TFT Issue 122 + Toulon Tournament 2011 Preview
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Toulon Tournament
I’m going to be covering the Toulon Tournament for you all with previews and brief reviews of each game (reviews will obviously be in the post on the following day). There were some spectacular games in this competition last time around and I look forward to some more this time. It’s with regret I announce that Chile won’t be participating this year. They were my favourite team last year with some superb passing but France decided not to invite them this year because Bielsa wasn’t in charge anymore and France think that Chile playing boring football without him, which I wouldn’t argue with, but still – Chile have some terrific youngsters.
Confirmed squads:
France
Goalkeepers – Gorgelin, L’Hostis
Defenders – Nego, Damour, Isimat-Mirin, Duplus, Koulibaly, Saunier
Midfielders – Court, Trebel, Jarsale, Sissoko, Pogba, Benezet, Autret
Strikers – Le Tallec, Delort, Bahebeck, Tafer, Joseph-Montrose
Hosts France are often a threat due to being hosts alone but France have a rare ability to consistently produce good youngsters and this batch is no exception. Their player of the tournament last time around was Brahimi for my money as no side could handle his skill, ability to beat men, and creativity. They’re going to miss him in this tournament, in my view. France were particularly vulnerable in the full-back areas last time around. Kitsambala left the tournament as France’s leading goalscorer but he won’t feature in this year’s Toulon Tournament, which is another blow. The experience of Dortmund striker Le Tallec will be key if France are to survive without Kitsambala as Tafer has failed to live up to his reputation at Toulouse. Bahebeck has a promising reputation but to be honest, there’s only really Le Tallec that I rate here. They’ve got good goalkeepers and plenty of energy in the team overall but I have to consider that this team is weaker than their team last time around. France came fourth last time around and I think we could see a similar finish this time.
Portugal
Goalkeepers – Ramos, Domingues
Defenders – Capela, Miranda, Lourenco, Reis, Rui, Soares, Grilo
Midfielders – Pele, Pereira, Alves, Oliveira, Moutinho, Camara
Strikers – Alex, Balde, Oliveira, Brigido, Caetano
Portugal are a side that know how to pass and keep the ball from the top level to the bottom level of their youth program. Unsurprisingly, with this ideology, they’ve always produced quality midfielders and will continue to do so, no doubt. However, they’ve failed for a long time now to produce a good goalscorer in attack and this squad has a similar problem. Cateano and Oliveira will be key for this team due to their solid displays at Pacos de Ferreira this season. Mutinho and Camara haven’t featured much for Servette this season but both have played together and that helps galvanise the Portuguese midfield. I like Danilo Pereira from Aris Salonika – I think he can bring a good goal threat from midfield. I’m especially happy with Portugal’s defence this year with Nuno Reis at the heart of it, who has had a great campaign on loan at Cercle Brugge in Belgium. With SL Benfica defender Miranda and Sporting Clube de Lisboa defender Soares alongside him, I think we should see a strangely composed Portuguese defence. I’m not a massive advocate of their goalkeepers – they look prone to mistakes – so all in all, anything could happen with this team this year. I think they’ll qualify from the group but I’d be surprised to see them go further unless their strikers play really well.
Hungary
Goalkeepers – Gulasci, Megyeri
Defenders – Kadar, Fiola, Litauszki, Szokol, Kalnoki-Kis, Katona, Svab
Midfielders – Bodi, A.Simon, Kiss, Tajthy, Balogh, K.Simon, Egerszegi, Gosztonyi
Strikers – Balajti, Futacs, Eppel
Hungary a side of great tradition so we can be sure to see committed displays from the Magyar youngsters. They’ve got good goalkeepers and a talented midfield but they’re going to have to rely heavily on Kadar in defence for stability and their strikers are somewhat average. They lost Tischler and Lazar pre-tournament, which are substantial blows to their midfield. Hungary has one good and one bad point to their squad here, both of which are related. The bad point is that most of this team hasn’t played together before at this level and this is very much a new experience for them so their cohesion levels should be low. However, the good point is that they’ve elected to bring half of Ujpest’s squad, a side that prides itself on rearing talented youngsters, so there should already be some cohesion there. I can’t see Hungary sitting back and defending with this defence as it’ll concede goals, in my view. I think we can expect a few over 2.5 goals games with Hungary but I’d be surprised to see them make it out of the group.
Italy
Goalkeepers – Viotti, Silvestri, Caroppo
Defenders – Capuano, Donati, Mori, Santon, Crescenzi, Caldirola
Midfielders – D’Alessandro, Fabbrini, Misuraca, Rossi, Marrone, Soriano, Saponara
Strikers – Borini, Destro, Paloschi, Gabbiadini
Italy’s squad was greeted with some surprise pre-tournament as they’ve gambled and called up a few players ala Gabbiadini that are unproven at this level. I think that’s what the Toulon Tournament is about, though – giving your kids chance to shine. The one that everyone will no doubt be familiar with is Swansea City striker Borini, who is on loan from Chelsea. He’s had a good campaign and is set to do very well here, in my view. There’s a good number of Internazionale youngsters in their squad e.g. Destro, Santon, Donati, Caldirola – they all add experience to their team to balance out the lack of it from the newcomers. Paloschi and Borini could forge a good partnership in this tournament and give a slow Italy side the attacking threat and finesse that they’ll need to progress because otherwise, they’ll simply be outfought and overrun by energetic and skilful opponents. D’Alessandro from AS Roma is a midfielder to keep an eye on and if Santon plays as well as he did when he first emerged at Internazionale then Italy will at least have good support from the full-back areas. Italy have named a fairly strong squad here but I can see them finishing bottom of this group because all of the sides in it have more pace and play quicker games than they do. The sides that do well in this tournament are always clinical and quick. Italy can be clinical, but they’re not especially quick and thus I think they will struggle here.
Mexico
Goalkeepers – Rodriguez, Rubio
Defenders – Araujo, Loera, Ibanez, Valencia, Reyes, Alvarez
Midfielders – De Buen, Pinon, Villalobos, Orrantia, Enriquez
Strikers – Rivera, Pulido, Izazola, Gallardo, Davila, Torres, Guarch
Speaking of quick – let’s take a look at Mexico’s exciting team that is packed full of promising talent! The vast majority of this team plays in the Mexican Primera Division, which is naturally a terrific boost as most of their opponents have some players that play in the top flight of their domestic league but most play below it. Mexico’s ability to pass and move the ball could be very similar to that which Chile had great success with last time around, making them a nightmare to play against. Can Mexico be clinical where Chile started to struggle though? I think so. They’ve named Erick Torres in their squad, who has just clinched a move to PSV Eindhoven following a strong campaign with Guadalajara. He looks a good striker and this could be a tournament to establish himself upon in Europe. He has a good level of cohesion with this team too with fellow Guadalajara youngsters Rodriguez, Alvarez, Enriquez, and especially Davila in the squad. Another fairly large core of the squad comes from Atlas with defenders Ibanez and Loera, midfielder Villalobos, and attacker Rivera. Pumas UNAM have also contributed with midfielders De Buen and Orrantia and striker Izazola. I like that about the Mexican team – it may be youthful but they’ve selected players that have played together before and I rate them. I think Orrantia could be one of the stars of the tournament this year and with Torres in front of him, I can only see Mexico doing very well this year. For me, they’ll be winners, runners-up, or third-place.
Unconfirmed squads:
Ivory Coast
Goalkeepers – Tahouorou, Kone
Defenders – Bagayoko, Bamba, Johnson, Toure, Dja-Djedje, Coulibaly
Midfielders – Meite, Boli, Kone, Akichi, Traore
Strikers – Deble, Gohou, Sio, Kone, Ouedraogo, Sare
The reigning champions are Ivory Coast and if the squad above is indeed correct then they’ll be in the mix to win in this time too, in my view. The Ivorians are strong, quick, and dangerous in front of goal. Their defensive stability can be called into question but at this level, you need strikers with quality movement to trouble the Ivorians and that’s hard to find here, hence them generally doing well. Their best player last time around was Gohou, for me, and the striker ended as leading goalscorer so he’ll be a threat again, no doubt. Bear in mind that advantage that the Ivorians have that only the French can match here – most of their players ply their trade in France. I think we can expect the Ivorians to finish as winners, runners-up, or at least third-place in this tournament.
Colombia & China
Regrettably, finding even approximate squads for China and Colombia has proved impossible thus far. With China, that’s not a great problem, in my eyes – I expect them to lose every game with some ease. With Colombia – I know the likes of Carbonero, Ospina, and Cuardado aren’t in the squad, which are all substantial blows, especially with Ospina playing his club football in France and considering what a good campaign Carbonero has had with Once Caldas Manizales. However, I’ve got to presume that Colombia are bringing the likes of Reina, Julio, Cardenas, Cuesta, Lerma, Meija, and Blanco, which makes them a dangerous team. Colombian youngsters are generally very talented in typical South American fashion so I’ll give them due respect here. Indeed, having watched them last year, Colombia do have the potential to do well here and if they name as strong a squad as I expect them to then I thoroughly expect them to do well here. For me, they’ll at least make it out of the groups – after that depends on if they take their chances or not.
Group A – Colombia, Ivory Coast, Italy, Portugal
Group B – China, France, Hungary, Mexico
To clarify – I expect Colombia and Ivory Coast to make it out of Group A and France and Mexico to make it out of Group B. After that, we’ll see how it goes.
I’ll still be doing previews for each game whether I see value or not so look out for them if you’re interested.
Featured game
Ukraine vs Uzbekistan – over 2.5 goals at 7/10.
Today’s featured game is the International Friendly between Ukraine and Uzbekistan, which is being played in the Ukraine.
This is the first of two friendlies that Ukraine will play with the second being against France in about five days time so they may not be at full-strength today as it’s hard to imagine them prioritising this game over the France game.
Nonetheless, they do bring a strong squad in preparation for both games. Only Shovkovskyi, Chygrynskiy, Aliev, Mykalyk, Gai, and Rakitskiy miss out of any real consequence. They’ve still got Shevchenko, Milevskiy, Voronin, and Selezynov to choose from in attack, not to mention Devic. They’ve called up a few newbies into midfield but still have Tymoschuk, Rotan, Nazarenko, and Husyev from the old guard. Their huge problem is in defence where there’s no Chygrynskyi to hold them together and that will do them a lot of damage in any game, in my view. Kucher is back there but as the most experienced defender with just twenty-two caps to his name, it’s fair to assume that Ukraine’s defence is far from solid today. I don’t know who they’ll put in goal but I presume it’ll by Pyatov in Shovkovskyi’s absence and Pyatov is calamitous at best. You’ve probably seen him concede stupidly from free-kicks before now and that’s the type of thing he does all too often. Ukraine’s defence is very inexperienced at this level and although I rate their attack and midfield, I think there’s a decent chance they’ll concede here.
Uzbekistan bring Shatskikh, Geynrikh, Bikmaev, Kapadze, Djeparov, Ahmedov, Haydarov, Nesterov, and Karpenko for experience, most of which have played in Eastern Europe before. Hell, Shatskikh only really made his name during his tenure at Dynamo Kiev where he was signed to ironically relace his opposite number today – Shevchenko. Shatskikh was very popular in Kiev and scored a good number of goals for them. He’s vastly experienced and a highly dangerous target man – if I could bet on an anytime goalscorer today then he’d absolutely be it. Alongside him is ex-CSKA Moscow youth product Geynrikh, whose pace is a continual threat. They’ve got a strong midfield behind them too with Kapadze and Djeparov both having at least seventy caps each. Ahmedov, Haydarov, and Tursunov are good midfielders too – yet more support for the Uzbek attack and it’s that high level of experience that could and should trouble an inexperienced Ukrainian defence today. However, Uzbekistan are in a similar position to their hosts with just one experienced name in defence, who in their case is Karpenko. Nesterov in goal is an old hand but Uzbekistan’s defence is largely inexperienced and/or youthful, which is a big problem against Shevchenko and co.
Therefore, I think we’re going over 2.5 goals here. A lot of people will handicap Ukraine here and I can sort of understand that as Uzbekistan do love to concede goals against European opposition. However, with their own dodgy backline, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a 2-1 or a 3-2 here so I’m avoiding the handicap like the plague. Ukraine have the firepower to destroy Uzbekistan’s defence but I’d argue that Uzbekistan have the experience in attack to do a lot of damage to Ukraine’s defence and with the above in mind, I think over 2.5 goals at 7/10 is a bargain today.
Verdict: Over 2.5 goals at 7/10.
Toulon Tournament
Colombia vs Portugal – Colombia to win at 9/5.
Ok, well this preview pretty much falls in in line with my preview above. I rate Colombia as a better side overall than Portugal and although I’m not 100% on who Colombia are bringing to this tournament, I still think they’ll give Portugal a very good game here. Portugal’s defence is more solid than I’d anticipated and they have their usual strong midfield but their attack is fairly average, as usual. I think the ever-physical Colombians have enough here to win this one and would back it with draw no bet cover. I will also be adding information throughout the day if I find anything further on exactly who Colombia have brought with them.
Verdict: Colombia to win at 9/5.
Ivory Coast vs Italy – Ivory Coast to win at 2/1.
Well, either I’m totally wrong for this game or the bookies are and I guess the only way we’ll find out is in the result. For me, Ivory Coast are a much stronger side than Italy in this tournament. They’ve got experience of having played in this tournament before, most Ivorians ply their trade in France, and due to the relations between France and the Ivorians, the Ivory Coast team should have a good level of support here. Ivory Coast have some very good players and are hard to beat due to their stamina, pace, energy, and tenacity. Italy will knock the ball around nicely and have two dangerous strikers but they’re not a side I expect to trouble the pacey Ivorians today. I think 2/1 on Ivory Coast winning this game is far too long and thus backing them to win here looks good to me, although again, draw no bet it if you want to have an insurance policy.
Verdict: Ivory Coast to win at 2/1.