......................it is to watch the England U21 side these days. We are fortunate over here to have had the televised games of all of our qualifying games for the U21 tournament in Israel in June.
Last night was another chance to see these talented youngsters brush aside Romania 3-0. To be fair, Romania did field a young side with players having little International experience, but never the less, players like Sterling and Zaha tore them to shreds with their close quarter skills.The passing, the control of the ball and the positioning off the ball of some of these players, bodes well for the future of the full England side in years to come.
Liverpool are providing a very good set of players and if anyone watched the Elite group match the other night will have noticed another cert. for the future in Jordan Ibe.
8 wins in a row now and 8 clean sheets gives me the confidence that this young crop of players can do well in Israel and maybe even lift the trophy. We are also the only country to have qualified for the final stages of the last 4 tournaments.
So its hats off to Stuart Pearce and his young lions.
What a pleasure.........
posted on 22/3/13
All those seniors you mention are bottlejobs when it really matters on the international stage. Hence, no trophies.
We are a rich man's Scotland.
posted on 22/3/13
As for Wilshere, he will be finished within the next two years.
posted on 22/3/13
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posted on 22/3/13
I know what you mean and I agree.
But if we're talking about Wilshere in isolation, he may only be 21 but he's certainly good enough to start.
Unfortunate
posted on 22/3/13
Wilshire is the only one of the younger lot who looks like we can be confident to become top class barring injury.
The rest are still prospects who if they don't improve significantly will just be squad fill
posted on 22/3/13
Why do players have to be between the ages of 23 - 27 to be successful? Is this because of when they peak on football manager?
Plenty of players peak before they are 23, such as Michael Owen and Trevor Francis and players can go on playing at a high level long after 27.
Age isn't the be all and end all.
posted on 22/3/13
They don't have to be between 23-27.
Thats not what I said
I am just pointing out why I think we are about to have a bad spell at International level. Most of our top drawer players are about to retire or have retired.
We have a very good young bunch, but we can't expect them to be ready for another couple of years at least, if they will be ready at all.
The bunch in the middle are almost all very ordinary at International level.
In the last decade I have mostly felt we had a genuine chance of getting to a semi-final or final, with a bit of luck with injuries and penalties etc. It didn't happen for a variety of reasons, but we were one of the top 10 in the world for most of that time.
Over the next few years I have no hope at all that we could get that far and we could well fail to qualify again soon.
posted on 22/3/13
I agree that players we have in that age group aren't all up to international standards however, until next summer I won't be too dismissive of any of the younger group.
Three years ago Germany more or less entirely skipped the 23 - 27 age group and barring a poor result against Italy last year, have looked like contenders in both tournaments since.
I'm not saying thats the case with England but it would be nice to see the new generation brought into the fold.
posted on 22/3/13
Greetings from Berlin
England's nemesis has also qualified - by 9 wins and 1 draw.
Don't get all expectant, you know it ends in tears.
posted on 28/6/13
#drooling