England versus Finland was the first of 15 matches to be played at four venues across Sweden as the cream of Europe’s young footballers sought to be crowned UEFA U21 Champions.
The Orjans Vall Stadium in Halmstad is one of the oldest sporting arenas in Sweden and is hardly comparable to the Premiership Stadia we are familiar with in England. Yet it was here that Stuart Pearce’s team of young Premiership players had to subdue a spirited Finnish side as they opened their championship campaign with a hard fought 2-1 victory.
The
PFA Coaching Team were in Sweden, observing and reporting on the tournament. For Jim Hicks Head of the Department, visits to tournaments such as this in Sweden are invaluable for the development of the PFA’s coaches and the credibility of the courses they deliver. He says; ”It’s a chance to look at different formations, styles of play and standards of players. We are very used to seeing young players from the Premier League but this an ideal opportunity to see the best from the rest of Europe. It also gives us as a department the opportunity to observe and spot current trends in the game so that we can be ahead of the curve when we educate players on our courses in the coming year”.
After the first round of matches Hicks feels some obvious trends are beginning to take shape, he says; “every single team is now playing with at least one holding midfield player and all teams are looking to use their full backs very much as an attacking ploy to get them into advanced positions”.
Overall for Hicks and his team of coaches it has been a fascinating and worthwhile study visit. “Stars of today, superstars of tomorrow” is the hosts claim for the tournament but with the knowledge gained by the
PFA Coaches it’s hoped that the coaches of tomorrow are the ones who will gain just as much from the visit.
PFA Coaching Report - U21s England v Finland Match report June 09
England Technical Report
For England U21 Head Coach Stuart Pearce it was a performance of great character. For as he says
on the FA website; “Going down to ten men, a lot of nations would have been happy to settle for a
point but we wanted to win the game and everyone had to give an extra 10 per cent”.
Click here to view full report.
Finland Technical Report
Finland did not deviate from their initial game plan, even when England went down to ten men. With hindsight
will the Finns feel that they should have posed England more problems as a result of having an extra player for a
large part of the game?
Click here to view full report.
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