Comments on: 5 Conclusions: Germany U21 4-0 England U21

By: Triple Check

Triple Check — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 05:42:22 +0000

I agree Boateng is the most promising. I love it when he celebrates at the end of the game with a German Flag. Simply the best

By: Arminius

Arminius — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 20:39:51 +0000

Jan: Good reasoning, I suppose.

As for defence, B o a t e n g is the most promising one and therefore has the biggest chance to become part of the standard crew.

If Ö z i l is given a chance to act as a striker there will be thin air for some presumed offense governors. For example, can’t imagine K l o s e to play a big role any longer unless he displays a second spring. And
G o m e z’ ascendancy might easily be followed by a new cruel solstice.
P o d o l s k i has yet to prove himself a a striker of international clibre, too.

I dare say that – though with all his team’s glamour he was one of the ‘losers’ of the tournament – M a r i n has got so much potential that his future looks fairly bright nevertheless. Rarely have we had a striker with such amazing dribbling skills – and speed. I may of course be grimly wrong yet I have got a hunch he might turn into someone like a new Littbarski(y?) at his best.

Anyway: Euro Champions at U 17, U 19 and U 21 level at the same time is
something many will envy us for. No guarantee of future glory, to be sure,
but a comfortable basis. Just think of poor England, for example.

By: Jan

Jan — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:30:52 +0000

The 4-1-4-1 formation looked interesting indeed, although it was really only used in the final. I think a striker like Mario Gomez could perform well in such a system.

With all the praise we give the defense, it’s worth noting that they only defended against other youngsters and not against the world’s elite. But Hummels, Höwedes and Boateng are still three candidates to join Mertesacker alongside Tasci and maybe Friedrich. Unfortunately there isn’t the same wealth of options available for the full back positions (as far as U21 and senior level is concerned), but I’m happy that Andreas Beck had a good tournament.

I guess though that the most we can hope for for the World Cup qualifiers is a second half substitution to bring on Özil. I think Löw will stick to Tasci/Mertesacker in central defense and choose between Adler and Enke in goal. So no room for the U21 heroes there. :-/

By: Nick

Nick — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 05:59:20 +0000

Jan, the 4-1-4-1 formation seemed much superior to the 4-2-3-1 the senior side plays. Maybe Jogi can think about using it in the future.

There was an interview with Löw over at the DFB and I get the feeling he seems to be of the opinion that he won’t integrate the U21 players as soon as some of us might hope. Like in time to face off with he Soviets. (Then again he might submit to media pressure when we get closer to 2010.)

I agree that the transition from U21 to senior team is big, but surely we need the U21 central defenders sooner rather than later. I am happy he at least mentioned the three big ones in the England game and honestly this and the Spain game was the best showcase of talent in that department. Yet still he seems to be sold on Tasci and Westermann.

I really am not sold on Westermann. He is versatile and scores goals against crap teams, but his passing and alertness in defense as we have seen has been atrocious enough that the other players have gotten angry at him. I hope that Hummels and Boateng especially have good seasons because they are the most obvious replacement to the “versatile” Westermann.