The team in pictorial and detail: http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/.../slideshow_u-19-em_das-deutsche-aufgebot.html Torwart Marius Funk (VfB Stuttgart), Raif Husic (Werder Bremen) Abwehr Timo Baumgartl (VfB Stuttgart), Jonas Föhrenbach (SC Freiburg), Thilo Kehrer (FC Schalke 04), Lukas Klostermann (RB Leipzig), Lukas Klünter (1. FC Köln), Jonathan Tah (Fortuna Düsseldorf) Mittelfeld Nadiem Amiri (1899 Hoffenheim), Boubacar Barry (Karlsruher SC), Max Christiansen (FC Ingolstadt), Lucas Cueto (1. FC Köln), Erdal Öztürk (1899 Hoffenheim), Devante Parker (1. FSV Mainz 05) Sturm Gianluca Rizzo (Borussia Mönchengladbach), Leroy Sané (FC Schalke 04), Luca Waldschmidt (Eintracht Frankfurt), Timo Werner (VfB Stuttgart) Group Stage Matches vs Spain (7 July 20.45 clock in Larissa) vs the Netherlands (10 July 20.00 clock in Katerini) vs Russia (13 July 20.00 clock in Katerini)
Timo Werner gives an interview to DFB.de http://www.dfb.de/en/news/detail/timo-werner-motivated-for-the-tournament-126409/
Hope Werner and Sane have a good tournament. This was the stage that provided a spotlight and launched the breakthrough for Selke last year.
http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/.../630294/artikel_frust-und-lust-bei-ristl.html Explanation on Mart Ristl's exclusion from the roster. He missed the last stages of qualification because to final exams at school and also an injury caused him to cancel training with the U19s. However, this now gives him an opportunity to join the preparation for next season with the Stuttgart pro team. He's a player that management have high hopes for the future.
It wouldn't quite be the same without a couple of last minute pre-tournament injury changes lol. Baumgartl and Parker will be replaced by Kijewski and Dehm. The move to bring back Kijewski does provide a natural LB, which was previously missing from the roster. Tah, Klostermann, Kehrer, and Föhrenbach is sufficient coverage at CB anyways. While Klünter will most likely take the RB spot. Shame about Parker though, he was a good contributor during the qualifiers. Not a huge fan of Dehm, but he brings a bit of versatility being able to play RM and RB.
That's terrible ! Now I'm much less confident about our chances of going far in this tourney. Losing Baumgartl in particular is a big blow. Having 3 top defenders would have been a big advantage. Now we are left with two I think Parker would have been a starter. I was looking forward to seeing him play a full match. He is a gifted player. We have other good attacking players to compensate for his absence. I am also not a big fan of Dehm. He looked lightweight and ineffective against Schalke U19's in the semifinal of the U19 Championship. What impact could he possibly have in this U19 Euro ?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_UEFA_European_Under-19_Championship_squads It's interesting to note that Spain have seven '97s in their squad while all of our players are '96s. Would have been nice if Marcus Sorg had called up 1 or 2 of our special 1997 born players ( henrichs, ochs) instead of taking some of the lesser talents ( cueto, dehm, rizzo). Lilian Thuram's son Marcus is in the France squad. He is a striker and is playing up an age group (born in august 1997). He seems to be an early bloomer, has already made his debut with Sochaux's first team (in the 2nd division). Their top striker Neal Maupay just finished his 3rd pro season. He has already made 42 appearances for Nice. He has a lot of pro experience, just like our own striker Timo Werner (48 appearances in the Bundesliga).
Henrichs n Ochs aren't special talents. 1997 is just terrible of an age group Would replace Rizzo with Julius Düker tho
Definitely. Especially considering how a couple of the top 1996 born talents are already advanced ahead to U20 already like Brandt and Oztunali. Having those two around would certainly raise this U19 team up a notch. I wouldn't be so haste to be such gloom and doom on these lads. There might be a slight dip in talent which happens once a while. But there's still a fair amount of quality prospects in the 1997 age group who will be good pros one day. If I was to select a top team of '97ers right now, here's who I would go with: --------------Teuchert-------Owusu---------------- Ochs------Henrichs--------Sauerland-----Ferati Mittelstädt---Gimber------Boeder------Donkor --------------------Königsmann------------------- Bench: Reimann, Bader, Ziegele, Mehlem, Porath, Kader, Bytyqi
Definitely not promising. 1997 is the weakest age group we've produced in the last 12 years. Teuchert has just been sent back home by Nurnberg coach because he cant handle professional football physically, and he has been very injury prone in his early career. Ochs and Henrichs are better prospects but still cant be compared with some talents in 1996 and 1998 (And as i predicted, Ochs CANNOT play Cf at pro level becuase he isnt a good poacher n too small for the position) Owusu wont have a pro career if he stays in Vfb Stuttgart. They have too many strikers ahead and those options arent even old (Ginczek, Harnik, Kliment, Timo Werner, Fiore Tapia, Jan Ferdinand) I dont know what happened in 1997, but is a rather steep decline in terms of talent.
There's certain things you need to let go because it continues to veil your judgement. At this point pretty much everyone has accepted that Ochs is not playing CF. However, talent is still talent. And last season he featured as LW and was one of the best players overall in A-Jgd S/SW for both scoring and playing making. And that was among 1996 and 97 players too. In terms of CM, Henrichs ranks up there among any from the 96s. Compared to Amiri and Christiansen he could be even better. That goes with guys who weren't selected as well like Ristl, Dahoud and Gaudino. Additionally, also factor in other '97 midfielders like Sauerland, Mehlem, Porath. Owusu is really no different from someone like Rizzo or Platte. The scoring numbers achieved at the age of entering A-Jgd were pretty similar. Not to mention, Platte also gets a large share of overrating. And just like those two, Owusu won't be entering the first team anyways. He's still a few steps away but next season, he'll be their striker for U23 team. The team's approach will be see how he does and go from there. Perhaps, it'll be a loan move as well but we'll see when we get there. For accuracy's sake, Fiore Tapia moved to Schalke. And Jan Ferdinand is not ahead of Owusu in depth charts. Other 1997 born strikers like Kader, Bytyqi, Endres, Bunjaki rank comparable to 1996 counterparts as well (outside of Werner). Moving onto other positions, Gimber is pretty much level on talent with guys like Baumgartl, Klostermann. And better than others like Kehrer, Föhrenbach. Only '96 CB I would say is better is Tah. Although, the '97 LB and RB, Mittelstädt and Donkor/Bader are an upgrade over the '96 ones, Kijewski and Klünter. Königsmann from the '97s is also a top goalkeeper prospect for the future and definitely ranks ahead of the '96ers.
Platte is always famous of his professionalism and passion for the game since really young age. He isn't the most prolific striker but he has fairly good technique for his size, great physiqye and aerial ability, can hold up the ball up top n has a decent link up game. His mental strength is what coaches like about. And it is not comparable to most striker prospects in the country. He will be Schalke's 3rd striker this season 1996 still have Julius Düker, Waldschmidt (who will play as winger) , Eberwein and Rizzo. Eberwein is rather underrated as he possesses speed, agility, aerial ability n great size. Timo Werner is apparently ahead of any striker in 1997 And I meant Gabriele who joined Stuttgart. He will be behind Ginczek, Harnik, Timo Werner n Kliment. Too many obstacles ahead of Owusu at this point. Other positions is kinda subjective but I don't see Henrichs having a role in the first team anytime soon no matter how he's hyped.
The whole Platte pitch is kind of wishful thinking on your behalf. You criticize Teuchert for being injury prone. But take a look at Platte's injury situation from the last 2 seasons and how many games he has missed. As reported on the sources, Schalke is also in the market for another striker anyways. Platte will most likely need to prove himself first with the reserves or take the Big Phil Hofmann route and go out on loan for a few times. I've already addressed my thoughts on the Owusu situation. In terms of the striker department, yes Werner is ahead of everyone else. But for the rest, it is pretty much up for debate. When you compare goal production and skill set at the age of 17-18, there's really not much difference between Düker, Rizzo, Eberwein, Platte, Waldschmidt and Owusu, Kader, Endres, Bytyqi, Bunjaki, Fiore Tapia, etc.
Regarding Henrichs. That's more indicative of Leverkusen's team structure than his actual footballing abilities. Oztunali wasn't close to having a role either, until Werder gave him a chance to play here on loan.
Platte picked up an injury in 2014, and he told me that such injury was recurring because an operation is needed for a full recovery, which he found out earlier this year. So he arranged an operation once the season was over abd it was a successful operation. Huntelaar is aging (32 soon) and they are after Guidetti who is also very injury prone player, who had a virus which kept him out for a season. Platte is the 3rd striker for now, consider Choupo-Moting will likely play out wide. Breitenreiter said he wants a striker who is good in the air, runs a lot, provides energy, can hold up the ball and score many many goals. LOL, that requirement is ideal but there aren't more than 5 strikers who is capable of doing that and is PROVEN. Ibrahimovic, Diego Costa, Lewandowski and Benzema.....who else? Not even Aguero, Suarez and Icardi are good in the air.....not to mention Messi. Strikers with such package are world class strikers and there aren't many. Platte isn't prolific, but he is pretty much everything else.
According to Tm, Platte also missed 11 games due to injuries back in Sept-Dec 2013 during the 13/14 season. With certain players you can sense a warning flag over injury proneness, and Platte sounds like one of them. I like the kid and want him to do well, but expectations should be honed accordingly. You meanwhile jumped on the Platte bandwagon right after he struck a crossbar while being left wide open during a Madrid CL game. And then make it into something more than it should be. As the saying goes, one swallow doesn't make a summer. Watch him develop and what he does next but don't get too ahead of yourself here. This goes for all the other guys you've hyped over the years.
Christiansen is not even on the bench. Fvck ! Is he suspended or injured ? Let's hope we don't get embarrassed like the U17's against France and U21's against Portugal. Spain can do some damage if we are not at 100%. We are missing 5 key players.
Trying to sneak in a stream on the other tab at work lol. Currently down 0-1 in the first half, conceded during the opening 10 mins. Possession and course of play afterwards looking rather even. I think Kehrer is doing an alright job in place of Christiansen. Spain however are looking too well organized tactically so far to break into their defense. Some sweet footwork by Barry on several occasions but he needs support when moving forward.
Back to back chances for Germany following that counter attack. Amiri on a quick breakaway but his tough volley attempt hits right into the keeper. Didn't catch who had the shot a couple moments afterwards. Looked like Sane along the flank, but also met with a save.
This really hasn't been Werner's day. That shot attempt was woeful after Sane deked out a couple defenders and then through balled to reach him. Down 0-2 now, from conceding a penalty. Missing players from this tournament really hurt the chances. There's also that sense of chemistry lacking among this team, compared to last year's U19 which made them click.
Who are the big players in this age group? And How good is this batch of German talents compared to previous ones?
From the team selected, the top talents are Werner, Sane, Tah, and Klostermann. Technically, Brandt and Oztunali also qualify for this '96 age group but they were moved up to the U20 squad instead for the U20 WC tournament. Honestly, compared to last year's group this current set of U19s aren't as good. Too many players missing due to injuries and the depth isn't quite there. Davie Selke was a standout last year. There was also much more attacking and creative options overall with Meyer, Stendera, Oztunali Mukhtar, Brandt, etc. all on the same team together. Kimmich and Stark formed a stronger midfield core too.