Scouting the U19 EURO in Austria

50 tickets per game are available for scouts and club representatives wishing to attend the U19 EURO finals, which are currently being held in the Austrian cities of Linz, Pasching, Ried and Steyer. Some prestigious young names in world football are attending this newly formed UEFA tournament, which has taken place since 2002 when Spain won the first U19 trophy. Before that the tournament was called the FIFA Junior Tournamentand later the European U18 Football Championship. Among the Spanish squad from 2002 was a boy named Fernando Torres, who scored 5 goals in the finals and was voted as the tournament`s “Golden Player” - a good reason for scouts from top European clubs to have a careful look onto this new generation of emerging European shooting stars.

SPAIN
Spain holds the record by winning three out of five U19 EURO finals since 2002 and is once again one of the top favourites to win the 2007 trophy this year in Austria. But coach Iñaki Sáez is unable to call upon several of his best payers, as some of his MVPs joined Spain`s FIFA U20 World Championships campaign, currently being held in Canada. Unfortunately for Spain, the U20 youngsters from the Czech Republic beat their Spanish rivals in the Quarter finals. This promising new Czech generation will meet either Argentina or Chile in the final on Sunday. Nevertheless the Spanish U19 campaign in Austria started well with a 1:1 draw against Portugal and an easy 2:0 victory over hosts Austria. The most interesting Spanish player seems to be Valencia`s 18-year old striker Aarón Ñíguez, who has already scored twice.

GREECE
The Greek senior team are the current holders of the EURO crown but their football was hit by crisis when successful coach Otto Rehhagel was unable to lead the proud Greeks into the World Cup finals in Germany 2006. Nevertheless a promising new generation seems to be rising from the “cradle of ancient civilization” in Southeastern Europe. A narrow 1:0 victory against one of the tournament`s favourites Portugal and a 1:1 draw against outsiders Austria in the first two group matches seem to copy the successful run of the Greeks' 2004 EURO campaign under Rehhagel. If Greece manages to draw against Spain on Saturday, they will be through to the Semi-Finals in one of the best Greek youth performances of all times. Their most notable player so far is striker Konstantinos Mitroglou, who scored both Greek goals in the first two matches. He plays for Borussia Mönchengladbach. 16 year old Panathinaikos starlet Sotirios Ninis (see extensive Extra-Football article) is another promising youngster from this Greek U19 squad.

FRANCE

The new Henry? RC Lens starlet Kévin Monnet-Paquet. Source: Sportslife

France's new generation seems to be built on physical strength and willpower. Their impressive opening match victory against Serbia (5:2) came after being down to 10 men and 0:2 behind in the 35th minute. The most notable performance in this match came through RC Lens starlet Kévin Monnet-Paquet – the tournament`s leading goal scorer after two rounds of matches. The 18-year old has already earned comparisons with his big idol Thierry Henry. Monaco's talent and team captain Malaury Martin has already scored twice and impressed as the heart and head of the team. France`s 1:1 draw against Germany yesterday evening opened the door wide for the semi-finals, as the youngsters from France only have to draw outsiders Russia in their last group match on Saturday.

GERMANY
The Germans impressed as usual with a tight, disciplined and ordered approach on the pitch, but also with some fine individual creativity, especially in the attack. Players with foreign roots mark Germany`s attractive displays so far, especially Schalke 04's talent of Turkish descent Mesut Özil, Hamburger SV's midfielder of Tunisian descent Änis Ben-Hatira and Borussia Dortmund's Polish-born attacker Sebastian Tyrala. Especially Ben-Hatira's passes and dribbles promise to make him into an HSV standard very soon. The 18-year old Tunisian is the most interesting German player of the tournament so far.

SERBIA
Serbia`s start in the tournament was spectacular to say the least, when after being defeated 2:5 by a ten men France, they managed an impressive turnaround in their second group match, defeating Russia 6:2 yesterday evening in Pasching. It all comes down now to the decisive match against Germany on Saturday when we see if they head into the next round, trying to repeat the brilliant Serbian U21 EURO performance a few weeks ago in Holland, where they finished as runners-up. The most notable players in the Serbian squad so far have been FK Vojvodina offensive left-winger Dušan Tadić (2 goals), FK Partizan forward Nenad Marinkovc (2 goals) and highly talented Miralem Sulejmani, who joined Eredivisie side SC Heerenveen from Partizan in January and has scored a total of 5 goals for Serbia so far – 4 in qualifying and a penalty against France. Sulejmani is also the most gifted dribbler and passer on the team, assisting on some of the 6 goals scored against Russia.

PORTUGAl, RUSSIA, AUSTRIA
After two defeats against Serbia (2:6) and Germany (2:3) Russia no longer has a chance of qualifying for the semi-finals. Their two best players Artem Dzyuba (Spartak Moscow) and Vladimir Dyadyun nevertheless left a good impression at the tournament, combining for all 4 of Russia's goals so far. Portugal`s performance has been rather disappointing, gaining only 1 point out of two matches while hosts Austria, not especially well known for having strong youth squads in the past, were unable to make use of their advantage as hosts.