Germany U21 coach Horst Hrubesch has named his 24-man squad for the U21s’ upcoming fixtures against Denmark in Lübeck (3rd September) and Azerbaijan in Baku (8th September). 17 of those players called up are new faces, and with the exception of Gideon Jung (Hamburger SV) and Marius Wolf (TSV 1860 München) all have made appearances for Die Mannschaft at younger age groups.
Also called up to the squad were Bundesliga stars such as DFB Cup winner Maximilian Arnold (VfL Wolfsburg), Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04) and Niklas Süle (1899 Hoffenheim) – other players born in 1996 like Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Leroy Sané (Schalke 04) and Timo Werner (VfB Stuttgart) have made the jump to the U21 squad. "You can clearly see the potential we have – the players have only just started their footballing careers," said Hrubesch. "That potential is the result of an excellent structure in place in German football that starts with the smallest teams at regional level and goes right up to the Bundesliga. Now the players have a chance to test their skills on an international stage."
"Kick off qualifying with a win against Azerbaijan"
The new-look Germany U21s find themselves in a group alongside Azerbaijan, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Austria and Russia in their quest to qualifying for the 2017 U21 European Championship in Poland. "With all respect to the other nations, our goal has to be to get through that group," said Hrubesch. "We’ll use the upcoming friendly with Denmark to try out a few things, and we want to kick off our qualifying campaign with a win against Azerbaijan a few days later."
This season will be Hrubesch’s last as U21 head coach. After the Olympic Games in Rio next summer, the 63-year-old will be replaced by Marcus Sorg. "We want to give Marcus a successful side to take over and we’re already in close contact with each other," said Hrubesch.
Germany U21 coach Horst Hrubesch has named his 24-man squad for the U21s’ upcoming fixtures against Denmark in Lübeck (3rd September) and Azerbaijan in Baku (8th September). 17 of those players called up are new faces, and with the exception of Gideon Jung (Hamburger SV) and Marius Wolf (TSV 1860 München) all have made appearances for Die Mannschaft at younger age groups.
Also called up to the squad were Bundesliga stars such as DFB Cup winner Maximilian Arnold (VfL Wolfsburg), Leon Goretzka (Schalke 04) and Niklas Süle (1899 Hoffenheim) – other players born in 1996 like Julian Brandt (Bayer Leverkusen), Leroy Sané (Schalke 04) and Timo Werner (VfB Stuttgart) have made the jump to the U21 squad. "You can clearly see the potential we have – the players have only just started their footballing careers," said Hrubesch. "That potential is the result of an excellent structure in place in German football that starts with the smallest teams at regional level and goes right up to the Bundesliga. Now the players have a chance to test their skills on an international stage."
"Kick off qualifying with a win against Azerbaijan"
The new-look Germany U21s find themselves in a group alongside Azerbaijan, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Austria and Russia in their quest to qualifying for the 2017 U21 European Championship in Poland. "With all respect to the other nations, our goal has to be to get through that group," said Hrubesch. "We’ll use the upcoming friendly with Denmark to try out a few things, and we want to kick off our qualifying campaign with a win against Azerbaijan a few days later."
This season will be Hrubesch’s last as U21 head coach. After the Olympic Games in Rio next summer, the 63-year-old will be replaced by Marcus Sorg. "We want to give Marcus a successful side to take over and we’re already in close contact with each other," said Hrubesch.
