DFB coach Guido Streichsbier has announced his provisional squad for the UEFA European U19 Championship that will take part in Baden-Württemberg from 11th to 24th July. It was a first for DFB, who presented a squad announcement live on Facebook for the first time ever.
The U19s’ coach will travel with his 23-man squad to Schladming on 28th June for an eight day training camp, after which the squad will be reduced to 18 players and move on to the tournament. “Even when players suffer injuries or illness we will be able to call upon a number of others,” said Streichsbier, who added: “I am looking forward to travelling to the training camp with this squad, following that we’ll go about achieving our aims at the European U19 Championship.”
Three goalkeepers, seven defenders, eight midfielders and five strikers have been nominated to give a total of 23. Another player is still to be called up to complete the squad. “There is still an open position,” explained the U19s’ coach: “Some of the players in question are in the midst of possible transfers or returning to fitness so we wanted to wait and see what happens.”
Three players with Bundesliga experience selected
A number of recognisable faces who moved into focus this season have been selected. Striker Philip Ochs (13 Bundesliga appearances), who established himself in Julian Nagelsmann’s Hoffenheim team in a number of different positions has been called up, along with Suat Serdar (12) from Mainz and Benjamin Henrichs (9), who started Bayer Leverkusen’s last five games of the season and completed 90 minutes in four of them.
While Streichsbier busies himself with personnel planning, other parts of the preparation for the European U19 Championship are also in full swing. Germany’s tournament opener against Italy in Stuttgart (11th July, 12:00 CEST) is a sell-out as well as their match against Portugal on 14th July (19:30 CEST) and the final in Sinsheim (24th July, 20:30 CEST). “It’s a great feeling for the team, knowing that so many people want to come and watch them play football,” said Streichsbier, who continued: “There are a lot of people in Stuttgart who are enthusiastic about sports and football in particular. Therefore, everything has come together very nicely.”
The U19 EURO will run from 11th until 24th July and will be played in nine venues throughout Baden-Württemberg. Group A is made up of Germany, Italy, Portugal and Austria, while England France, Croatia and the Netherlands were drawn into Group B.
