U21 England v Spain - Young Starlets’ Chance to Shine

By Oliver Sparrow, writing from London

Under 21’s tournaments usually don’t tend to hold a lot of interest for the average English football fan, but occurring as it does in a dead spot in a fallow football summer devoid of much meaningful sporting interest (even the miserable weather conspired to rain off today’stennis final at Queen’s), a fair few eyes will be cast over the tasty-looking encounter between the young stars of England and Spain this evening; made all the more interesting by the big-money transfers of Jordan Henderson to Liverpool and Phil Jones to Manchester United (prospectively).

In a squad absent of big-name stars like Jack Wilshere and Micah Richards (note Thiago Alcantara’s cheeky dig), it’s a big chance for the expensive young stars to prove that they’re worth their staggering price tags. Some may argue that it’s not down to the players to justify what has been spent on their transfers, but Liverpool and Man Utd fans will be running the rule over their clubs’ newest investments and no doubt a certain proportion of those fans will have their knives out should they not like what they see in this tournament.

Whether the pair likes it or not, their performances on the pitch from now on will now be under immense scrutiny – both from the fans and the media. Their tender age will no longer be such a weighty excuse for a poor run of form. If they don’t cut the mustard at the top level, the media will be on their backs faster than chubby Ronaldo can devour a meat pie. That’s the way of the English media, and is also one of the main reasons why England performs so poorly in major competitions.

For instance, Jordan Henderson’s slump in form during the second half of the Premier League last season was understandable because of his age. Having burst onto the scene in such explosive fashion, it was inevitable that his form was going to dip at some stage. He wasn’t castigated for it by the media because he was at Sunderland. If Sunderland are floating around the relegation zone, then the media aren’t really that interested. It’s no great surprise or killer story for them. However, if he goes through an extended run of form like that when he plays for Liverpool, then he most likely won’t get away with it so lightly. It’s cruel, but that’s the way it will be for him from now on.

The same goes for Phil Jones. If he does indeed end up at Old Trafford, things are going to be very different for him. No longer will he be the surprisingly strong, surprisingly fast, surprisingly composed Blackburn defender. Those things will now be expected of him on a regular basis. All those things are just par for the course when you play for a team like Manchester United. He undoubtedly has the talent to make it at that level (just take a look at his stellar performance against his reported new team last season), but the real test for him will be the unrelenting pressure of constant media focus.

And so to this evening’s game. England have a lot of talent in their youth ranks. Henderson and Jones will be joined by a host of other emerging stars from the Premier League. Smalling has looked solid for Man Utd at the back. Albrighton has shown some promise for Aston Villa. Cleverley has put in some exciting performances for Wigan. Sturridge has been banging in the goals for Bolton and Scott Sinclair scored a hat-trick for Swansea to win them promotion from The Championship. All this talent under the guidance of Stuart Pearce; a manager who seems to have his head screwed on and seems to be able to keep his players’ feet on the ground, even if they have supposedly just signed contracts at Premier League clubs worth £80k a week. The outlook is good for this England side – Alacantra ought to try watching a few more Premier League games next season.

But they are facing an equally strong Spanish team – one boasting two World Cup winners in Juan Mata and Javi Martinez. It’s that kind of experience of winning at the top international level that England so sorely lack. They also have David de Gea, the Athletico Madrid ‘keeper reported to be winging his way to Old Trafford next season to fill the boots of the retired Edwin Van der Sar. Their left-back Jose Angel plies his trade for Sporting and has been attracting the attention of Barcelona, who reportedly had a bid turned down for him, and that man Thiago has been brilliant at times for Barca this season when asked to run the midfield for the Catalans. Spain are the bookmaker’s favourites to win the whole tournament, but they’re not too far ahead of England.

The action kicks off at 19:45 GMT and it promises to be a very entertaining game. One would expect the sexy football of Spain’s youngsters to triumph over the defensive strength of England, but the Premier League’s latest starlets Henderson and Jones might have something to say about that. The stage is yours, boys. Don’t fluff your lines…

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