Wales national under-21 football team
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| Wales U21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Nickname(s) | Young Dragons | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Association | FA of Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Head coach |  Brian Flynn |
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| Captain | Joe Jacobson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Most caps | James Thomas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| First International Vs England U21, 1976[1] |
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| Biggest win Wales 6-2 Cyprus 1993 |
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| Biggest defeat Italy 8-1 Wales Pavia, September 5, 2003 |
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| UEFA U-21 Championship | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Appearances | None (First in n/a) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Best result | 3rd of 5 in Qual. group, 1996 |
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The Wales national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Wales and is controlled by the Football Association of Wales. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.
In terms of youth football, this team is the highest age group team in which the best young, professional footballers who have were born in Wales, or have Welsh parents or grandparents, can be selected to play in. The team's players have the hope that they can successfully play international football with some success and possibly be called up to play in the full senior Wales team.
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[edit] Recent History
The current manager is Brian Flynn, most famous for managing Welsh club sides playing in the English league: Wrexham and Swansea City. He also had previously coached the under-21 team for a while in the early nineties. Some of the most successful players to emerge from the under-21 team (also called the u-21 team) recently have been Lewin Nyatanga, Derby County's Young Player of the Year for 2005-2006, left-sided player Gareth Bale of Tottenham and Neil Eardley, of Oldham. All three players are defenders.
In recent decades, the team has been viewed by the Welsh national management as more of a hole to be filled than a team to be used to nurture young international players, many of the great Welsh players of recent years having not spent long in the under-21 team. Ryan Giggs, to name a famous Welsh footballer, only got one Welsh u-21 cap, before making his senior debut against Germany the next day!
More recently however, Wales's current manager, John Toshack and youth manager Brian Flynn have been seen to use the u21 team for the purpose of creating a pool of youthful Welsh talent. The team can now boast a much better tracking system of young Welsh players, and has seen a marked improvement in players and their playing. Recent performances have seen them achieve big wins against Estonia (5-1), Northern Ireland (4-0) and France (4-2).
On 15 May 2008 they played a friendly against England U21's to mark the 100th match in the history of the side, losing 2-0.
[edit] Recent and upcoming matches
Wales 4-2 France U21 - Euro 2009 Qualifier 20 November 2007 - Ninian Park
Wales 4-0 Malta U21 - Euro 2009 Qualifier 6 February 2008 - Hibernians Ground
Bosnia-Herzegovina U21 1-2 Wales - Euro 2009 Qualifier 26 March 2008 - Asim Ferhatovic Hase Stadium
Wales 0-2 England U21 - Friendly 15 May 2008 - The Racecourse Ground
Wales vs Romania U21 - Euro 2009 Qualifier 20 August 2008 - TBA
Romania U21 vs Wales - Euro 2009 Qualifier 10 September 2008 - TBA
[edit] Recent Squad
Squad called up to play against England U21 on May 15, 2008. Caps and goals from the match are included.
[edit] Goalkeepers
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[edit] Defenders
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[edit] Midfielders
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[edit] Strikers
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[edit] Recent Call-ups
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[edit] References
- ^ "Wales U21 0-2 England U21" BBC Sport Retrieved on 16 May 2008
[edit] Sources/External links
- UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
- The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.
