You are a Dutchmen and you don't even know anything about the youth teams of Holland? Since when Aissati is playing in the youth team of Holland? Btw here are some foreign players of the Dutch NT youth squads: U15 Igor Trajkov (FC Utrecht) Gianluca Nijholt (FC Utrecht) Louis Pedro (Feyenoord) Nacer Barazite (NEC) Jawid Sabet (NEC) Mehran Hushyari (Ajax) <- Sounds like Iranian Roliëny Bonevacia (Ajax) Parez Karim (Feyenoord) Shabir Isoufi (Feyenoord) Cayfano Latupeirissa (NEC) Imad Najah (PSV) Anil Gülner (VVV Venlo) Yoram Pesulima (Vitesse/ AGOVV) U16 Miquel Nelom (Feyenoord) Lerin Duarte (Sparta R.) U17 A new team selection is coming. U18 Nicholas Skverer (NEC) Lesley Nahrwold (FC Twente) Gregory Nelson (AZ) Shkodran Metaj (FC Groningen) U19 Rydell Poepon (Ajax) Javier Martina (Ajax) Eljero Elia (ADO Den Haag) Reza Ghoochannejhad (Heerenveen) U20 Ibrahim Afellay (PSV)
i think you're very boring but ok to name a few from the top of my head, Robben Van der Vaart Sneijder Van Persie Maduro Vlaar Babel Collins John Affelay Aissati Stekelnburg Heitinga Quincy Owusu Abeyie Vinken etc.
If that is the case, then what happened to Turkey at this years European U21 Championship ??... http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/Under21/Standings/index.html .
i wouldnt call this half of all youth players...plus most of these kids where probably born here...its not your roots that determine your talent...its just having it in you or not...
Right now, obviously Portugal U-21 --» http://www.uefa.com/Competitions/Under21/Standings/index.html (10 games, 10 times we won) I won´t mention the other youth teams because i think its hard to evaluate players with 16, 17, 18 or 19 years old, history(Portugal included...) is filled with fantastic young prospects that never made it when they stopped playing against kids of their age...
Watch out for GK Stojkovic, M Vuckevic, and F Vucinic. Plus D such as Basta, Dudic, and Bisevac all who are playing senior football for Red Star Belgrade. Vidic from Spartak Moscow is also a name you guys should be aware of, he's one of the main reasons why we only conceded one goal in world cup qualifying for the seniors.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Portugal: Moreira (Benfica) 21 RB: Nelson (Benfica) 22 CD: R.Costa (FC Porto)23 , B.Vale (FC.Porto) 22? LB: J.Ribeiro (Dinamo Moskow) CM: Manuel Fernandes (Benfica) 19, Raul Meireles (FC Porto) 21, or João Moutinho (Sporting) 18 RW: Ricardo Quaresma (FC Porto) 21 LW: Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester Utd) 19? ST: Helder Postiga (FC Porto) 23, Hugo Almeida (FC Porto) 21
Well, you also have to look at the strenght of the groups and not only the points collected ... But otherwise I agree, looking at 16 to 19-yo players makes no sense unless they are already at A-NT level... Using the U21 NT players as measurement, makes on the other hand perfectly sense, since alot of them are league Stars and playing European U21 NT Championships plus in some cases at the same time also for their A-NT... .
"Which European country has..." I assumed that ment whoever is playing football (or practicing!) in said country. Nothing to do with nationality.
clearly the dutch are overrated again, but again only by the dutch themselves... I would say Spain, Turkey and maybe England/Sweden. The Ukraine isn't doing that bad either
Based on what exactly ?... Have you actually watched Ukraine play ? ..and what has the Swedish youth NT's done lately to impress ?.
Holland, Turkey and Germany. Germany has not much reputation referring to their youth players, but they have a really good u-21 and u-19.
How come nobody is mentioning Serbia? We came second in euro 2004 for u21. We have many great talents who are coming out, some are even on the senior national team.
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under21/history/index.html 2002 - 2004 Italy 2000 - 2002 Czech Republic 1998 - 2000 Italy 1996 - 1998 Spain 1994 - 1996 Italy 1992 - 1994 Italy 1990 - 1992 Italy Italy triumphed for a fifth time in 2004 (uefa.com) It has to be Liechtenstein... Italy has a tradition of strong U21 teams at least in the last 15 years. Not always we have the most talented guys, I guess we usually have the best average quality (20-30 players). We have more and more problems going down with the age level. It is also true that the only youth sector that really matters for the FIGC (italian federation) is the U21.
No need to put solid facts in this thread... I agree Italy has been the best european u-21 team since i can remember.