English youth football - Why isn't this a bigger deal?

On the 11th June 2017 England reached their second ever men's World Cup final and their first since 1966. However unlike that famous day at Wembley, this final saw the under 20's take on South American side Venezuela... and they won! That's right, England are world champions! So why isn't this everywhere? Why do so many people not seem to care about history being made in English football? Simple. In this country, we don't take youth football seriously.

Now this isn't everyone, I for one am a firm believer in youth internationals and think they should be taken just as seriously as senior internationals. They help to prepare younger players for international football, where a mesh in styles makes it a completely different animal to the domestic game. Also preparing the future first team players for the travelling involved with qualification for major tournaments and the tournaments itself will make the experience much let daunting. Most of all however the experience gained by youth internationals is one which could set the precedent for the years to come, it could be a sneak peak into the countries future successes on the world stage.

Now with the FIFA U20 World Cup and the UEFA U21 European Championships you would expect to see the winning nation's senior side mirroring it's youth systems success a few years on, and on plenty of occasions that is correct. Italy perhaps being the prime examples, between the years of 1992 and 2004 Italy won 5 out of 7 under 21's European Championships. The next competition they won? The 2006 FIFA World Cup. The best way to look at this is to see the group of players that featured in Italy's youth successes leading up to their 4th world cup win. Starting with their 1996 tournament success, the man named player of the tournament that year was none other then Fabio Cannavaro, the future Italian captain who would lift the World Cup for Italy a decade later. In that same side we saw great AC Milan centre back Alessandro Nesta, who played a crucial role in the Azzurir's senior defence for 10 years to come. And of course, Francesco Totti, the Roma striker who has just announced his retirement a very impressive 21 years after scoring the winner in the semi finals of the 1996 Under 21's European championship on the way to winning the competition. Now to the year 2000, straight out of the block can you guess the scorer of a brace in the final and winner of player of the tournament as well as the golden boot? Andrea Pirlo. The midfielder went on to have an incredible career at the top, playing for the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus, during the 2006 World Cup Pirlo was voted as the third best player in the competition, showing his success on the national stage. Much like Pirlo a future anchor in Italy's midfield featured in the before mentioned tournament, Gennaro Gattuso. The hard tackling midfielder went on to feature 73 times for the senior side and was named man of the match in the 2006 World Cup quarter final, proving to be a very important part of that side. And finally onto Italy's 2004 Under 21's European Championship win which saw Daniele De Rossi, Alberto Gilardino and Andrea Barzagli all starting in the final two years before playing a part in Italy's World cup win, with Gilardino, much like Pirlo 4 years prior, winning the golden boot and title of best player of the tournament.

Italy are a prime example how success on the youth level can translate to success at the senior tournaments, but they aren't the only example. Germany are the current World Champions after winning the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, just 5 years prior at the 2009 Under 21's European Championship, they managed to roll over England 4-0 in the final (We'll get back to that later). In that final Mats Hummels, Jerome Boateng, Mesut Ozil, Howedes and Manuel Neuer all started, these same five players also started the 2014 FIFA World cup Final. Sami Khedira also started in the youth final and despite not featuring from the start in their World Cup winning performance, was a big part of their overall campaign. During Spain's most successful period in their history, winning three major senior tournaments back to back to back and making history in the process, their Under 21 side also won the European Champions in 2011 with Juan Mata staring. The current Manchester United midfielder won player of the tournament, and just one year later scored in Spain's 4-0 win against Italy during UEFA 2012 European Championships final.

Italy, Germany and Spain are the three most recent sides to translate youth success into senior titles. Until Portugal's European Championship win in 2016, the previously mentioned nations were also the only three sides to win a major international competition in the previous decade, proving that success at the youth level can be a sign of things to come. So why aren't more Englishman sighting the Under 20's World Cup win as a look into the future? Why, do we not have the confidence that this group of players can end what is now over 50 years of hurt? Simple, England and the FA don't take youth internationals seriously. Remember the U21's 2009 European Championship I mentioned earlier? When a German side made up of 5 future world champions beat England 4-0? This was the first final ANY England side had reached since the 1980's, which is a major achievement. Well lets look at that England side. Now at the time of writing this, 14th June 2017, England have just faced and lost 3-2 to France in a friendly in Paris. Do you know how many members of the 2009 under 21's side were a part, not of the starting eleven, but of the twenty three man squad? Zero. Overall nine of the German players from the match day squad in 2009 featured in their most recent squad, but zero for England. The players who were seen as the future of English football have, in the most part, done nothing of real note since their losing effort against Germany in 2009, with only 6 of them ever playing for the senior team, three of which playing within the last 12 months but as of right now, not a single member of the 2009 Under 21's side is a part of the England squad.

Okay but a bad history of translating youth success into senior success isn't everything, a lot of very talented youngsters break through the ranks every year around the country, the likes of Marcus Rashford and Dele Ali are two prime examples. Recent research has valued Ali as the second most valuable player in Europe (trailing only to Neymar) and the Spurs midfielder is the current PFA Young Player of the Year! Now Marcus Rashford, despite a relatively slow season, scored 5 goals in his first 11 league games for Manchester United and shot to stardom very quickly, being touted as the leader of England's next generation of front men. However this is my problem, Ali and Rashford are 21 and 19 years old respectively, and yet despite the Under 20's World Cup taking place, as well at the Under 21's Toulon Tournament both of which England won, neither Ali or Rashford were featured in the squads. Also in two days (16th June 2017) the Under 21's European Championships for 2017 gets under way, the tournament which has shown a bigger glimpse into the future then any other, and yet again, neither Rashford or Ali are featuring. This takes it right back to my very first point, neither player is going to these tournaments because the FA do not see youth football as a priority. Now with Dele Ali it is different, he is a guaranteed starter in the England team so to some degree you can understand his involvement being solely with the senior team. But Rashford does not start for England and rarely features at all, so you'd think the opportunity to win some silverware and be a focal point for the youth sides going into competitions would be a great opportunity for the teenager to get some experience on the international level, putting him in a much better position for the future. But no, instead he sits on the bench for the senior team. And this is why expectations are virtually none existent coming from the Under 20's World Cup win, yes it's a great achievement, but how can we tout these players as the 'future of English football' if the best young players in England right now don't even feature in the squad despite being eligible?

As soon as a player is seen as 'good enough' he is forced into the senior squad whether he's ready or not. Player for the senior sides at a younger age is fine, there is nothing wrong with that, what is wrong with it however, is if sitting on the bench watching a senior friendly takes precedent over playing in a youth world cup final. Players being made unavailable by their club, the FA or simply not being interesting in featuring in youth internationals is exactly why winning the Under 20's World Cup means nothing. The 'next generation' of England players will likely have a handful of Under 20's and Under 21's caps between them purely because it isn't treated with the respect it deserves, which is the respect other countries treat it with. Footballing giants like Germany use the youth systems to build teams, to build players and to give them the experience that will help them drastically in the senior competitions to come. England use youth football as something for EFL players and Premier League kids to feature in who will likely never get a real shot at the first team.

But yay... England are world champions.