Saturday,
June 09, 2007
Under 21 Squad is Superb Pool of
Talent for Senior Azzurri
One
Fact that went unmentioned regarding Italy's World Cup Victory last
summer was that of the Azzurri squad of 23 players, 14
had actually won an international tournament before - the European Under-21
Championship.
Italy nurtures its potential
stars in the Juniors, before promoting them to the
Senior squad. To the contrary, England
has rushed their star Juniors onto the Senior squad,
with limited success.
Also,
what most people don't realize is that Italy has won FIVE of the Last
EIGHT Under 21 European
Championships!!!!!! (List Below)
Italy
show England The Way
Sunday
Telegraph
By Julian Bennetts,
Amid
last summer's celebrations at Italy's
World Cup victory one crucial fact went largely unnoticed: of the Azzurri squad of 23 players, 14 had actually won
an international tournament before - the European Under-21 Championship.
The
finals have been brought forward this year so as not to clash with Euro 2008
and Italy,
surely, are still the team to beat. They have won five of the last eight
tournaments while using the occasion to blood their precocious youngsters.
As
Italian football expert James Richardson points out: "Italy have always been very good at churning out top-class young
players. The talent has always been there, but what was needed was a manager
who wasn't a complete luddite; in [Marcello] Lippi
they got that, but the history of victory that was instilled at Under-21 level
has led to a superb pool of players turning out for the Azzurri,
and with all that talent then sooner or later someone had to get it
right."...
The
notable underachievers in recent history are England, who last made a
significant impression when successfully defending their title in 1984. Then
decided over two legs it was thought, in the wake of England's
3-0 aggregate victory over Spain,
that the goalscorers, Mark Hateley,
Mel Sterland and Howard Gayle would help England
challenge for full international honours.
It
was not to be, however, and England's
lack of success since can be seen, at least in part, as being due to players
bypassing the Under-21 stage: Michael Owen, Steven Gerrard
and Ashley Cole have just nine Under-21 caps between them, while Joe Cole only
has eight. None have played in an Under-21 Championship, and the only time
England have qualified since 1992 was in 2000, when they failed to get past the
group stage.
England manager Stuart Pearce is
also a member of the Under-21 one-cap wonders brigade, and the withdrawal of
David Bentley due to fatigue was hardly the fillip that the squad needed to
raise expectations for a successful England campaign this time round.
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Recent winners
2006 Holland Huntelaar,
Emanuelson
2004 Italy Gilardino, De Rossi
2002 Czech Rep Cech,
Baros
2000 Italy Pirlo, Gattuso, Perrotta
1998 Spain Guti,
Salgado, Valeron
1996 Italy Totti, Nesta, Buffon
1994 Italy Cannavaro, Inzaghi, D Piero
1992 Italy Albertini, Muzzi
1990 USSR Kanchelskis,
Mostovoi
1988 France Cantona, Blanc
1986 Spain Cravero, Caldere
1984 England Hateley, Sterland
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