A double interview with the U21 duo. The newly formed U21 national team will kick start their season against Denmark on Thursday (18:00 CEST) in Lübeck and then continue with a Euro qualifier against Azerbaijan on Tuesday (16:00 CEST) in Baku. DFB-Team manager Horst Hrubesch has called up 17 debutants for the U21 squad. Two of which are Julian Brandt of Bayer Leverkusen and Levin Öztunali of Werder Bremen. DFB.de interviewed the U19 European Champions about their development through the DFB youth teams and the milestone of getting into the U21 side.
DFB.de: Are you aware that you’re completing a perfect hat-trick right now?
Levin Öztunali: Hat-trick? In what sense?
DFB.de: This is the third time now that we have done this. We had the first double interview at the U17 elite round 2013, then again one year later during the U19 Euros in Hungary, and now here we are ahead of your first U21 fixtures.
Julian Brandt: I still don’t get how we got knocked out of the U17 elite round. We had such a strong team and we were unbeaten. Then in the last game against the Ukraine we had enough chances to win three games and conceded the 1-0 in the last minute. Unbelievable!
Öztunali: That was horrendous, but even this experience helped us develop as players. The more you are challenged as a youngster and the more extreme your experiences are, the more you learn for the future.
DFB.de: Evidently… because just one year later you both won the European Championship in Hungary.
Öztunali: Our experience with the U17s definitely helped us in the Euros. Manager Marcus Sorg called us up to the U19s from a younger age group. Winning the Euros in Hungary was unforgettable.
DFB.de: And now, just another year down the line you’ve made the next big step: getting picked for the U21 national team.
Brandt: It is something really special. The U21 stage is the highest level for an academy player and the final step before the senior team. You can see this with Emre Can, Kevin Volland, Marc-André ter Stegen or Matthias Ginter.
DFB.de There are six players in the current U21 squad who were on the pitch for the U19 Euro 2014 final. What does that tell us about the quality in the ranks of the youth national teams?
Öztunali: A lot. At your club you work day in day out on your strengths and weaknesses and try to reach your goals. In particular though, at your club you train with a lot of older more experienced players. With the national squad you train alongside the very best in your age group. I do think the experiences with the youth teams have helped me tremendously in my career.
Brandt: It’s also an advantage that a new U21 team is being put together, but most of us already know each other from previous youth teams. In a way, we’ve all taken a similar route to get here, and we all want this route to lead to the U21 Euros in Poland 2017.
DFB.de: The qualification campaign will start in a few days in Baku. First though, there’s a game against Denmark to be played. How important is this friendly?
Brandt: The boss will definitely try a few things out in the Denmark game, that will need to work against Azerbaijan. I don’t see why they shouldn’t work though. The quality of this team is so high. You can see that in every training session. Almost all of us are Bundesliga players, several of us play in the Champions League or the Europa League. It’s good fun. It’ll be worth a trip to the stadium. We look forward to our fans’ support.
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A double interview with the U21 duo. The newly formed U21 national team will kick start their season against Denmark on Thursday (18:00 CEST) in Lübeck and then continue with a Euro qualifier against Azerbaijan on Tuesday (16:00 CEST) in Baku. DFB-Team manager Horst Hrubesch has called up 17 debutants for the U21 squad. Two of which are Julian Brandt of Bayer Leverkusen and Levin Öztunali of Werder Bremen. DFB.de interviewed the U19 European Champions about their development through the DFB youth teams and the milestone of getting into the U21 side.
DFB.de: Are you aware that you’re completing a perfect hat-trick right now?
Levin Öztunali: Hat-trick? In what sense?
DFB.de: This is the third time now that we have done this. We had the first double interview at the U17 elite round 2013, then again one year later during the U19 Euros in Hungary, and now here we are ahead of your first U21 fixtures.
Julian Brandt: I still don’t get how we got knocked out of the U17 elite round. We had such a strong team and we were unbeaten. Then in the last game against the Ukraine we had enough chances to win three games and conceded the 1-0 in the last minute. Unbelievable!
Öztunali: That was horrendous, but even this experience helped us develop as players. The more you are challenged as a youngster and the more extreme your experiences are, the more you learn for the future.
DFB.de: Evidently… because just one year later you both won the European Championship in Hungary.
Öztunali: Our experience with the U17s definitely helped us in the Euros. Manager Marcus Sorg called us up to the U19s from a younger age group. Winning the Euros in Hungary was unforgettable.
DFB.de: And now, just another year down the line you’ve made the next big step: getting picked for the U21 national team.
Brandt: It is something really special. The U21 stage is the highest level for an academy player and the final step before the senior team. You can see this with Emre Can, Kevin Volland, Marc-André ter Stegen or Matthias Ginter.
DFB.de There are six players in the current U21 squad who were on the pitch for the U19 Euro 2014 final. What does that tell us about the quality in the ranks of the youth national teams?
Öztunali: A lot. At your club you work day in day out on your strengths and weaknesses and try to reach your goals. In particular though, at your club you train with a lot of older more experienced players. With the national squad you train alongside the very best in your age group. I do think the experiences with the youth teams have helped me tremendously in my career.
Brandt: It’s also an advantage that a new U21 team is being put together, but most of us already know each other from previous youth teams. In a way, we’ve all taken a similar route to get here, and we all want this route to lead to the U21 Euros in Poland 2017.
DFB.de: The qualification campaign will start in a few days in Baku. First though, there’s a game against Denmark to be played. How important is this friendly?
Brandt: The boss will definitely try a few things out in the Denmark game, that will need to work against Azerbaijan. I don’t see why they shouldn’t work though. The quality of this team is so high. You can see that in every training session. Almost all of us are Bundesliga players, several of us play in the Champions League or the Europa League. It’s good fun. It’ll be worth a trip to the stadium. We look forward to our fans’ support.
