Asunto: National Team U21

Def pop....

Rory Groom, age: 21

very good [9] stamina hopeless [1] keeper
outstanding [12] pace outstanding [12] defender
good [7] technique solid [8] playmaker
adequate [6] passing poor [3] striker

Currently travelling and have not had much luck trying to get a match for this week.
Will do my best for the snippets of internet I will be getting

Ah the old travel excuse, heh !! I know it too well. :D
Enjoying the challenge of giving a 5 game headstart & whether I can rise to top 6 by season end.

Could have given me that headstart rather than be your first or second game back with full strength :p

Unintentionally well timed (if there's such a thing).....got back for winnable games. Now the big boys loom.

This week we commence the first week of the Asian Cup.

It should be an exciting season with lots of teams involved (20 all up)

Australia is seeded #3 but the top two are certainly world cup quality sides.
The list of teams (and ranks) are as follows

Participating Teams
------------------------------------

1. Azerbaijan (30)
2. Viet Nam (32)
3. Australia (42)
4. Israel (51)
5. New Zealand (54)
-------------------------Above this line are seeded
6. India (58)
7. Indonesia (61)
8. Zhonghuo (62)
9. Pilipinas (70)
10. Jamaica (73)
11. UAE (74)
12. Cymru (76)
13. Malaysia (78)
14. Nippon (81)
15. Hong Kong (85)
16. Prathet Thai (86)
17. Ozbekistan (89)
18. Kazakhstan (91)
19. Iran (92)
20. Daehan Minguk (96)

We didn't get the group of death which is nice, and anything less than making the Quarter Finals will be a failure. We should realistically make the Semis, but a few good teams will miss out on them

GROUP A

1. Australia (42)
2. Pilipinas (70)
3. Prathet Thai (86)
4. Kazakhstan (91)

We haven't played Pilipinas or Kazakhstan for many seasons, but last time we played Prathet Thai, we had a 1:1 draw, which was 3 seasons ago.
So despite the ranks, I don't think anyone will be an easy win given the variability U21 throws up

As far as major threats in this competition

Azerbaijan and Viet Nam are regularly in the mix for the World Cup Group stages.

Azerbaijan have been having similar ratings to us, but with their U20s
Viet Nam rate mid-high 50's, which is crazy for this level.
Israel have previously done well in Asian cups
New Zealand just made it to the Semi Finals of the Mini World Cup, and beat the team that knocked us out.

Outside of the top seeds, India, Indonesia and Zhonghou have given us a run for our money in the past and will not be easy beats if we come up against them

Good luck. Apart from Groom, my U21s are down on previous seasons, so due a couple of decent youths. Tong might be one for the future if talent indicator is true.

So far the tournament has gone well with Australia winning all 3 matches
Thanks to our results in the group stage, we managed to get ourselves in to the number 1 seed spot for the final 8

There's still some very big teams left, and a few who have punched well above their wait.

Our first step in the finals are Nippon



Below are the final 8. The first number is their team seeding coming in to the tournament, and the number in the brackets is their global rank coming in to the tournament
2. Viet Nam (32)
3. Australia (42)
6. India (58)
10. Jamaica (73)
12. Cymru (76)
13. Malaysia (78)
14. Nippon (81)
17. Ozbekistan (89)
(editado)

Good luck. Pretty nice draw through to the final from here.

For sure, we really set ourselves up with some good group stage results.

There were a couple of big results in the Quarterfinals

1. Australia vs Nippon - 3:0
2. India vs Cymru - 1:0
3. Viet Nam vs Malaysia - 0:1
4. Ozbekistan vs Jamaica - 2:1

India scraped past Cymru. Malaysia managed to knock out the big guns Viet Nam. Ozbekistan, who were 17th seed (out of 20) at the start, have managed to make it to the final 4 with another impressive performance against Jamaica. They may very well be the underdogs of this competition who could take it out.

Damn, massive loss during the week. Our #1 GK out for both the semi and if we make it, the final

We have faith. :D

And just like that, Australia are the Asian Cup champions after knocking off both Ozbekistan and Malaysia in some hard fought matches.

1st - Australia
2nd - Malaysia
3rd - Ozbekistan

Congrats mate. Nice to see my boy Gardiner pulling his two highest ratings ever in the final two games.

For sure, we will definitely miss him next season.

There's some massive names leaving who have played multiple seasons with the u21s, but it will open up the opportunity for more players to break in to the side