Table of Contents
European Cup players under the age of 22 who have performed well:
Among these European football players born in the 2000s, we saw several young players perform outstandingly in the first round. Their performance allowed their country to win in the first round and took a decisive step on the road to advance to the knockout rounds. . Although there are still two rounds of competition, the team that can win the jackpot believes that it can go further and better. Therefore, in this article, I will take out a few players under the age of 22 who have performed well to introduce and briefly talk about the karmic fit of their outstanding performance.
German Miracle Son leads tank army to destroy Scotland – Jamal Musiala (Germany)
In the famous data website “SOFASCORE”, compared with last season (22/23) when he played for Bayern Munich and scored 7.05 points per game, this season he has jumped to 7.49 points. With an average of 2.4 shots per game, he can score 10 goals and contribute 1.8 key passes and 6 assists per game. Although Bayern Munich has achieved all four goals for a long time, in Bayern’s strong offense, Musiala’s on-field role and efficiency cannot be ignored.
Because of this, in the first opening game of the European Cup, he successfully squeezed out Sane and Muller and others to serve as the German team’s offensive triangle with Wirtz and Havertz. Musiala is recorded as a right winger, but he will still appear on the left and center. Not long after the game started, Wirtz scored with a pass from the right. Then about 10 minutes later, Havertz cut into the left side of the penalty area and passed it back to Musiala before shooting directly into the goal. In the end, through Havertz’s penalty kick and the goals of Germany’s No. 9 forward Phil Kruger and Kahn, Scotland defeated Scotland 5-1.
In this five-to-one victory, what stood out about Musiala was not his shooting and passing, but his sharp dribbling that completely made his opponents lose their temper. Although one shot was not conspicuous, five successful dribbles allowed the German team to run freely on the right. In addition, Kroos continued to open up space in the backcourt like a quarterback, making the German team’s offense very easy to execute.
Six rescues saved the Netherlands, – Bart Verbruggen (Netherlands)
In the first round of the Netherlands’ match against Poland, Poland’s number one superstar Lewandowski missed the game, but Poland, led by Naples’ Zielinski and Arsenal’s Kiwior, was still difficult to deal with. In the Dutch team, the starting goalkeeper was finally determined to be Verbruggen, and his starting also made him the third youngest goalkeeper in the history of the European Cup and the youngest goalkeeper since 1964. However, embarrassingly, the game was scored by Polish forward Buksa in the 16th minute, making Verbruggen the youngest goalkeeper to concede a goal in the 60 years of the European Cup.
However, the young goalkeeper was not discouraged, and instead performed more and more bravely. In addition to continuously blocking or blocking Poland’s shots, he also fully demonstrated his personal ability in the last 90 minutes of stoppage time, allowing Poland to equalize several times. Opportunities were denied, especially in the 88th minute when the Polish player grabbed a shot in front of the small penalty area. Verbruggen successfully saved the ball and blocked the goal. In the end, he successfully defended the victory for the Dutch team.
He broke several records when he debuted in the European Cup and was unbeatable on the wing – Lamine Yamal (Spain)
This record has been broken three times in just the past two European Cups. . At 16 years and 338 days old, Yamal became the youngest player in the history of the tournament to contribute an assist. When I was 16 years old, I was playing football on a grass field near my home, but Yamal, who was also 16 years old, had already stepped onto the second highest competitive level in the world and shone brightly, which is really rare.
As Yamal, who is in the same position as Musiala, is different from the outstanding performance of the German demon. In the first round of the game, Yamal showed his clever use of running and passing belts to continuously impact while cooperating with the advancement in the middle. It drives the two midfielders to push in and knock the Croatian players to the ground. The two obvious examples are in Yamal’s pass. The first was in the 31st minute. When Yamal was advancing from the wing and approaching the baseline, he changed his direction and passed to the center.
This was basically the Spanish midfielders Rodri and Fabian who had already overwhelmed the outside of the penalty area. Rodri, who received the pass from Yamal, quickly passed the ball to Fabian. , and then Fabian deceived his opponent with a few fake moves, scored directly and successfully, and scored a point.
Then before the end of the first half, he returned to the right and approached the penalty area. Williams passed a back pass triangle to Yamal. Yamal came and made a beautiful cross, allowing veteran Carvajal to counter offside and successfully grab the point. After scoring, the victory was confirmed 3-0 as early as the first half.
In this game, in addition to beautiful cross assists, Yamal contributed three key passes and three dribble successes, which were also very efficient. Yamal also has a record of one shot, but unfortunately his only shot was blocked by his opponent. Observing the content of this game, Spain’s frontcourt players have been constantly intervening to pressure Croatia’s passes in the backcourt, and Yamal also contributed in the frontcourt defense. Five of the eleven confrontations were successful. .
The Turkish diamond that shined in the European Cup debut – Arda Güler (Türkiye)
Just like this, the excellent state brought them to the European Cup before the end of the season. Facing Georgia, whose strength was somewhat lagging behind, Turkey started with a wave of shots, but it was not until the 25th minute that fullback Mert Müldür scored the first goal.
However, Georgia’s strong spirit did not give in, and the score was closed in the 32nd minute. Evened to one to one. The tie lasted until the 65th minute. At this time, the ball was intercepted by Kaan Ayhan on the right and passed to Guler. He accelerated and cut into the center of the penalty area. Just when everyone thought he would pass it straight to his teammate, he suddenly The ball hit the upper right corner of the goal with great force from his foot, leaving the opponent’s goalkeeper unable to catch it even with a flying dive. This goal also completed the go-ahead goal.
This goal allowed Guler to break the record of scoring in his first appearance at the European Cup held by Cristiano Ronaldo in 2004. Guler was only 19 years and 114 days old on this day. In addition to a shocking goal, as a Turkish winger, he also contributed three key goals. What is surprising is that as a winger, he was able to successfully pass 38 out of 41 passes. , the success rate is as high as 93%.
The final score was fixed at 3-1, and Turkey won. Because winning the first game gave them an opportunity to attack, and perhaps they can reach the knockout rounds again after 2008. As for Guler, he won the best player of the game because of his outstanding performance. Turkey, which has average strength, may be able to win when facing Portugal and the Czech Republic. The key may lie in whether Guler can surpass his own competitive level.
Summarize:
In addition to the above four, Bellingham, who performed well in the first round and scored a decisive goal to help England win, Wirtz, who contributed goals and assists in Germany’s 5-1 victory over Scotland, and Portugal’s winner Conceição Jr., the son of the famous general who won the game, and others were impressive. The next second round will be more critical for advancing to the knockout rounds. I hope those players born after 2000 can really help their respective countries achieve good results!
