, a host nation was chosen ahead of the competition – the Netherlands, who were also the defending champions, were exempt from qualifying. The host nation was chosen on 15 December 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 seven 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 four semi-finalists of the tournament.[1][2] However, as England is not an Olympic nation, their team was ineligible for the Olympics. Therefore, with the event of England reaching the semi-finals, a fifth-place playoff was necessary.

In this competition, 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.[citation needed] Dutch coach Foppe de Haan expressed the actions of these players as "inappropriate".[citation needed]

Qualification[]

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

In order to make the switch from even to odd-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 Dutch team celebrating their victory after the final

The draw for the finals took place in Arnhem on 24 November 2006, putting the eight qualifying nations into two groups. The provisional dates for the group games are 10 June to 17 June 2007, with Heerenveen and Arnhem each staging a semi-final on 20 June. The final took place on Saturday 23 June at the Euroborg stadium in Groningen.

The opening game was between the Netherlands and Israel at 10 June.

Venues[]

City Stadium Capacity
Arnhem Gelredome 25,000
Heerenveen Abe Lenstra Stadion 26,100
Groningen Euroborg 20,000
Nijmegen De Goffert 13,000

Squads[]

Finals group stage[]

The final, NetherlandsSerbia, in the rain

In the following tables:

Team qualified for the knockout stage
Team went to play-off for Olympics

Group A[]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Netherlands 3 2 1 0 5 3 +2 7
 Belgium 3 1 2 0 3 2 +1 5
 Portugal 3 1 1 1 5 2 +3 4
 Israel 3 0 0 3 0 6 −6 0
Source:[citation needed]
Netherlands 1 – 0 Israel
Maduro Goal 10' Report
Portugal 0 – 0 Belgium
Report
Attendance: 7,197

Israel 0 – 1 Belgium
Report Mirallas Goal 82'
Netherlands 2 – 1 Portugal
Babel Goal 33' (pen.)
Rigters Goal 75'
Report Veloso Goal 77'
Attendance: 19,498

Netherlands 2 – 2 Belgium
Rigters Goal 13'
Drenthe Goal 37'
Report Mirallas Goal 9'
Pocognoli Goal 70'
Israel 0 – 4 Portugal
Report Fernandes Goal 37'
Vaz Tê Goal 45'
Veloso Goal 49'
Nani Goal 50'
Attendance: 10,833

Group B[]

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Serbia 3 2 0 1 2 2 0 6
 England 3 1 2 0 4 2 +2 5
 Italy 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1 4
 Czech Republic 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
Source:[citation needed]
Czech Republic 0 – 0 England
Report
Gelredome, Arnhem
Attendance: 9,382
Serbia 1 – 0 Italy
Milovanović Goal 63' Report
De Goffert, Nijmegen
Attendance: 8,347

Czech Republic 0 – 1 Serbia
Report Janković Goal 90+3'
De Goffert, Nijmegen
Attendance: 6,109
England 2 – 2 Italy
Nugent Goal 24'
Lita Goal 26'
Report Chiellini Goal 36'
Aquilani Goal 69'
Gelredome, Arnhem
Attendance: 17,103

Italy 3 – 1 Czech Republic
Aquilani Goal 4'
Chiellini Goal 29'
Rossi Goal 45+1'
Report Papadopulos Goal 14'
Gelredome, Arnhem
Attendance: 7,167
England 2 – 0 Serbia
Lita Goal 5'
Derbyshire Goal 77'
Report
De Goffert, Nijmegen
Attendance: 9,133

Knockout stage[]

 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
20 June – Heerenveen
 
 
 Netherlands1 (13)
 
23 June – Groningen
 
 England1 (12)
 
 Netherlands4
 
20 June – Arnhem
 
 Serbia1
 
 Serbia2
 
 
 Belgium0
 

Semi-finals[]


Serbia 2 – 0 Belgium
Kolarov Goal 4'
Mrđa Goal 87'
Report
Gelredome, Arnhem
Attendance: 17,438

Final[]

The teams enter the field for the final
Netherlands 4 – 1 Serbia
Bakkal Goal 17'
Babel Goal 60'
Rigters Goal 67'
Bruins Goal 87'
Report Mrđa Goal 79'
Attendance: 20,000
Netherlands
NETHERLANDS:
GK 1 Boy Waterman
RB 2 Gianni Zuiverloon
CB 4 Arnold Kruiswijk
CB 18 Ryan Donk
LB 5 Erik Pieters Substituted off 89'
DM 6 Hedwiges Maduro (c)
CM 8 Royston Drenthe Yellow card 9' Substituted off 78'
CM 11 Daniël de Ridder
AM 10 Otman Bakkal
CF 13 Maceo Rigters Substituted off 69'
CF 9 Ryan Babel
Substitutes:
MF 12 Luigi Bruins Substituted in 69'
FW 14 Roy Beerens Yellow card 89' Substituted in 78'
DF 19 Calvin Jong-a-Pin Substituted in 89'
Coach:
Netherlands Foppe de Haan
Serbia
SERBIA:
GK 1 Damir Kahriman
RB 3 Antonio Rukavina Yellow card 89'
CB 2 Branislav Ivanović (c) Yellow card 62'
CB 11 Duško Tošić Yellow card 43'
LB 6 Aleksandar Kolarov Yellow card 28' Yellow-red card 62'
DM 7 Milan Smiljanić
LM 13 Nikola Drinčić Substituted off 65'
RM 19 Dušan Basta Substituted off 73'
CM 10 Dejan Milovanović
SS 8 Boško Janković
CF 9 Đorđe Rakić Substituted off 73'
Substitutes:
MF 21 Zoran Tošić Substituted in 65'
MF 14 Stefan Babović Substituted in 73'
FW 18 Dragan Mrđa Yellow card 82' Substituted in 73'
Coach:
Serbia Miroslav Đukić

Man of the Match:
Netherlands Ryan Babel

Assistant referees:
Switzerland Manuel Navarro
Slovakia Tomas Mokos
Fourth official:
France Stéphane Lannoy

2007 UEFA Euro Under-21 Championship
Winners
Netherlands
Netherlands
Second title

Awards[]

Golden player[]

Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards

England Scott Carson
Portugal Paulo Ribeiro

Serbia Branislav Ivanović
Italy Giorgio Chiellini
England Leighton Baines
England Steven Taylor
Portugal Manuel da Costa
Netherlands Gianni Zuiverloon
Serbia Duško Tošić

Netherlands Royston Drenthe
Netherlands Otman Bakkal
England Nigel Reo-Coker
Portugal Miguel Veloso
Portugal Manuel Fernandes
Belgium Jan Vertonghen
Italy Alberto Aquilani

Belgium Kevin Mirallas
Netherlands Maceo Rigters
England Leroy Lita
England David Nugent
Italy Alessandro Rosina
Netherlands Ryan Babel
England Ashley Young

Goal scorers[]

4 goals
3 goals
2 goals
1 goal

Medal table and Olympic qualifiers[]

  • Netherlands, Serbia, Belgium and Italy qualify for the Olympic games finals.

See Football at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1st place, gold medalist(s)  Netherlands (H) 5 3 2 0 10 5 +5 11 Gold Medal
2nd place, silver medalist(s)  Serbia 5 3 0 2 5 6 −1 9 Silver Medal
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  England 4 1 3 0 5 3 +2 6 Eliminated in
semi-finals
3rd place, bronze medalist(s)  Belgium 4 1 2 1 3 4 −1 5
5  Portugal 3 1 1 1 5 2 +3 4 Eliminated in
group stage
6  Italy 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1 4
7  Czech Republic 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
8  Israel 3 0 0 3 0 6 −6 0
Source: [ ]
(H) Host

Olympic Qualifying Play-Off[]

The 2007 European Under-21 Championship also doubled up as the European qualifying round for the 2008 Olympic football tournament. Europe's four places at the Olympic tournament were to be filled by the four semi-finalists. However, because England, one of the semi-finalists, do not compete independently at the Olympics, following the group stage a play-off between Portugal and Italy, the two third-placed teams in each group, was arranged to identify the fourth European qualifier. Italy defeated Portugal through a penalty shoot-out booking their Olympic place in Beijing.

Portugal Portugal0 – 0 (a.e.t.)Italy Italy
Report
Penalties
Moutinho Penalty scored
Nani Penalty scored
Fernandes Penalty missed
Veloso Penalty scored
Antunes Penalty missed
3 – 4 Penalty scored Pellè
Penalty scored Montolivo
Penalty scored Criscito
Penalty scored Palladino
De Goffert, Nijmegen
Attendance: 5,161

References[]

  1. ^ "De Sart wants Belgium's backing". David Bano & Michael Harrold. Archived from the original on September 21, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
  2. ^ "Match schedule". UEFA. Archived from the original on June 4, 2007. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
  3. ^ "Netherlands News". UEFA.com. Archived from the original on October 17, 2007. Retrieved August 21, 2007.
  4. ^ "Holland U21 1-1 Eng U21". BBC Sport. 2007-06-20. Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved June 23, 2007.
  5. ^ "Holland U21 4-1 Serbia U21". BBC Sport. 2007-06-23. Retrieved June 23, 2007.

External links[]

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