UEFA U21 - Great Danes spread a little happiness

The 2-1 comeback win for Denmark against Belarus in Aarhus underlined the importance of the host nation progressing in a tournament.

While it might be too big a leap of faith to credit Danish Football Association chief Allan Hansen's claim that the UEFA U21 tournament "has caught the imagination of the Danish public," - too many of them were enjoying the Pentecost weekend holiday to watch their Under-21s lose to Switzerland - the Denmark v Belarus clash was an 18,000 sell-out, double the crowd of any other game so far.

Outsiders might look on the U21s as a provincial tournament, and the sleepy setting of Herning appears to confirm that impresssion, yet fully one fifth of Denmark's population watched the Belarus game on TV, the equivalent of a 12 million viewership in the UK.

The England v Spain crowd was about a thousand short of capacity in Herning (9,000), which made official claims of being able to sell the stadium out again worth investigating.

Either way, the decision not to use Copenhagen as a host city still seems odd. FC Kobenhavn's Parken stadium holds 38,000. And travelling fans and journalists are spending as much time as possible in the capital, whose myriad attractions heavily outweigh the monotone fields and bucolic hamlets of Jutland, where the tournament is taking place.

Denmark has always been a minor football nation in Europe, which makes this somewhat of a highlight in its football history. Its best club side, F.C. Kobenhavn, have only once made it to the knock-out staes of the UEFA Champions League (in 2010-11 when they lost to Chelsea), whilst its national team fell victim to Japan at the 2010 World Cup in the most symbolic testament yet to the Asian football ascendancy.

After years of mediocrity, 1984 saw the birth of 'Danish Dynamite' as the national team beat England to reach the European Championship in France, going as far as the semi-final where they lost on penalties to Spain.

The Danish team which made it to Mexico '86 briefly dazzled the world in a 6-1 thrashing of Uruguay, before, to everyone's surprise, being duly turned over 5-1 by the Spanish in the second round. Success on the World stage has eluded them since, although they did reach the 1998 quarter-final where they lost 3-2 to Brazil.

The Danes' crowning glory of course came in 1992 when they came from literally nowhere to win the European Championship. Denmark had failed to qualify and were bussed in as a last-minute replacement for war-torn Yugosalvia. From relaxing on the beach when they received the unexpected phone calls, the players ended up beating France, the Netherlands and World Champions Germany to hoist the trophy aloft in Gothenburg.

Hope lies in youth, as it does with many nations, and the Danes seem to have unearthed a gem in Ajax midfielder Christian Eriksen, a name on many scouts' radar at the U21s. Another talent they are proud of is Villareal striker Nicki Bille Nielsen, who netted 13 in 20 for the Danish U21s before the tournament.

Five of the 23-man Danish squad play overseas - Eriksen and Nicolai Boilesen at Ajax, Mikkel Andersen at Reading, Nicolai Jorgensen at Bayer Leverkusen and Bille Nielsen at Villareal.

It is too early to say if a new Preben Elkjaer is upon us, or stars as bright as Brian or Michael Laudrup or Peter Schmeichel were, but unearthing the "superstars of tomorrow" are what UEFA reminds us this competition is all about.

For the people of Denmark at least, a country too small to host a European Championship or World Cup alone, this is a big footballing occasion, and they are not willing for it to end as soon as on Saturday evening in Aalborg.

Group A points after two games:
Switzerland 6, Denmark 3, Iceland 3, Belarus 0.

Sat 18th June 20:45

Denmark v Iceland (Aalborg)
Switzerland v Belarus (Aarhus)

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

Tags

World Cup Pens
World Cup Posters
Euro 2012 football

England look to young guns for hope

UEFA U21 tournament

England v Spain Herning 20:45 CET

The motherland of football has had a sobering year.

The national team has yet to recover from a 4-1 drubbing from a rampant young Germany at the World Cup in South Africa last summer.

A week ago England found themselves 0-2 down at home to Switzerland in their Euro 2012 qualification campaign, before salvaging a draw and a chance to breathe again, despite registering a fifth failure to win at home on the trot.

Switzerland is not exactly flavour of the month in England. FIFA rebuffed the Football Association's last-minute bid to derail Sepp Blatter's re-coronation by a huge margin, leaving the inventors of the game drifting on the high seas of football politics with no influence to speak of.

In their book 'Why England Lose,' Simon Kuper and Stefan Szyminski argued that the highest-paid teams triumph, but that rule must not work for managers, as Fabio Capello's £6 million per annum puts all other national team coaches in the shade.

England's champions Manchester United have also got the blues, or should that be the blaugrana, after being convincingly overcome 3-1 in the Champions League Final.

The London media will hype away as ever, but the evidence on the field is that the Three Lions and the anointed stars of the Premier League just do not cut the mustard.

Gasps were heard far and wide as the technical and tactical gap between Barcelona and the Red Devils was played out on TV screens across the world. And the remedy appears to belong in a galaxy far, far away.

Youth is the key we are always told, where we can correct the mistakes of the past in the future.

The European Under-21 Championship might not be the source of an English fightback - that must surely come before the age of 17 when some are good enough to debut at the top level.

Small-sided games in place of eleven a-side, honing technique instead of stressing winning, developing ball skills and game-savvy instead of valuing power and pace alone - we all seem to be aware of what needs to be done, yet always wondering when the transformation in English mentality will occur.

With this is mind, the Under-21 level is too late to expect to witness the start of a revolution. At best it can give us a clue or two about certain players. While Xavi, Cantona, Zidane and most recently Mesut Ozil have all stepped up from the U21s to greater things, a far greater number have failed to make the transition to being national team regulars.

This implies players develop in their early to mid-twenties as well as their teens, but the gems in the U21s are there to be mined all the same. 200+ scouts are not here on holiday after all. The 2009 tournament saw Ozil, Sami Khedira, Manuel Neuer and three other young Germans announce their arrival before starring in South Africa.

England, the beaten finalists last time around, boasted James Milner, Theo Walcott, Joe Hart, Mark Noble, Micah Richards, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Jack Rodwell and Andy Johnson, almost a golden generation of U21s.

Yet their 4-1 demolition by Germany was a fair score and tragically repeated at the World Cup.

Germany are not in Denmark, having been edged out in the qualifiers, which leaves England again looking in a strong position at the start of the tournament - they began as favourites in 2009.

Iceland are much fancied, having edged out Germany in the qualifiers, while England coach Stuart Pearce has tipped the Czech Republic as the team to beat. The main opposition as far as the bookies are concerned is Spain, whom England meet in their opener in Herning tonight. England beat the Spanish 2-0 in Sweden, but with the World Cup and Champions League now residing in Iberia, the Spanish will be confident of revenge with their nation's football on a roll. Five of their squad ply their trade in the Camp Nou and Javi Martinez was a member of the victorious 2010 World Cup squad.

The tournament is also an acid test of Pearce's ability to bounce back as manager after the humiliating defeat by Germany in 2009. Capello's assistant is set to coach the UK Olympic Team in 2012 and, while behind Harry Redknapp in the race for the Italian's job next summer, surely has half an eye on the England manager's chair.

With England morphing into Great Britain & Northern Ireland for next summer, the main goal for the other nations is a strong showing to ensure qualification for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Hosts Denmark, featuring Ajax starlet Christian Eriksen, got off to a bad start losing 0-1 to Switzerland in Aalborg last night, while Iceland, despite being highly tipped, went down 0-2 to Belarus.

Euro 2011 U21

Sat 11th June

Belarus 2:0 Iceland

Denmark 0:1 Switzerland

Sun 12th June

Czech Republic v Ukraine

England v Spain

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

Tags



World Cup Pens

World Cup Posters

Euro 2012 football