The 2015 UEFA European U21 Championship gets underway on Wednesday in the Stadion Eden, Prague with the host nation Czech Republic taking on tournament dark horses Denmark in the Group A opener.
The Stadion Eden is the home of Slavia Prague and it is one of four stadiums chosen to host the tournament. It is now the largest football stadium in the Czech Republic with a capacity of 20,800 and it is expected to be full as the host nation look to get their campaign off to a winning start against the young Danes.
Qualifying
Czech Republic
As tournament hosts the Czech Republic did not have to qualify for the latter stages and have instead played a series of friendlies against other youth teams. The last four of those friendlies have been against teams who have qualified for this tournament including two of their Group A opponents, Denmark and Germany. Those matches came three days apart in November 2014 and both ended in draws (2-2 v Denmark and 1-1 v Germany). Since then they have lost 1-0 to England and beat Portugal 1-0 in what could end up being a preview of a potential semi-final or final should the sides come through their respective group stages unscathed.
Denmark
The Danes were drawn into Group 2 in qualification for these championships alongside Russia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Estonia and Andorra. The Danes topped the group with 26 points after winning eight and drawing two of their ten games. Russia were second, four points behind Denmark, with two defeats to the Danes putting an end to Russia’s qualification hopes. Denmark’s two draws both came against Slovenia who took third place in the group.
By topping the group Denmark earned a place in the Play-offs which would see them go head to head with Iceland who had finished second in group 10, reaching the play-offs as one of the best four second placed teams. The sides drew 0-0 in Aalborg in the first leg and the game looked set to be heading for extra time in Reykjavik before Nikolaj Thomsen put Denmark ahead. Iceland got an equaliser but it wasn't enough and Denmark qualified on away goals.
Head Coaches
Czech Republic
The Czech’s will come into this tournament under the leadership of head coach Jakub Dovalil. Dovalil never really made the grade as a player having played for Slavia Prague’s youth teams before being released at 20 years old. He continued his career with several lower league sides before returning to Slavia Prague to start off what has been an impressive career as a youth coach.
Dovalil first coached one of the national sides in 2002 when he took over the U16 team. He has since coached all age groups from the U16 team right up to the U21's and was apart of the coaching teams that saw the Czech Republic finish second in an U17 Euro's and an U20 World Cup. Dovalil and the Czech Republic will be hoping this side can go one step further on home soil.
Denmark
Jess Thorup has been in charge of the Danish U21 side for two years now after a seven year spell with Esbjerg, first as an assistant manager before taking over as manager in 2011. Thorup enjoyed a successful spell in charge of EfB, winning the 1st division in his first season before winning the Danish Cup in his final game in charge of the club before leaving to take over the young Danes.
Thorup is widely regarded as one of the best young coaches in Denmark after his spell with Esbjerg and an unbeaten qualifying campaign has raised hopes that he could lead a talented group to the latter stages of the competition.
Key Players
Tomas Kalas (Czech Republic)
Kalas has 19 caps for the Czech U21's and has become an established member of the team which is quite different to his situation in domestic football. He started his career with Sigma Olomouc before signing for Chelsea in 2010 and since then he has been loaned out three times. He had two successful seasons with Vitesse Arnhem, making 76 appearances in all competitions for the Dutch side before spending the 2013/14 season with Chelsea. He only made four appearances in all competitions for the Blues but Liverpool fans will remember his Premier League debut well. Kalas was sublime at Anfield in the infamous match were Jose Mourinho's side beat Liverpool 2-0 to end the home sides title hopes. Last season Kalas found himself out on loan again. First it was an unsuccessful spell in Germany with FC Köln where he made two appearances for the second string before returning to England to spend three months with Middlesbrough where he made 17 appearances before his loan expired which saw him miss the play-offs as "Boro" lost to Norwich in the final. Kalas will start at centre-back for the Czech's and his experience could be vital if they are to make an impact in the competition.
Vaclav Kadlec (Czech Republic)
Kadlec is the main goal threat in Dovalil's team, scoring seven goals in his 13 caps for the U21's. He is now a regular member of the senior squad having made 11 appearances and scoring two goals. Kadlec began his career with Sparta Prague where he made his first team debut in 2008 at the age of 16. Kadlec made over 150 appearances for Sparta before moving to Germany to play for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2013. Kadlec was a regular in his first season but lost his place in his second year before returning to Sparta on loan where he scored ten goals in 14 matches. Kadlec often plays as a right sided forward and he will be the man the Danish defence will have to stop if they are to beat the hosts.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg (Denmark)
Hojbjerg is just 19 years old and has already made seven appearances for the senior team. The Bayern Munich man is widely regarded as one of the best young midfield prospects in Europe but he has struggled to get opportunities in Pep Guardiola's team which led to him joining Augsburg on loan in January. He featured regularly for the Fuggerstädter, making sixteen appearances and scoring twice as Augsburg finished fifth in the Bundesliga. Hojbjerg joined the squad late as he was with the senior side for their UEFA European Championship qualifier with Serbia at the weekend where he played the full 90 minutes as the Danes won 2-0. He has only played five times for the U21's but he has been a real stand out, scoring four goals in those games.
Viktor Fischer (Denmark)
Fischer is widely expected to be among the best players in this tournament with the Ajax man regarded as one of the best young talents in European football. He broke into the Ajax team as an 18 year old and took the Eriedivisie by storm, scoring ten league goals as Ajax won the title. He continued that good form into his second season, scoring seven goals in all competitions from his position on the left of a front three but unfortunately for the player and the club he missed the majority of the 2014/15 season through a hamstring injury. Fischer has only played for the U21's once and that was back in 2012 under Morten Wieghorst. He quickly graduated to the senior squad and has now made seven appearances for the full team although most of those have come in friendlies. Fischer scored three goals in four games for Ajax at the end of the season and Denmark will be hoping he can carry that good form into this tournament which could see Denmark become one of the tournament's dark horses.
History in the tournament
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic have reached the latter stages of the competition five times (1996, 2000, 2002, 2007, 2011) reaching at least the semi-finals on three of those. They finished runners-up in 2000, losing 2-1 to Italy in the final with Andrea Pirlo scoring twice in the final for the Azzurri. They went one better two years later, beating France in the final to become European champions with Petr Cech being named as the player of the tournament. The last time they qualified was 2011 in Denmark where they got out of the groups but fell to Switzerland and Belarus to finish in 4th place.
Denmark
The Danes have also reached the final stages on five previous occasions (1978, 1986, 1992, 2006, 2011) although they have generally struggled in the latter stages, reaching the semi-finals just once. In 1992 the latter stages were a series of two legged matches among eight teams who had won a four team group to qualify. Denmark topped a group that included Yugoslavia, Austria and San Marino to set up a quarter-final with Poland. The Poles were easily beaten 6-1 on aggregate to set up a semi-final with Italy but the young Danes were unable to match the achievements of their senior counterparts, who won that summers European Championships in Sweden, and lost 3-0 to the young Italians. Their last appearance was as hosts in 2011 but they failed to reach the knockout stages after defeats to Switzerland and Iceland.
On paper the Danes look the more experienced side with ten of their squad senior internationals in comparison to the Czech's who only have four squad members with full caps. Denmark have also been involved in the qualifying process which saw them go undefeated in twelve competitive matches to qualify for the final stages. Meanwhile the Czech Republic have been playing friendlies and although results have been good the coach won't have had an opportunity to see his player's tested under any real pressure. The sides drew 2-2 last year but it is difficult to use that as an indicator as the starting lineups will look very different on Wednesday to how they did in that game seven months ago.
Home advantage should help the Czech's and they will be hoping to do better than the last two host nations, Israel and Denmark, who were eliminated at the group stage. Germany look like the clear favourites to win Group A but their doesn't look to be much between these two and Serbia so this game could prove crucial in deciding who comes through Group A to reach the semi-finals and potentially the final back here in the Stadion Eden on the 30th June.