法國昂首殺入U21歐洲國家盃決賽週

小妖

首回合作客1-1
次回合係Darren Bent頂入一球既情況下
憑住Franck Ribery 既射門同Jimmy Briand既十二碼反勝2-1

Young Lions tamed in France

France U21 2-1 England U21 (aggregate 3-2)
England crashed out of the UEFA Under-21 Championships as Jimmy Briand converted a late penalty to send France through to next summer's finals by the narrowest of margins.

Kieran Richardson made contact with Lassana Diarra inside the box although the substitute made a meal of the situation before referee Matteo Trefoloni pointed to the spot.

Goalkeeper Scott Carson - in front of head England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson - got his hand to the spot-kick but was unable to prevent it from entering the corner of the net.

It was tough luck on England in an ill-tempered match but they paid the penalty for missing early opportunities in the Stade Marcel-Picot when Richardson and Darren Bent could have given their side breathing space.

The tackles were soon flying in from both sides and Ronald Zubar became the first player to be cautioned after seven minutes after a challenge on Carlton Cole.

The first threat to the England goal came after nine minutes when a snap-shot from Briand was only a yard too high but England almost broke the deadlock a minute later.

Bent, who had been unfortunate not to score in the first leg, cut in from the left and his low curling shot beat Jeremy Gavanon and hit the post.

The rebound fell to Richardson who looked favourite to score and his follow-up shot was well struck but blocked by Gavanon.

Bent, who has scored seven Premier League goals this season, had another opportunity when he raced onto Gary O'Neil's through ball.

The Charlton striker held off the challenge of Zubar but Gavanon was able to get his body behind Bent's eventual low drive.

O'Neil, who had recovered from a calf strain, became the first England player to be yellow-carded after 16 minutes for a reckless challenge on Rio Mavuba.

Michael Dawson became the third player to be booked for holding back Mavuba 10 yards outside the England penalty area and it was the signal for a 22-man brawl with even Gavanon racing the length of the pitch to become involved.

In the 27th minute Carson produced a superb save to keep England on level terms.

Franck Ribery used his trickery on the left flank to create the opening and his cross was met by a powerful header from Anthony Le Tallec but Carson went full length to his left to make a fine one-handed stop.

Tom Huddlestone was only just off target with a dipping 25-yard volley which had Gavanon scrambling anxiously across his goal-line.

Cole had half a chance in the early minutes of the second half after Ferdinand had headed a Huddlestone free-kick back across goal but his shot on the turn flew past the post.

Cole had another opportunity when Huddlestone floated his cross into the near post the Chelsea striker failed to make a proper contact on his shot.

After 55 minutes Bent finally made the breakthrough with his ninth goal at under-21 level. Ryan Taylor supplied the right-wing cross and Bent's sublime glancing header hit the post and rolled back over the line.

France's response was to immediately replace Etienne Didot with Diarra and England's joy lasted only four minutes before a superb goal from Ribery brought France back on level terms.

He received the ball in midfield and cut inside a defender before releasing a low left-footed drive which flew across the dive of Carson into the corner of the net.

Richardson entered the referee's notebook after hauling down Bakari Sagna. Coach Peter Taylor made his first substitution after 65 minutes with Norwich striker Dean Ashton replacing first-leg goal hero Darren Ambrose.

France started to get on top and Taylor got in a good block to keep out Briand's header at the far post from Faubert's deep centre.

But Ashton could have put England back in front when he flashed a header just past the post from Richardson's cross.

With five minutes left Richardson was adjudged to have brought down Diarra in the penalty area, attempting to hack the ball clear, and Briand scored from the spot although Carson got a hand to the ball.

# Taylor hurt by exit

England Under-21 coach Peter Taylor admitted he was 'hurt' after his side suffered a controversial 2-1 defeat in France to deny them a place at next summer's UEFA Under-21 Championships.

After drawing 1-1 in the first leg at White Hart Lane, England battled valiantly in Nancy and went ahead through Darren Bent's superb second-half header only for that to be cancelled out by the impressive Franck Ribery's effort.

But when Kieran Richardson hacked at the ball and caught Lassana Diarra inside the box, referee Matteo Trefoloni gave the late penalty which Jimmy Briand converted.

Taylor, though philosophical, was disappointed with the decision.

'It definitely hurts. We are disappointed with the penalty. I think the player's admitted to one of our team it was a dive, so we were unlucky on that,' Taylor told Sky Sports.

'But I couldn't be happier with the way the boys kept fighting.

'At times decisions are given and at times they are not but I thought he (the referee) was very quick to give it, and with those things you've got to be very, very sure about it.

'The way we played in the group and over these two games we deserve to go through. But it's not to be and we wish them good luck.'

[ Last edited by 小妖 on 16-11-2005 at 11:26 AM ]

Smithy

唔係嬴左附加賽咋咩?
另外兩場意大利係主場憑柏仙尼一箭定江山總比數2-1嬴匈牙利
主場既德國靠首回合入波既拉費爾再入一球總比數3-0擊敗捷克

小妖

Originally posted by Smithy at 2005-11-16 11:22 AM:
唔係嬴左附加賽咋咩?

u r right

[ Last edited by 小妖 on 16-11-2005 at 11:26 AM ]

Kevin@Lees

拿大力果場表現如何@.@?

Smithy

亨迪拿梅開二度
差1球就追平由馬卡爾同布京入既15球U21紀錄

Fantasista

11/17/2005 2:08:00 AM
The line-up for next summers European Under-21 Championship is now known after the completion of the qualification play-offs this evening.
The Netherlands, Portugal, Serbai and Montenegro, Ukraine and Denmark join Italy, France and Germany, who qualified yesterday.

The story of the night has to be the second leg of Denmark's tie with Russia. The Danes were leading 1-0 from the away leg and secured their qualification with a 3-1 win tonight, but Russia ended up the match reduced to just seven men. Yuri Zhirkov levelled the scores on aggregate in the second minute, but six minutes later the danes were level through Morten Rasmussen. Marten Bergvold gave the home side a lead on the night soon after. In the second half Kahlenberg scored from the spot to ensure Denmark's progression, but in the last eight minutes the Russian side lost their heads and had four players red-carded, while an unused sub was also dismissed from the touchline.

It was more straight forward in Heerenveen, where Netherlands won 2-0 against Slovenia to go through by the same scoreline on aggregate. Klaus Jan Huntelaar scored both goals at his home stadium to continue his prolific goalscoring at this level.

It was also a simple task for Serbia and Montenegro as they already led 3-1 from their first leg against Croatia. They completed a double with a 2-1 win in Gorcia, although Croatia did take an early lead to make the affair tense for a time.

In comparison there was some late, late drama in Belgium as the hosts lost 3-1 to Ukraine to go out 5-4 on aggregate. The home team were set to go through via the away goals rule before Arten Milevskyy scored three minutes into added time. It was an incredible turnaround, as Belgium had stretched their aggregate lead to 4-2 before half-time, but conceded three goals in the final 2-0 minutes.

Finally this evening, Portugal beat Switzerland 2-1 at home to progress 3-2 on aggregate, but also had to do so by coming from behind after David Dregan's first half strike. However, quick-fire second half goals from Hugo Almeida and Silvestre Varela saw the Portuguese advance.

Yesterday, England were beaten 3-2 on aggregate by France, Italy won 2-1 on aggregate against Hungary and Germany beat the Czech Republic 3-0 over the two-legs