UEFA European Under-19 Championship

[FormerRussianSpy 163]

The U19 Euros kicked off today with group matches between Spain/Greece, England/Croatia, France/Serbia, and Estonia (hosts)/Portugal. http://www.uefa.com/under19/index.html

Any Chelsea fan would be pleased to see that our own Nathaniel Chalobah scored the equalizer in England's 1-1 draw with Croatia. Through qualifying, more Chelsea lads featured in the squad (Josh McEachran, Patrick Bamford, Aziz Deen-Conteh, Todd Kane, Jamal Blackman) with Chalobah and Kane each scoring a goal.

Considering the quality of England's youth team and the performances of our own Chelsea players, this should be an exciting affair.

[CFC-Lloydy 38]

Venturing away from this slightly. I've just returned from a week in Antayla (Turkey) and whilst I was out there, I was pleasently surprised to find out that the UEFA Euro 2012 Women's Under 19's Championship was being held near by, with all of the 8 nations staying at the same hotel as me. England, Sweden, Spain, Serbia, Turkey, Portugal, Romania and Denmark are currently taking part. Entry to the games are free of charge and a free shuttle service from my hotel was on offer. I went along to see England v Sweden, with Chelsea's own Lara Fay captaining England, unfortunatley the lost 1-0, with the only goal coming from the penalty spot, but it was nice surprise to see an international tournament. Before the kick off, they kicked a dozen or so balls into the crowd and I managed to catch one. They are a replica of the 'Tango' used in the men's Euro's but the black is pink and has the tournament logo on, it's a nice little momento! I will be keeping an eye on the games!

[FormerRussianSpy 163]

Yeah I think any kind of international tournament is always something kinda special. It's a bonus to see Chelsea youth players too, whether it be in the FA Youth cup or something like the U19s. They can only benefit from the added pressure of a tournament and to see them compete and succeed is promising for the future of the club.