Tomorrow's stars today

By Mark Chaplin

The UEFA European Under-19 Championship final round kicks off in Switzerland on Tuesday - with high hopes that the stars of tomorrow will make their presence felt in a closely contested tournament.

National talent
Speaking in a joint press conference, the four coaches representing the teams in Group B - Dieter Eilts (Germany), Jerzy Szczesny (assistant coach, Poland), Armando Ufarte (Spain) and Gündüz Tekin Onay (Turkey) - all said they were looking forward to the chance of displaying their country's finest talents at this age level.

Various goals
The four teams, who will be playing in Fribourg and Lausanne in French-speaking western Switzerland, all have various goals in the championship - Spain, for example, want to maintain their excellent record in European youth competitions - but there is common agreement that the players must be given maximum encouragement on the road to what everyone hopes will be successful professional careers.

Improving quality
"I've been following recent Under-17 and Under-19 tournaments, and I know that one of the major aims of events like this is to help improve the quality of European football," said Onay, who has been working with Turkey's youth teams since 1997 after 25 years in club coaching.

Ideal platform
A European champion with Germany in 1996 and a respected professional with SV Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga for many years, Eilts said the finals would also be an ideal platform for his young players. "It's very important for the coach to see that the players want to give a good account of themselves in a tournament like this, and it will help us see what these young players might be capable of in the future," he said.

Spanish tradition
Ufarte is helping to produce another crop of fine young Spanish players, and his charges are expected to do well, carrying on the country's tradition of excelling at youth level. Spain won the 2002 European Under-19 title, and last December, Ufarte's previous crop of U19 players reached the FIFA World Youth Championship final before losing to Brazil. "This tournament is very important in terms of seeing the development of new talents in the game, and our intention is of course, to play good football in a good tournament," he said.

Preparations
The teams' preparations for have been varied. Poland, for instance, have been in the Korean Republic. "We played in Korea, losing 1-0 to Brazil and 2-0 to Korea, and drawing 2-2 against the United States, and we felt that this was a really good preparation for us," said Szczesny. Meanwhile, other coaches in the group have had to prepare differently for their campaign in Switzerland.

Lack of match action
Both Eilts and Ufarte said that they had been forced to adapt their preparations to the players' recent match action, or lack of it. "Some of our players have been on vacation, and some were still playing in the German youth Bundesliga shortly before we started preparing in Bavaria," said Eilts. "Some of the players have been on holiday for 30 days," Ufarte added.

Discovering new stars
Turkish coach Onay summarised the expectations of the coaches, teams and football enthusiasts who will be following the tournament with considerable interest. "Let's hope that we discover new stars, because we need them in world football - I hope this tournament will play a part in this," he said.