Today marks the start of the U21 national side’s long road to the Euros 2017 in Poland. To kick start their qualification campaign, Horst Hrubesch’s DFB youth team have travelled to Azerbaijan as clear favourites (16:00 CEST).
"It won’t be easy. Azerbaijan can be an unpleasant team to play against and we should take them seriously." Said Hrubesch ahead of the game 2050 miles east in Baku. The experienced manager admits that "it has to be our aspiration to get through the group." The other teams awaiting Germany U19s in the group are Finland, the Faroe Islands, Austria and Russia.
However, Hrubesch will no longer be manager come the end of the Euro qualifying campaign: the 2016 Olympics will mark the end of the 64-year-old’s spell as DFB-Team manager, Marcus Sorg will be his successor. Hrubesch will want to pass on the baton as group leader, especially as this time the group winners will automatically qualify due to their being twelve places in the Euros in Poland as opposed to eight.
Hrubesch has a mixture of experienced players and several players new to the U21s to choose from. Of the 23-man squad at the Euros in the Czech Republic who secured the place at the Olympics, four players in Max Meyer (Schalke 04), Maximilian Arnold (VfL Wolfsburg), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern München) and Serge Gnarby (West Brom) remain in the squad.
In Baku the team is expected to pick up their first three points comfortably. "The aim is to win, nothing less." Said Hrubesch, who saw his team win 2-1 in a friendly against Denmark last week and says: "We need to carry on like this."
Today marks the start of the U21 national side’s long road to the Euros 2017 in Poland. To kick start their qualification campaign, Horst Hrubesch’s DFB youth team have travelled to Azerbaijan as clear favourites (16:00 CEST).
"It won’t be easy. Azerbaijan can be an unpleasant team to play against and we should take them seriously." Said Hrubesch ahead of the game 2050 miles east in Baku. The experienced manager admits that "it has to be our aspiration to get through the group." The other teams awaiting Germany U19s in the group are Finland, the Faroe Islands, Austria and Russia.
However, Hrubesch will no longer be manager come the end of the Euro qualifying campaign: the 2016 Olympics will mark the end of the 64-year-old’s spell as DFB-Team manager, Marcus Sorg will be his successor. Hrubesch will want to pass on the baton as group leader, especially as this time the group winners will automatically qualify due to their being twelve places in the Euros in Poland as opposed to eight.
Hrubesch has a mixture of experienced players and several players new to the U21s to choose from. Of the 23-man squad at the Euros in the Czech Republic who secured the place at the Olympics, four players in Max Meyer (Schalke 04), Maximilian Arnold (VfL Wolfsburg), Joshua Kimmich (Bayern München) and Serge Gnarby (West Brom) remain in the squad.
In Baku the team is expected to pick up their first three points comfortably. "The aim is to win, nothing less." Said Hrubesch, who saw his team win 2-1 in a friendly against Denmark last week and says: "We need to carry on like this."
