Stöber sets his goals

To come into a final tournament with the best record in qualifying is a nice position to be in and Germany coach Bernd Stöber has just such a credential ahead of the UEFA European Under-17 Championship. All season his side have been held just once, in the Elite round by the Netherlands, and 4-0 wins against Northern Ireland and Finland ensured Germany reached the finals on goal difference, while in the qualifying round they struck 16 goals without reply against the Faroe Islands, San Marino and Portugal.

Coach wary
Surprisingly for such a major footballing nation, Germany have been absent from the U17 finals since 2001/02. Belgium, Serbia and Montenegro, and the Czech Republic will provide the Group B opposition from Wednesday onwards, but despite his team's excellent form, Stöber is playing a cautious game.

'Well balanced'
"I think we have a well-balanced field of challengers," he told uefa.com. "You can't talk about a good or difficult draw as we have at least seven equally strong teams. Spain are in an excellent position to do well, and I personally think they are very strong." Yet Stöber is not looking as far as a potential last-four showdown with the Spanish. "First of all we want to reach the semi-finals and then we can start thinking whom we want to avoid. Making predictions for the U17s has always been difficult, as the qualifiers have shown."

Opponents watched
The 53-year-old has been keeping a close eye on the three sides grouped with Germany. Stöber said: "I have studied all our opponents. Belgium had a run of six matches without defeat recently, and also won some games without conceding a goal. They are well organised and have very strong players at their disposal. About Serbia and Montenegro, I only know their results. They beat Ireland away from home, which shows a cool head under pressure. I have some information on the Czechs from those who saw them in Turkey. They came through a difficult qualifying group away from home."

'Good blend'
However, Germany's record in reaching Luxembourg trumps all their rivals, and Stöber is happy to sing his team's praises. "I believe we have a good blend of defence and attack," he said. "We have not lost in eleven games this season, of which six were qualifiers. We have ten wins and one draw. But we have shown that we are equally strong in every position.

Key men
"We have a strong spine with Ron-Robert Zieler from Manchester United FC in goal. In defence, Christopher Schorch performed very well in the crucial qualifier against the Netherlands, and in midfield we have two strong players in Toni Kroos and Marko Marin. Then, up front, there is Timo Gebhardt. Unfortunately, our captain Björn Kopplin is a major doubt with a thigh muscle injury and has been unable to train. If he is sidelined, it will hurt us as he has a key role alongside his footballing abilities."

Semi-final aim
With the action set to unfold, Stöber knows exactly what he wants. He concluded: "We want to be in the top two in our group. Due to our long absence it is great to be involved again, but looking at our results, we want to reach the semi-finals. And if we get there, we will find a new goal."