The Azzurri celebrate the 2003 European title – da:cronachedispogliatoio.it
Article by John Manenti
With the start of the new Millennium, UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) is restructuring the Youth Tournaments by Nations and, while the Under 21 Championship remains unchanged since it replaced the Under 23 European Championships starting in 1978, at the lower level the CaYouth Championships (so called from 1955 to 1980) and subsequently Under 18 Championships, become the Under 19 European Championshipswith the first edition held in July 2002 in Norway and won by Spain prevailing 1-0 in the Final over Germanythanks to the goal scored in the 55th minute, curiously, by Fernando Torres – who, six years later, will perform a similar feat in the 2008 European Championship Final against the same Germans – as well as becoming Top Scorer of the Tournament with 4 goals …
8 teams divided into two Groups participate in this Review – Spain, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Norway in Group A and Germany, Ireland, England and Belgium in Group B – with the Iberians, in whose ranks future champions such as Andrés Iniesta, José Antonio Reyes and Sergio Garcia (in addition to Fernando Torres, of course …) to make his debut with a 1-1 draw with the Czech Republic, to then prevail 3-0 over the hosts and 3-1 over Slovakia, which had won the first two matches, so as to overtake it in the standings and qualify for the Final, since there were no cross semi-finals, while even among the Germans there are prominent names, such as Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker (with 113 and 104 appearances, respectively, for the senior national team …) e Piotr Trochowski.
From the following season, the Tournament – which takes place annually – sees qualified for Final Phases only three (Czech Republic, Norway and England …) of the 8 participants in the previous editionwhich is also normal at a youth level, given the age limit established to be able to take part, with the same taking place in Liechtenstein, with the organizing country therefore qualified by right …
The the preliminary stages see 44 four of the 51 nations entered face off in 11 groups of four formations eachwith the first two entering the second round without any particular surprises, with the exception of Cyprus which wins its Group, so that the 6 exempt from the first round join the 22 qualifiedexcept Liechtenstein which, as mentioned, plays the role of organizing country, being divided into a further 7 Groups of four teams whose winners reach the Final Stages.
And here, clearly, there is no shortage of surprises, starting with the two finalists from the previous edition, with Spain finishing second behind France (which hosts the mini Tournament with one-way matches …), the 0-2 defeat against Poland being decisive, while even more the elimination of Germany is sensational, given that the matches of the second round take place in that country and that, vice versa, they do not go beyond a 2-2 draw with Belgium and are defeated 1-2 by the Czech Republic, to which it is therefore sufficient to conclude the match against the Flemings on a 0-0 score to detach the ticket for the Finals …
On the contrary, they conclude England scored full points in their respective Groups (also without suffering goals …), l’Austria (the 2-0 success over Serbia was decisive …) and also Italy which, called to host the related matches, won 4-1 over Latvia, 3-1 over Georgia and 2-0 over Northern Ireland, with Pazzini the best scorer with 3 goalswhile the more balanced Group calls Russia and Portugal finish level with two wins each and a 0-0 draw in direct confrontation, so that goal difference decides qualification which rewards (+5 compared to +3) the Lusitanians.
Therefore composed the picture of the 8 finalists, the Final stages make the start on 16 July 2003with the Azzurri placed in Group A together with Portugal, Norway and Liechtensteinbetween the Group B includes Austria, the Czech Republic, France and Englandwith the head coach Paolo Berrettini, in office since 2000, to draw up a list of 18 players called up, with Roma and Atalanta to be more represented with four players each, including Alberto Aquilani for the former and the aforementioned Giacomo Pazzini for the latteralso being part of the shipment Livorno defender Giorgio Chiellini and Juventus striker Raffaele Palladino …
For Italy the debut takes place on the opening day of July 16, against the always tricky Norway for a very balanced encounter e resolved in favor of the Azzurri only thanks to a penalty kick converted by Aquilani 1′ from the conclusionwhile Portugal rages on the hosts with a round 5-0, to then postpone any decision to the last round, given that the direct confrontation ends on 1-1with Francesco Lodi (with a good future in Serie A with Empoli, Udinese, Catania and Parma …) to reply to Daniel’s goal at the start of the second half.
Unlike the previous editions, this time there are also cross-over semi-finals, which is why the race from “in or out” is the one between Portugal and Norway (who, surprisingly, struggled against Liechtenstein, winning only 2-1) – while the The Azzurri have no problems against the hosts, who were liquidated with a 5-1 despite Berrettini keeping Pazzini at rest – ed the 2-2 draw, with the Lusitanians recovering from 0-2 thanks to a brace from Paulo Sergio, determined Italy’s victory in the Group and also Portugal to access the semi-finals …
In the other group, if the senior national teams took part, the prediction would be France and England, but at the youth level the hierarchies are often reversed and this is precisely what happens in this circumstance, with the British to lose 1-2 against Austria in their debut, then beat France 2-0 and then collapse (0-3) against the Czech Republic when a draw would have been enough for them to qualify for the semifinals, which they therefore see vice versa Italy opposed to the Czechs and Austria to the Portuguese.
Challenges that take place on July 23 in the capital Vaduz, with to take the field first Austria and Portugal, able to give life to an extremely exciting match, with the Austrians taking the lead 2-0 thanks to Klaus Salmutter’s brace in the space (24′ and 28′) of 5 minutesonly to be reached already before the break thanks to a penalty converted by Hugo Almeida (who will wear the National A shirt on 57 occasions with 19 goals to his credit …) and a sharp kick from Organista, before it was the turn of the Lusitanians move forward at the start of the second half with Paulo Sergio for an advantage canceled by the 3-3 point signed by Lukas Mossner 6′ from the endso as to send the match to extra time …
And here, it happens the collapse of the Austrians, who suffer three goals in the space (100′, 103′ and 104′) of only 5 minuteswith Paulo Sergio still scoring and a brace from Pedro Pereira to certify the final 6-3 that sends Portugal to the Final, where they find Italy who, albeit with difficulty, manage to get the better of the Czech Republicthe point signed by Pazzini in the 57th minute being sufficient for the 1-0 which means looking for the rematch of the challenge staged in the 1999 Final of the then Under 18 Tournament, which our opponents had won 1-0 with Joao Paulo scoring shortly after half an hour of play.
Redemption date is set for on 26 July 2003 at 20:00 for the referee entrusted to the Turkish referee Selcuk Dereli and with the grandstands of the “Rheinpark Stadion” filled beyond its capacity by 4,500 spectators, many of whom observers who do not want to miss the plays of some young talents, one of these the not yet 19-year-old Bologna striker Andrea Della Rocca, who broke the deadlock after just 3′ of play, correcting a throw-in (!!) by Chiellini with his header and which finds the Portuguese defense unprepared …
There would obviously be plenty of time to recover, but things are looking even better for Berrettini’s team when, just before half an hour, a free kick kicked by Aquilani is deflected off the barrier with the ball reaching Pazzini who, albeit from a tight angle, somehow manages to direct it towards the opponent’s goal with a diagonal that, bouncing on the ground, assumes a trajectory that bypasses goalkeeper Paulo Ribeiro for the 2-0 point that the Azzurri defend without excessive difficulty until the final whistle, to sanction what, to date, is Italy’s only success in the Under 19 Continental Tournament.
Triumph that our young people only caress in three other circumstances, coming defeated 1-3 in the Final by Germany in 2008 (with Italy fielding Darmian, Okaka and Bonaventura among the most famous …)outclassed 0-4 by France in 2016despite fielding Meret, Dimarco, Barella, Locatelli and Cutrone, and therefore coming close to winning the title two years later in a situation entirely similar to the one just described, i.e. with Italy and Portugal to finish first and second in their group, to then win their respective semi-finals and find themselves facing each other again in the Final …
Only, this time, ad having the upper hand are our opponents who, after regulation time ends on 2-2, win the Trophy by imposing 4-3 to overtime.
Oh well, it will be better next time …
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