Coach Antonio Di Salvo is excited in two ways: firstly for the draw in Bratislava on December 3rd, because then he knows which three group opponents his U21 will have to play against at the European Championships in June in Slovakia. However, Di Salvo is even more excited to see which players will be available to him at this European Championship. Because there are two factors that he cannot influence: injuries and the Club World Cup.
With the 2-2 draw in the friendly in France (German goals from Dortmund’s Maximilian Beier), the oldest youth national team ended the year 2024 on Tuesday evening. “A really good game from us with a disappointing result,” Di Salvo saw. In general, he found the whole lead-up to the European Championship positive: Since the previous U21 year had bitterly disappointed at the European Championship in Georgia in June 2023 and was eliminated in the preliminary round with just one point from three games, the new year has not played 13 games only one lost. “I see a good team spirit and clear progress,” says Di Salvo about the past 15 months. “We’re all really keen on the U21s,” confirms Gladbach midfielder Rocco Reitz: “There’s great chemistry here.”
Di Salvo is happy with a sentence like that, but he would be even happier if he could make full use of his staff in seven months. In the past 15 months that hasn’t worked very often; someone was always missing. On Tuesday, with the more or less ailing Noah Atubolu, Leandro Morgalla, Tim Oermann, Bright Arrey-Mbi, Tom Rothe, Luca Netz, Merlin Röhl, Karim Adeyemi and Paul Wanner, nine players were absent, all of whom would have been considered for the starting eleven . Di Salvo had a similar number of players missing from the last European Championship.
“I depend on which players are available,” says di Salvo
Added to this is the new major Club World Cup in the USA, which is taking place parallel to the U21 European Championships. Maximilian Beier and Karim Adeyemi from Borussia Dortmund and Leandro Morgalla and Hendry Blank from RB Salzburg are the four candidates who will probably have to fly to North America with their clubs rather than be allowed to play for the U21 in Slovakia. Di Salvo still has no idea what the clubs are planning. “Hopefully I’ll know more in March,” he says. There will be two more U21 international matches in March. Three months later it’s already the European Championships.
Until then, Di Salvo wants to maintain high levels of communication with his protégés and also scan players who are not yet on his shortlist. The basic framework is largely set in his head, but so much can still happen within seven months. “It will be exciting to see which squad we can really plan with,” says Di Salvo: “I depend on which players are available.”
The past 13 games have provided clues as to which players play an important role in Di Salvo’s concept: in goal, Freiburg’s Noah Atubolu and Cologne’s Jonas Urbig, at the back right, Frankfurt’s Nnamdi Collins and Cologne’s Jan Thielmann; In the central defense are Freiburg’s Max Rosenfelder and Bright Arrey-Mbi, who plays in Braga, as well as Bochum’s Tim Oermann and Düsseldorf’s Jamil Siebert, at the back left, Frankfurt’s Nathaniel Brown and Gladbach’s Luca Netz. In the defensive midfield, Cologne’s Eric Martel and Gladbach’s Rocco Reitz are well placed as a double six, while offensively Heidenheim’s Paul Wanner and Stuttgart’s Nick Woltemade, on the wings Frankfurt’s Ansgar Knauff and Brajan Gruda, who plays for Brighton, as well as center forward Nicolo Tresoldi from Hannover 96 and Youssoufa Moukoko from OGC Nice have the best cards.
If Dortmund wingers Beier and Adeyemi and Salzburg defenders Morgalla and Blank don’t have to go to the Club World Cup, then there are other excellent options for Di Salvo. But that’s out of his hands.
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