U21 European Championships Denmark 2011

Just under half an hour away from kick off in the tournament. 2 groups of 4 teams make up the tournament:

Group A - Belarus Iceland Denmark Switzerland

Group B - Spain England Czech Republic Ukraine

The groups are horribly unbalanced as the 3 big favourites for the tournament (Spain, CR and England) are all in 1 group. The top 2 teams will qualify for the Semis. Todays games are:

Belarus V Iceland 17:00 BST
Denmark V Switzerland 19:45 BST

All games are live on Sky Sports!

What happened to Germany? I know that most of their old U21 have been promoted, is this generation of German youngsters just not as good?

Did anyone read the interview with Thiago Alcantara?

He claimed that England's side were a team of 'unknowns'.
Spain now have a hell of a lot to live up to when they play England.

invincibleILeak (CL-6WF) wrote:What happened to Germany? I know that most of their old U21 have been promoted, is this generation of German youngsters just not as good?

Lost out in a qualifying group to the Czechs and Iceland so no I don't think they are quite as good.

I really don't understand that qualifying for these u21's. I also presumed that the top teams qualified straight into the competition but after seeing that Scotland won their group but still had to qualify through a play off.

Can anyone clear this up?

Duty281 wrote:

invincibleILeak (CL-6WF) wrote:What happened to Germany? I know that most of their old U21 have been promoted, is this generation of German youngsters just not as good?

Lost out in a qualifying group to the Czechs and Iceland so no I don't think they are quite as good.

Ironic after how much their youth system was built up after the world cup, how Germany would have a new generation of stars every couple of years, yet England have a dreadful youth system and after the 'Golden Generation' we're going to struggle for Qualification, yet it is England's U21s that are in the major tournaments not Germanys.

invincibleILeak (CL-6WF) wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

invincibleILeak (CL-6WF) wrote:What happened to Germany? I know that most of their old U21 have been promoted, is this generation of German youngsters just not as good?

Lost out in a qualifying group to the Czechs and Iceland so no I don't think they are quite as good.

Ironic after how much their youth system was built up after the world cup, how Germany would have a new generation of stars every couple of years, yet England have a dreadful youth system and after the 'Golden Generation' we're going to struggle for Qualification, yet it is England's U21s that are in the major tournaments not Germanys.

And the fact we (England) are in the U20 World Cup next month but Germany aren't.