Hodgson points to a bright future

The UEFA European Under-21 Championship began with victory for France over the Czech Republic, ended in victory for the Czechs over France in a penalty shoot-out, and in between contained football that was both rich in quality and interest.

French domination broken
That the Czechs, under coach Miroslav Beránek, should triumph for the first time since the competition became an U21 event was an outcome that could hardly have been envisaged after the first game in Geneva on 16 May when France laid down a marker for their domination of the event - a domination that was only broken on the final day.

Spirited Swiss
Along the way there were some other surprises with England, strongly fancied to do well, finishing bottom of their group. Switzerland played above themselves in qualifying for the semi-finals and gave a spirited display against France to delight the home fans who came out in numbers to support the first major tournament staged by the Swiss since the FIFA 1954 World Cup.

Hodgson impressed
Roy Hodgson, who led Switzerland to the FIFA 1994 World Cup finals and is about to embark on a new career in charge of the United Arab Emirates, attended the championship as one of two UEFA technical observers. He was impressed both with the smooth organisation carried out by the Swiss FA and UEFA and delighted that most games drew large attendances. He also thought the standard of competition was high, maintaining the trend of rising levels of individual technique and team understanding.

Continued improvement
“The standard of football continues to improve at every level,” said Hodgson, who believes that the quality of the stadiums and the success of the Swiss FA in attracting fans to the event were big positives for the fortnight.

Premium on vision
“Big strides have been taken in the last ten years and small strides will continue in terms of athleticism and technical ability," he said. "The great thing that football has over individual sports like snooker is the element of team play and that will always keep us coaches occupied. Because the game is becoming faster and faster the time to make decisions gets less and less so that puts a premium on good control and vision.”

Good breeding ground
The success of the UEFA Champions League is an important factor in improving levels of skill. “Quite a number of the players involved in the tournament, particularly in the Czech team, have experience of the Champions League and that can only be a good breeding ground,” said Hodgson. “Those players able to perform at that level will enjoy an accelerated progress in their careers.”

Euphoria of the crowd
Hodgson was based in the northern part of Switzerland which in the first week staged the Group 1 games involving the host nation, Italy, Portugal and England. It was a strong section and Hodgson was impressed with every team, the Swiss continuing the phenomenon common to most tournaments where the hosts, carried along by the euphoria of the crowd and media interest, perform better than expected.

Team spirit
“You would not say that individually the Swiss were as good as the top nations,” said Hodgson, “but they had a fantastic team spirit and showed good discipline and the benefits of good coaching.”