Euro 2013 Under-21 in Israel – Stars and players to watch!

The Euro U-21 has produced a lot of stars over the year including Mario Balotelli, Stevan Jovetic, James Milner and more. Now it’s time for Israel to host this competition and a lot of stars will try to put their hand on the trophy and give their country some hope for the future, I will going to reveiw group by group, team by team all the players to watch and the biggest stars!

Group A: Norway – Maybe the biggest suprise of the qualification rounds, Norway were able to get into the competition, but with great stamina, and physically players the Norwegian side are the underdogs of this group.

The Biggest Star: Harmeet Singh – A Norwegian from India who plays at Holland, sounds funny right? He is a central defensive midfielder and mostly known as “The Norwegian Iniesta”, his dream is to play in La Liga (Liga BBVA). He already have 35 appearances in the U-21 national team, and 3 in the first team. He is the one who plays the passes into all areas!

The One To Watch: Valon Berisha – Born in Sweden, tracked the intrest of Manchester City and Chelsea in the past, he has 9 appearances in the first team of Norway, and in his first season at Red Bull Salzburg he assisted 13 and scored 6.

Israel – The host of this year’s Euro U-21, they  have experienced players and a lot of passion to the game, and of course will want to win in their home ground.

The Biggest Star: Nir Biton – Not the most shining player in the team and is not coming from a big club (in Israel) but still a on a trial at Man City. The tall captain (1.95m) is the closest player to a successful European player Israel have in the team, he has great vision, amazing heading game because of his height, and can pass to every spot on the field.

The One To Watch: Ofir Kriaf – He can dribble pass every defender in this competition, responsibility, hard work and discipline can describe this player, he can play as a full-back, winger, striker or a central attacking midfielder. If he will be consistent, Israel will have a good chance to qualify to the knockout round.

Italy – While everybody are talking about the squad of Spain, and the gold generation of Germany. Italy’s young stars are still looking for the spot-light, Italy has won 5 times in the Euro U-21 (more than any other country) and with a lot of stars from big teams Italy can win the 6th trophy.

The Biggest Star: Marco Verratti – Contribute to PSG’s title season and reaching the Champions League quarter final, “The Next Pirlo” became one of the most consistent players in the PSG squad, Real Madrid has already expressed their intrest in the young Italian midfielder like many others.

The One To Watch: Ciro Immobile – One of the experienced players in the team, plays for Genoa, the energetic center forward who came from Juventus and most likely to return to the old lady this summer has scored 7 goals in 12 games for the U-21 national team.

England – Like in every competition, the expectations from England’s national team are very high, but Stewart Pearce build a great team, with depth. The English side hadn’t lost for 9 games straight (and didn’t concede one goal). And with players like Josh McEacrhan and Jonjo Shelvey, England can make trouble for every team who get in their way.

The Biggest Star: Jordan Henderson – After being named in England’s squad for Euro 2012 (the first team) and making 5 appearances overall, this is the last chance to succeed for the Liverpool midfielder, and became an important player in Liverpool’s last two campaigns and he can play both in the center and on the right.

The One To Watch: Wilfried Zaha – Coming after promoting with Crystal Palace to the Premier League, the Manchester United player is the most expensive player in the English squad (12 Milion pounds), he assisted 11 goals and scored 9 goals this season and he is one of the most dangerous players when he starts to run on the wing.

Group B: Spain – The current holders brought maybe the most shining players to Israel, especially in attack with Barcelona’s Chrisitan Tello, Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata, Iker Muniain, Alvaro Vazquez and a lot more!

The Biggest Star: Isco – The golden boy for 2012, Malaga’s attacking midfielder has suprised everybody with amazing form this year and showed great shot from outside the box, lethal speed and a lot more, the 20-year-old midfielder is already wanted by two of the European Super Cup finalists, Chelsea & Bayern Munich.

The One To Watch: Danny Carvajal – Most of  the football fans focused on the attacking side of the spanish team but Danny Cravajal who sent on loan to Leverkusen from Real Madrid has played a crucial part in the German side’s third place and Champions League next year. And he most likely to get Arbeloa’s starting place at Madrid next season as a right back.

Germany – Not like Spain, all the young stars are already part of the first national team such as Gotze, Reus, Schurrle, Draxler, but they still have good players coming into the competition.

The Biggest Star: Lewis Holtby – The Spurs midfielder has the most appearances in the Under-21 team he left Schalke for just £1.75m (bargain), but he hasn’t give Tottnham what he could do, he plays well mostly for the Germany’s Under-21 team, where he is a leader, scorer, assists, and controling the midfield.

The One To Watch: Emre Can – Only at the age of 19, Emre Can has already been called as the next Schweinsteiger for Bayern Munich, he could choose between Turkey or Germany, but after playing with Bayern’s first team and showing what he’s got, he chose Germany.

Russia – Low profile, not arrogance, Russia are coming to Israel trying to qualify from the hardest group in the tournament with a lot of unkown stars.

The Biggest Star: Alan Dzagoev – You might know him from Euro 2012 where he was phenomanel but couldn’t prevent Russia to be elimaneted from the Group Stages by Greece, quick attacking midfielder, he is one of the reasons CSKA Moscow won the title, and with 8 goals for the first national team, and 44 for CSKA just this season, Dzagoev is one of the best players that are in the competition.

The One To Watch: Fyodor Smolov – One of the oldest players to come to Israel (age – 23) the left winger was sent on-loan to Anzhi Makhachkala from Dynamo Moscow but didn’t get enough minutes, he has 1 goal for the first team but 14 goals in 27 appearances in the Under-21.

Holland – Quiet team, good players, a lot of determination to get Holland some kind of pride after the oranges failed to pass the group stages in Euro 2012, Holland U-21 won the competition twice (2006, 2007) and with Lyroi Fer, Kevin Strootman, and Marco Van Ginkel (known as ‘Next Gerrard’)

The Biggest Star: Luuk De Jone – After an incredible season with Twente scoring 25 goals the young dutchman signed at borussia mönchengladbach and scored 5 goals all season, he is quick, tall, strong and can score and assist when he wants.

The One To Watch:Jorjinho Wijnaldum – PSV’s young product. Can play in the center and on the right wing, was the youngest player in Feyenoord’s first team, but in the passing season he scored a remarkable tally of 35 goals and assisted 5.