European Under-19: stars, groups, venues, absences…

For two weeks, Slovakia will be the center of European football on dates released after the World Cup in Qatar has been moved to November. This tournament returns after two editions suspended due to the pandemic. In 2020 it should have been held in Northern Ireland and in 2021, in Romania.

The very tough qualifying phase, which only contemplates seven places after Slovakia has its presence guaranteed, It has taken ahead such strong teams in lower categories such as Portugal, Belgium, Germany, Ukraine, the Netherlands or, above all, Spainthe country with the most winners in the history of the competition with 8 titles.

The European Under-19s are a great moment for the general public to discover the stars of tomorrow. Most of the best players in the world today have passed through this tournament, some leaving truly anthological performances. One of the most recently remembered is that of Kylian Mbappé in the 2016 edition. The current PSG striker was the tournament’s second highest scorer only behind his teammate Augustin. Although he did not score in the comfortable final (4-0 against Italy), Mbappé was key with a brace in the semi-finals against Portugal.

In addition to the self-interest that this tournament has, It will serve as a qualifying phase for the 2023 U-20 World Cup to be held in Indonesia. UEFA has five places allocated for this World Cup. Four of them will be for the four semifinalists. The fifth is destined for the winner of a playoff between the two third parties in each group.

This tournament, as we know it, has only existed since 2002. Before, it had other formats, even passing from the hands of FIFA to those of UEFA, having been held for the first time in 1948. However, until 2002 it was U-18 and that year they decided to divide the tournament into two, the U-17 and the U-19. For this 2022 edition, eligible players are all those born on or after January 1, 2003.

Nemanja Motika (Red Star – Serbia, 19 years old)

Born in Berlin but of Serbian parents, Nemanja Motika is that talent that so easily enters the eyes starting from the extreme left. It is clear that he prefers to go from the diagonal to look for the center and in the lower categories of Bayern he has shown to have a dribble and an ability to shoot with both legs that, if he manages to take it to the absolute categories, will make him decisive. He arrived in Munich in 2017 from Hertha, when he was only 14 years old. In the Bayern subsidiary he was one of the most powerful promises (16 goals in 25 games), but in winter he went to Estrella Roja looking for the minutes he did not have in the first team. His role with Nagelsmann was limited to a call on January 7 in a match against Mönchengladbach, but they were losing 1-2 from the 31st minute. “I can now compete with players like Sané and Coman”, he had said before. Personality is not lacking and with Demichelis, coach of the subsidiary, he had some problem. A month after the Argentine left him on the bench for indiscipline, he signed his best game: four goals against Schweinfurt 05.

Warren Bondo (Free – France, 19 years old)

This will be one of the most interesting players in the tournament because his contract ends this summer and they are raffling him off. Hamburg, Nice, Montpellier, Lille and even Milan have sounded like a possible destination for this midfielder who has stopped being called up this season for not wanting to renew. Last summer he did not reach an agreement and now he has preferred to leave for free. He is a player who can also play on the wing due to his technical quality, but who prefers to be a midfielder. There he stands out for his ability to maintain possession under pressure and the ease he has of stealing balls thanks to his physique. In his debut, when he had just turned 17, he entered in the 70th minute and was sent off in the 78th minute for “excessive commitment,” he says with a laugh. Nancy saw the wolf’s ears when PSG was about to sign him, but they preferred to retain him and sign him a professional contract.

Isaak Touré (Le Havre – France, 19 years old)

Le Havre’s prolific quarry (Pogba, Mahrez, Payet, Lass Diarra…) has a new young talent who it is impossible for it to go unnoticed by anyone: it is around 2.05 meters. “He is a youngster with a very high potential and should not be reduced to his measurements,” explained Olivier Rodríguez, physical trainer at Le Havre. He had to endure a lot of joint pain during his growth spurt, in which he gained 6 to 8 inches a year. Evidently, his game is conditioned by his physical peculiarities but he has much more technique with his left foot than one would expect from such a body. This incredible development, moreover, is even more decisive in lower categories. He is a player who has played for Newcastle, Lyon and Marseille, but the latest information places him in Manchester City for a figure that is close to ten million euros.

Cesare Casadei (Inter Milan – Italy, 19 years old)

This midfielder can also act as a midfielder because the closer he gets to the area, the more he exploits his good shot and threatens with his aerial power (1.86 meters). This season he has scored 16 goals, some from direct free kicks, which are not insignificant figures for a midfield player. He appeared in the final of the Primavera Championship, the Italian Under-19 league, to send the game to extra time and end up winning the championship. He was named MVP of the final phase. He was summoned in February with the first team, but Inzaghi believed that it was not the day to make him debut, losing from the 26th minute by 0-2 with Sassuolo. He has a contract until 2024, so it would not be ruled out to see him the following season on loan to a Serie A club.

Yusuf Demir (Rapid Vienna – Austria, 19 years old)

The Spanish public already knows Yusuf Demir after the six months he spent at Barcelona. His loan from Rapid Vienna carried a purchase option of €10,000,000 that was executed when he played ten games, so Xavi stopped counting on him when he added nine. In January he returned to the Austrian capital where he has been a starter in half the games of a poor Rapid. Now he is expected to be one of the most decisive players of his team, overflowing and being the main threat to create chances. It should be remembered that he has already played four games with the Absolute.

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Spain will be the great absentee from the U-19 European Championship. After winning the last edition of 2019 and being the most successful team in the tournament, which they have won 12 times, La Rojita was left out of the competition after playing a very bad Elite Round, in which they could not beat Austria, against which they let a two-goal lead slip away (2-2), nor Denmark (3-3).

It will be a shame not to be able to see a generation from which much is expected. And it is that a European Under-19 in which he is not Pablo Torre, one of the great promises of Spanish football who has recently signed for Barça, is a decaffeinated European. Neither will Javi Serrano, who has already made his debut with Atlético; nor Hugo Novoa, a cyclone that burns stages in Leipzig and who has debuted in the U-21. That to say some.

We will have to wait two years for the 2005 generation, which did qualify for the European Under-17 and of which they speak wonders within the RFEF, try to recover the place that corresponds to the Rojita, which is a final phase. Write down names: Iker Bravo, Quetglás, Dani Pérez, Carvalho, Boñar… We will be back.

The two editions suspended due to the coronavirus have meant that several of the most important promises in Europe have currently not been able to go through this tournament. If in this edition the boys born after 2003 come into play, those of 2001 and those of 2002 have not been able to have a U-19 European Championship in their most mature yearwhen they turned 19.

Some of the youngest from 2001 have played in this tournament, but being a year younger than most of their teammates and rivals. This is the case of players like Eric García or Bryan Gil, who were champions at the age of 18.. Also that of Gonçalo Ramos, from Portugal, who was the top scorer in the 2019 edition.

From that year, in other selections there are names of the stature of Saka (England), Timber (Netherlands) or De Ketelaere (Belgium). The same thing happens with the generation of 2002, where there are even more elite level players than in their previous year. Camavinga (France), Nuno Mendes (Portugal), Gravenberch (Netherlands) or Adeyemi (Germany) are from this year. The case of Spain deserves a special mention because it would have had a possible call of a very high level: Pedri, Ansu Fati, Yeremy Pino, Nico González, Nico Williams, French…