Welsh national football team (U-21 men)

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Wales
National team logo
Nickname (s) Young Dragons
("The Young Dragons")
Association Football Association of Wales
confederacy UEFA
Head coach Brian Flynn
captain Joe Jacobson
Record player James Thomas
FIFA code WHALE
home
Away
statistics
First international match
England 0-0 Wales
(1976)
Biggest win
Wales 6-2 Cyprus
(1993)
Biggest defeat
Italy 8-1 Wales
( Pavia , Italy , 5 Sep 2003)
(As of September 2008)

The Welsh National U-21 football team is a national team of Welsh football players . It is subject to the Football Association of Wales and represents it at the U-21 level , in friendly matches against the national teams of other national associations, but also at the European Championship of the continental association UEFA . Eligible to play are players who have not yet reached the age of 21 in the first qualifying game for a tournament.

history

Wales' U-21s have not yet qualified for any UEFA hosted tournament.

Much has to do with the fact that the U-21 was only a minor part of the Welsh Federation for a long time. Many talents have often skipped this youth department and made their debut in the country's senior team at an early age. The best example is player legend Ryan Giggs who only made one appearance in the dress of the young dragons and made his debut in the A-Elf against Germany the next day . Since John Toshack coached the Welsh senior team and Brian Flynn took over as U-21 coach, that opinion has changed with regard to the youth team.

For the qualification for the European Championship 2006 Wales was drawn into group 6 with Germany , England , Poland , Austria and Azerbaijan . Three wins were compared to a draw and 6 defeats, with a goal difference of 9:21. Both games were lost to their neighbors and island rivals England. Against the last of the group, Azerbaijan, won both games. In the end, the team landed on the penultimate, 5th place, with three points difference to 3rd place. In second place, which was enough for the play-off games, there were eleven points difference.

Since the next European Championship after the EM in 2006 did not take place two years later, as usual, but took place in 2007 , the corresponding qualification was played out in a rapid process. It started with a preliminary round, followed by a short group stage with three teams and the play-off games. Wales needed to get into the group stage first. The teams from Israel and Turkey were drawn to the young dragons . There was only one game against each team, so the teams had one away and one home rights. In the first game on January 16, 2006, the Welsh visited Israel and just lost this game 3-2. As the Israelis played 0-0 in the clash with Turkey, the last game of this Group 13 was irrelevant for Wales, as Israel already had four points on the credit side. Only the Turks were able to overtake Israel with a victory by two goals. But this game also ended 0-0, so that both teams, Turkey and Wales, were eliminated.

At the qualification for the European Championship 2009 the team of coach Brian Flynn surprised. The favorites Romania and France were left behind and Group 10 won. This first place qualifies for the play-off games. After the team lost the opening game against France, a winning streak of five games in a row followed. Among other things, a 4-2 win in front of a home crowd against the European champions from 1988, France. This winning streak was then interrupted against Romania by a 0-1 defeat at home. Since the two worst competitors took the points themselves with two draws, the final game day on September 9, 2008 had to be decided. A 3-0 win in Romania placed them ahead of France and Romania and made it into the play-off round for the 2009 European Championship. There they lost to England in the first leg 3-2 and did not get more than a 2-2 draw in the second leg despite half an hour in excess.

Others

On May 15, 2008, the U-21 youngsters played a friendly against England's U-21s. This game was the selection's 100th game since the first match, also against England, in 1976.

Former and well-known players

(Selection)

U-21 coach

(incomplete)

See also

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ Wales U21 0-2 England U21 Article on the 100 game on bbc.co.uk from May 15, 2008