European U 21 Championship in Georgia and Romania

The German national U 21 football team is getting ready for the European Championship. Whilst Antonio Di Salvo's team is once again one of the favourites for the tournament, after winning the title in both 2017 and 2021 and making the final in 2019 under former Head Coach Stefan Kuntz, Di Salvo is keeping a low profile.

There is a reason why Di Salvo is staying out of the limelight. During the last few difficult friendlies, the German squad failed to put on a convincing performance. Nevertheless, the initial draw for the championship could not be better. Luck of the draw has meant that Germany has been placed in a group where they could do well. With Israel, Czechia and England, the group is not overly full with favourites. Therefore, the hope is that Germany will be able to make the knock-out stages relatively easily.

A flawless record against Israel

The German national team will play its opening match on 22 June against Israel – allegedly the weakest opponents in the group. The Israeli team has a rather poor record in the tournament. The team has only qualified for the Euros on two occasions. In 2007, the team made its departure from the tournament in the Netherlands after losing three games in the group stages and thus coming bottom of the group. Similarly, during their home tournament in 2013, the team also failed to move past the group stages. In previous matches against the German U 21 team, Israel has not had much success either. They have had no decent result in any of the ten matches played between the two teams. Out of these ten, Germany has won five with the other five ending in a draw. Most recently, the teams played each other in March 2022 during the European qualifiers with Germany coming up with a 1-0 victory. The first leg also ended in a win for Di Salvo’s team.

Czechia hopes for a successful tournament

Czechia – who Germany will be playing in their second match on 25 June – are also not one of the favourites to take home the European trophy. The Czech U 21 team were unable to secure anything more than a draw in their last two friendlies prior to the European Championship against Belgium and the Netherlands in March of this year. Nevertheless, experts believe the team is somewhat unpredictable and may be able to cause some surprises. The last time Czechia played Germany was around six years ago, so the score is not a particularly useful indication as to which of the teams is likely to come out strongest. This match was also a European group stage game and the German side secured a safe 2-0 victory. Although perhaps easily forgotten, the Czech team has made the finals of the Euros before. The team’s greatest success was winning the title in Switzerland 21 years ago. The year before, the Czech U 21 team met European Championship record holders Italy in the final. The side under Jan Suchopárek – who, during his career, was one of Czechia’s best defenders – are still waiting for their next victory.

The match against the “Young Lions” will bring back bad memories for the German side

There are some doubts surrounding how the match on 28 June against England, the final team in the group, will go. The two tournament victories for the “Young Lions” were around forty years ago (in 1982 and 1984). In 2009, the squad – then managed by Stuart Pearce – lost 4-0 to Germany in the final and in 2017, they came third. In other years, the England side has seen mixed results. Consistency does not seem to be one of the team’s strong points. However, with Rico Lewis and Cole Palmer form Manchester City, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliot from Liverpool and Noni Manueke from Chelsea, Manager Aidy Boothroyd has ensured that the top teams are represented in his England side. The last meeting of the two U 21 teams in the UK will not bring back good memories for the German squad who suffered a 3-1 defeat in the friendly on 27 September last year. We will find out whether they are capable of taking revenge on 28 June.

Text: Martin Sulkowsky