Tweet
Scottish Football Association
Oct 7 2012
Sbragia: Tartan Army can help us qualify
Sunday, 07 October 2012
UEFA European Under-19 Championship Qualifying Round
Scotland, Switzerland, Armenia, Romania
9th-14th October 2012
New Douglas Park and the Falkirk Stadium
Cash gate: Adults £5, kids go FREE*
Ricky Sbragia believes the Tartan Army can help his Scotland Under-19
side in their quest to reach the elite round of the UEFA European
Under-19 Championship as Scotland gets set to host qualifying group
nine this week.
His side will take on Switzerland, Armenia and Romania in a
mini-tournament format with the top two sides progressing to the next
stage of the competition and supporters under the age of 16 can gain
FREE entry to the matches.
New Douglas Park will play host to Scotland's opening game against
Armenia on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.30pm) and Sbragia hopes home
advantage can help his team get off to a flying start.
He said: `It's important for us to get off to a good start against
Armenia because qualifying from this group will not be an easy task.
`They have some really good technical players who look to get forward
carefully so it's important for us to find our feet early in the match
and get into the game from there.
`We have home advantage for these games and I hope the Scotland fans
can get behind us this week and help us reach the next round.'
Scotland prepared for the qualifiers with friendly matches against
Germany, Norway and the Netherlands with mixed results.
A 1-0 defeat to Germany was followed by a 2-1 victory away to Norway
before the young Scots succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands
last month.
However Sbragia is confident his players will be ready for this week's matches.
He said: `I think we've performed well in our preparation matches but
these are the matches that count.
`These are the big games and our players need to show they can handle
the pressure that comes with that.
`There are two places up for grabs and I think we're capable of being
in the top two come Sunday.'
Several members of the Scotland squad have been playing regular
first-team football at their clubs.
Ryan Fraser (Aberdeen), Callum Paterson (Heart of Midlothian) and
Lewis MacLeod (Rangers) have featured heavily for their clubs this
season and others have made also made good contributions.
`We are fortunate to have so many players with first-team experience
and I hope that will give us an advantage this week,' said Sbragia.
`We have around seven or eight players with that kind of experience
and a handful at some top clubs in England playing in their under-21
league down there.
`That's great news for us but it's also great for Scottish football in general.
`We have some really talented young players coming through and I hope
they can produce for us this week.'
View the Scotland Under-19 squad for this week's tournament here...
Fixture Schedule
Tuesday, 9th October 2012 (KO 7.30pm)
Scotland v Armenia
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Switzerland v Romania
The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
Thursday, 11th October 2012 (KO 7.30pm)
Scotland v Romania
The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
Armenia v Switzerland
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Sunday, 14th October 2012 (KO 3pm)
Scotland v Switzerland
The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
Romania v Armenia
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsCategoryID=6&ne wsID=10735
Oct 7 2012
Sbragia: Tartan Army can help us qualify
Sunday, 07 October 2012
UEFA European Under-19 Championship Qualifying Round
Scotland, Switzerland, Armenia, Romania
9th-14th October 2012
New Douglas Park and the Falkirk Stadium
Cash gate: Adults £5, kids go FREE*
Ricky Sbragia believes the Tartan Army can help his Scotland Under-19
side in their quest to reach the elite round of the UEFA European
Under-19 Championship as Scotland gets set to host qualifying group
nine this week.
His side will take on Switzerland, Armenia and Romania in a
mini-tournament format with the top two sides progressing to the next
stage of the competition and supporters under the age of 16 can gain
FREE entry to the matches.
New Douglas Park will play host to Scotland's opening game against
Armenia on Tuesday night (kick-off 7.30pm) and Sbragia hopes home
advantage can help his team get off to a flying start.
He said: `It's important for us to get off to a good start against
Armenia because qualifying from this group will not be an easy task.
`They have some really good technical players who look to get forward
carefully so it's important for us to find our feet early in the match
and get into the game from there.
`We have home advantage for these games and I hope the Scotland fans
can get behind us this week and help us reach the next round.'
Scotland prepared for the qualifiers with friendly matches against
Germany, Norway and the Netherlands with mixed results.
A 1-0 defeat to Germany was followed by a 2-1 victory away to Norway
before the young Scots succumbed to a 2-1 defeat to the Netherlands
last month.
However Sbragia is confident his players will be ready for this week's matches.
He said: `I think we've performed well in our preparation matches but
these are the matches that count.
`These are the big games and our players need to show they can handle
the pressure that comes with that.
`There are two places up for grabs and I think we're capable of being
in the top two come Sunday.'
Several members of the Scotland squad have been playing regular
first-team football at their clubs.
Ryan Fraser (Aberdeen), Callum Paterson (Heart of Midlothian) and
Lewis MacLeod (Rangers) have featured heavily for their clubs this
season and others have made also made good contributions.
`We are fortunate to have so many players with first-team experience
and I hope that will give us an advantage this week,' said Sbragia.
`We have around seven or eight players with that kind of experience
and a handful at some top clubs in England playing in their under-21
league down there.
`That's great news for us but it's also great for Scottish football in general.
`We have some really talented young players coming through and I hope
they can produce for us this week.'
View the Scotland Under-19 squad for this week's tournament here...
Fixture Schedule
Tuesday, 9th October 2012 (KO 7.30pm)
Scotland v Armenia
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Switzerland v Romania
The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
Thursday, 11th October 2012 (KO 7.30pm)
Scotland v Romania
The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
Armenia v Switzerland
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
Sunday, 14th October 2012 (KO 3pm)
Scotland v Switzerland
The Falkirk Stadium, Falkirk
Romania v Armenia
New Douglas Park, Hamilton
http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_fa_news.cfm?page=2986&newsCategoryID=6&ne wsID=10735