Germany and England after the U-21 Euro Championships of 2009: An analysis

The U-21 European Championships of 2009 which took place in Sweden might be England’s proudest moment of the past 30 odd years in international football.

England were placed with Germany, Finland and Spain in the group stages, and they managed to top their group without a loss. Then, they won against an overachieving Sweden to reach the finals against Germany. In the final though, the English hopes dried off as the German squad routed England 4-0.

The U-21 Euro Champions of 2009

That German squad had players, players who are dominating world football today, players who form the core of the German National Football team today. Players like Manuel Neuer, Jerome Boateng, Sami Khedira, Mats Hummels, Marko Marin and Mesut Ozil.

Joachim Loew had a choice. He could stick with the likes of proven international talents like Michael Ballack, Torsten Frings, Christoph Metzelder, Thomas Hitzlsperger and Kevin Kuranyi who made the 2008 Euro Finals or he could select the class of 2009. He chose the latter and surprised almost everyone.

13 players who had played less than 10 international games were selected by Germany to represent them at the 2010 World Cup. Out of these 13, many were from the class of 2009. Along with them fellow youngsters like Muller, Kroos and Badstuber were selected.

England, on the other hand, picked two players from the 2009 European U-21 Runner Up squad – Joe Hart and James Milner.

Germany’s average age in the 2010 World Cup was 24, the least and England’s was 28, the highest.

Is this the reason why Germany are one of the best squads in the world and England, still the underdogs?

Yes, the quality of the German players and the English players cannot be compared. Germany have way more technically and naturally gifted players than England. But the question in hand is totally different.

Spain are not going to change their core squad because they are winning. Jogi Low sensed that his players were getting old, he knew that his players wouldn’t be there for too long. That was why he took a set of unproven, talented youngsters to the biggest stage in world football.

And, it payed off. Thomas Muller, who was not even on that 2009 U-21 squad was the star of the tournament winning the Golden Boot award. If he had not been suspended for the World Cup Semifinals against Spain, Germany could have won the game. Mesut Ozil and Sami Khedira were great hits and they scooped up by one of the greatest clubs in the world, Real Madrid, soon after the tournament got over.

Time to look beyond?

England, were too afraid to look beyond the Gerrards and Lampards. Fabio Capello and the English FA were repairing a broken television that was going to get thrown out.

Only 4 players who had played less than 10 games featured on that English squad from 2010. I’m not saying that you should select more amateurs but you should know when one’s had enough. It took them four years to realize that Joe Hart is the best goal-keeper in the country. How long will it take for them to realize that English football can be played without Gerrard and Lampard?

I’m not saying that Adam Johnson is necessarily better than Ashley Young. I’m not saying that Micah Richards is better than Glen Johnson and I’m certainly not saying that Mark Noble and Steven Taylor are better than Scott Parker and John Terry.

But, would it hurt to try? It is not as if you are maintaining a ‘winning combination’.

Michael Ballack is probably one among the greatest German footballers of the past decade but it is at his expense that talents like Mesut Ozil and Thomas Muller are playing.

We still don’t know if the English youngsters are even half as worthy as their German counterparts but it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try. There are still two years left till the World Cup in Brazil. The same two years that Jogi Low had between Euro 2008 and World Cup 2010.

Will Roy Hodgson take notice?