Two years ago, I was sitting on my Jack Jones in The Tower Tavern in London’s West End watching one of the most nail-biting penalty shoot outs I can ever remember. It was the Under 21 semi and England, after out-playing Holland for 120 minutes we were on the verge of the final against little fancied Serbia. Up stepped Anton Ferdinand to tuck away pen No 13 for us, yes, 13! It was 12-12 sudden death. Little Ferdi missed, Holland’s Boy Waterman didn’t & Mark Noble cried; I felt like doing the same.
2 years on and Iron Noble is aiming to go one step further in this year’s championship being held in Sweden. 8 teams, 2 groups, the 2 top 2 go through to the semis and final.
Our chances this time? Well, we are currently 3rd faves behind Spain & Italy but I still think we have an outside chance. Stuart Pearce, no stranger to a shoot-out is in charge again and under the guidance of the Messiah Fabio, he will fancy it, Psycho yesterday said The Boys are “Ready for Action!”
Our squad on paper is just as impressive as anyone else’s, despite the loss of Danny Welbeck & Captain Steven Taylor who was rock 2 years ago putting away a penalty when he could hardly stand.
This year, The Young Lions won their group with ease but were tested by the Taffs in the play-off before eventually running out 3-2 winners. We tore Azerbaijan to pieces last week 7-0 which will do wonders for our morale, one of our best weapons this time round. Pearce has instilled a real belief in this squad of players and with his on-going communication with a teacher like Capello, I really think this could be the difference come the latter stages. We have plenty of experience in Villa’s Milner & Agbonlahor and Walcott will want to show everyone he has the right to play for both 3 Lions camps this summer.
In our group we face Finland before favourites Spain and then Ze Germans. In the other pot are 5-time winners Italy, East Europeans Serbia & Belarus along with hosts Sweden. Here’s part one of the team rundowns with the youngsters to watch out for. I’ll be doing the 2nd group tomorrow.
Germany
Coach Horst Hrubesch
Cliché time, strong, robotic, “EFFICIENT!” Don’t we just love em & they always seem to sneak glory in the later stages of finals don’t they? Not at this level, despite a trio of U21’s finals in the early 80’s they have yet to lift the trophy. They lost 1-0 to Moldova in qualifying and only topped their group on goal difference over Israel. The jammy Krauts then fluked it in a play-off against highly rated France scoring in the last minute of the 2nd game in Metz. Let’s hope that’s where their luck runs out.
Dexy’s Diamond
Rouwen Hennings
In an average team, Rouwen Hennings stands out with 7 goals in qualifying. They did whoop lame-arsed Luxembourg 6-0 & 7-0 though so I wouldn’t ink him on any top scorers slips just yet.
Finland
Coach Markku Kanervas
The Finns saw of Denmark & the Jocks in qualifying to make it to their first Under 21’s finals. They made hard work of it in the play-off after topping group 6 with 5 wins on the trot at the start of the campaign, only 2 goals in the last moments of the play-off secured their passage to Sweden with the game going into extra-time & penalties. Probably the weakest squad in the group, they’ll be Finnished by the 23rd!
Dexy’s Diamond
Tim Sparv
Tim Sparv of Halmstad scored 3 in qualifying, 1 in each of 3 1-0 wins. He will be facing his old Southampton teammate Theo tonight. Says it all really, the hopes of a Finnish nation resting on a lanky Southampton reject’s shoulders.
Spain
Juan Ramon Lopez (Ex Galactico honcho)
It’s no surprise that Spain are the tournament favourites, they have previous pedigree with wins in 86 & 98 and plenty of established stars in the squad, just like the big boys team & the world’s best club side. The Spanish are almost untouchable at this level letting in just 2 goals when they won their group with a 100% record, a feat no one else managed in qualification. I say “almost” untouchable, read on…. They had a slight wobble in the play-off against the Swiss of all people, losing 2-1 in the 1st leg. In the return in Spain, it got worse; they went a goal down but pulled it back to 2-1 in the 95th minute! Captain Raul Garcia got the decider in extra time sealing their place in the finals. Also last week, the Barca heavyweights of Pique and Busquets were called up into the full squad for the Confederations Cup in South Africa, along with Valencia’s Juan Mata. With these big players missing, maybe it won’t all be rain in Spain on the plain sailing when it comes to the pressure games.
Dexy’s Diamond
Jose’ Manual Jurado
Got 4 in qualifying but if he can hold his nerve, Barca’s young Bojan Krkic can be the superstar of the tournament. With 10 goals last season (mostly from the bench), Bojan’s rise to stardom started 2 years ago when he broke Raul’s La Liga record for a debut season. This rise has come at a price, he pulled out of Spain’s Euro squad due to fatigue & his mental state has been in question: Is it a case of too much too young for the young Spaniard?
