UEFA Under 21 Championship Preview

The 19th UEFA Under 21 Championship kicks off in Israel on Wednesday 5th June with a strong line up including former winners Italy, England, Russia, Netherlands, Germany and defending champions Spain.  Hosts Israel and Norway complete the line up and all eight teams will be hoping to be crowned European Champions.

This is my favourite international tournament outside the World Cup and European Championships as the players are often established at their clubs but there are always one or two gems that use this tournament to launch their careers to superstar level.

I have enjoyed watching in recent seasons as many of the stars in this tournament have gone on to win some of the most prestigious prizes in world football.  In fact a look at the list of players who have won the award for Player of the Tournament is like a who's who of some of the biggest names in football over the last 20-30 years.  Rudi Voller, Laurent Blanc, Davor Suker, Luis Figo, Fabio Cannavaro, Andrea Pirlo, Petr Cech, Klass-Jan Huntelaar and Juan Mata are all winners of the Under-21 Golden Player award and I have no doubt that a look at the squad lists in five or six years will include European Championship winners, Champions League winners and maybe even World Cup winners.

Once again the eight teams are split into two groups of four with the top two in each group progressing to the knock out stages.  On paper Group B looks like the stronger but we all know that football results are decided on the pitch rather than on paper and there could be a surprise on the cards.

With all that in mind, let's take a look at the teams.



GROUP A

England

Ave age : 21
Senior Caps : 5 players (9 caps)
Most U21 Caps : Danny Rose (27)

England arrive in Israel with the youngest squad of all the competing nations.  There's not a lot in it but they are the youngest team and with just 9 senior caps between them it's difficult to see who the team will look to as a leader.

Jordan Henderson has 5 caps to his name and despite a slow start to his Liverpool career, his form has improved this season and he is slowly paying back the high price Liverpool paid Sunderland for his services.

Steven Caulker is another player who is building a reputation for himself after a solid season at Tottenham.  He won his first England cap this season and done well last summer with Team GB at the Olympics.

In attack England will look to Wilfried Zaha and Tom Ince to provide the spark.  The duo are highly rated but they are Championship players and the other teams have players who are competing in the Champions League so it is hard to see much success for England.

I think England have made a mistake by not sending senior internationals like Phil Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as I think it would be good for their development but instead they are playing in friendly games for the senior team.  Time will tell if this strategy pays off but I think it's a mistake.

One To Watch : Jack Butland - Butland has signed for Stoke City from Birmingham so we will finally get to see him at the top level next season but from what I have saw he looks like a top class goalkeeper.  Joe Hart is doing fine for now but I think Butland will go past him in the next year or two and should be England's number one for many years to come.


Israel

Ave Age : 21.26
Senior Caps : 4 players (18 caps)
Most U21 Caps : Boris Klaiman, Nir Biton, Eyal Golasa (17)

Israel are a team I don't know a lot about and it is hard to get an idea of their form as they did not have to go through qualification after winning the right to host the tournament. 

A look at their squad shows that only Fulham's, Omri Altman played outside Israel last season.  He didn't make any senior appearances though.  Orr Barouch is owned by Chicago Fire but spent the year on loan at Bnei Yehuda. 

Much of Israel's hopes appear to lie with their midfield duo Nir Biton and Eyal Golasa.  Both are establishing themselves with the senior team and they will need to be at their best if Israel are to make much of an impact.

One To Watch : Nir Biton - The captain has had a trial at Manchester City and at 21 years old there is still plenty of time for the defensive midfielder to make the move to one of Europe's big leagues. 


Italy

Ave Age : 21.57
Senior Caps : 6 players (12 caps)
Most U21 Caps : Luca Marrone (30)

Italy will be looking to build on their excellent record in this competition by winning it for a sixth time.  The Italians are two wins ahead of Spain who have won it three times.  Many Italians will think the win is overdue as it has been nine years since their last victory.  That's not a bad record for most countries but the Italians won five of the seven competitions between 1992 and 2004 so they can be forgiven for thinking that four tournaments without a win is a bit of a drought.

This Italian team has a few established stars with eight of the squad having made 20 or more appearances in Serie A this season.  Alessandro Florenzi, Lorenzo Insigne and Mattia Destro look like stars in the making and they look like strong favourites to come through Group A.

One To Watch : Marco Verratti - Verratti had an excellent season for Paris St Germain, making 27 league appearances and 9 Champions League appearances for the French champions.  At just 20 years old he looks like being a huge star in the future.


Norway

Ave Age : 21.48
Senior Caps : 14 players (71 caps)
Most U21 Caps : Harmeet Singh (35)

Norway have a very experienced squad with 71 senior caps between them but ironically that may prove to be their downfall.  The senior team have a World Cup Qualifier with Albania on 7th June and four key members of the Under 21's are in the squad.  They will join the Under 21's after the Albania game but they will miss the Israel game for definite and with Norway due to play their second group game on Saturday, less than 24 hours after the Albania game, they may well be ruled out of that game too.

Valon Berisha, Markus Henriksen and Havard Nordtveit look to be the stars of this Norway team but unfortunately they are three of the players who will be in action against Albania so Norway's hopes will hang on getting something without them whilst hoping they return in as good a condition as possible for the two remaining games. 

One To Watch : Havard Nordtveit - Hopefully, for Norway's sake and as a neutral, we get to see Nordtveit in action.  31 Bundesliga appearances, 7 Europa League appearances for Borussia Monchengladbach and 9 Norway caps suggests that he is one to look out for. 



GROUP B


Germany
Ave Age : 21.48
Senior Caps : 1 player (3 caps)
Most U21 Caps : Lewis Holtby (21)

Germany will be one of the favourites for this tournament despite the fact that Lewis Holtby is the only senior international in the squad.  For most countries that would be a cause for concern but after failure in Euro 2000, Germany put a lot into developing young players and they are now reaping the rewards.  The senior team includes Manuel Neuer, Sami Khedira, Mesut Ozil and Mats Hummels who won this tournament in 2009 so there's not much room for this generation of young talent yet and they can continue to develop at this level. 

Whilst the squad doesn't have a lot of senior international experience, 15 of the squad made at least 16 appearances in the Bundesliga this season.  With the Bundesliga being arguably the best league in Europe at the moment a squad of players who are playing regularly in it could be hard to beat. 

One To Watch : Lewis Holtby - Holtby has a great record at this level scoring 13 goals in his 21 caps.  He joined Tottenham in January and made 11 appearances in the Premier League and I expect he will make a serious impact next season.


Netherlands
Ave Age : 21.35
Senior Caps : 12 players (61 caps)
Most U21 Caps : Leroy Fer (27)

Many people will think that Group B is all about Spain and Germany but this looks like a very strong Netherlands team.  The squad has 61 senior caps between them and although they had a poor Euro 2012, they were in the 2010 World Cup Final.  The Netherlands are one of the top countries in international football and the fact that this squad has so many senior internationals has to be respected. 

Not only does the squad have experienced internationals but there is also experience of top level European competition.  Ajax duo, Ricardo van Rhijn and Daley Blind both played in all six Champions League games.  Benfica's Ola John, Anderlecht's Bram Nuytinck and Danny Hoesen of Ajax also played Champions League football.  PSV trio, Memphis, Kevin Strootman and Georginio Wijnaldum all played Europa League football and when you add Feyenoord's Stefan de Vrij, Bruno Martins Indi, Jordy Clasie and Borussia Monchengladbach's Luuk de Jong it is easy to make a case for the Dutch having a good chance of winning the tournament. 

One To Watch : Georginio Wijnaldum - The 22 year old from PSV has had a fantastic season and looks like the next Dutch star attacking midfielder.  He scored 14 league goals and 4 Europa League goals in 5 appearances.  If he keeps that form up it is only a matter of time before he is making a move to one of Europe's elite. 


Russia

Ave Age : 21.91
Senior Caps : 8 players (49 caps)
Most U21 Caps : Fyodor Smolov (27)

Russia will be underdogs in Group B but with attackers as good as Aleksandr Kokorin, Fyodor Smolov and Alan Dzagoev in their squad they will at the very least have a punchers chance.

Smolov scored 9 goals in 7 qualifiers to get here and with Kokorin and Dzagoev, who have 40 senior caps between them, the Russians will certainly pose an attacking threat.  In qualifying they conceded just 5 goals in the group stage so they will fancy their chances of causing an upset.

One To Watch : Alan Dzagoev - Dzagoev lit up Euro 2012 last summer so I would fully expect him to be a constant danger at this level.  With 8 goals in 27 games for the senior team he should be a stand out playing against teams in this age group. 


Spain

Ave Age : 21.7
Senior Caps : 3 players (5 caps)
Most U21 Caps : David de Gea (22)

Spain will rightfully come into this tournament as hot favourites.  Their squad is very strong and would probably get out of the groups at the senior Euros but they won't be taking anything for granted as they had an equally impressive squad in last summers Olympics and fell at the first hurdle. 

This squad includes 11 players with Champions League experience this year, 3 with Europa League experience and 2 who played a key role in guiding Real Sociedad to qualification for next year's Champions League.

Like the Germans this squad doesn't have a lot of senior internationals but it's not a concern as the senior side have won the last three major tournaments so it is a very hard squad to break into and these players can try to win another under age title for Spain before pursuing their senior careers.

One To Watch : Isco - Spain seem to have an unlimited supply of attacking midfielders and Isco looks to be the best of this generation.  Juan Mata won the Golden Player in 2011 and I wouldn't be surprised if Isco won it this time.