In May 2019, Ireland played Belgium in a decisive group game at the European under-17 Championship in Dublin. Two of Ireland’s most-talked about eligible players – goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu and striker Troy Parrott – were unavailable, while Belgium’s biggest threat was a winger named Jeremy Doku.
In a tense encounter, the unbeaten hosts came up just short of the win they needed to qualify for the quarter-finals, while Doku was a constant danger in the 1-1 draw.
“They’re all bitterly disappointed but the broader picture is that the future of Irish football is bright,” said Ireland manager Colin O’Brien afterwards.
Sticking to that generation of players alone, there is plenty of evidence to suggest he was right. James Furlong, whose left-footed set-pieces stood out and led to the equaliser for Timi Sobowale, signed for Brighton later in the summer. Joe Hodge went on to star for the Ireland under-19 side that reached the European Championship semi-finals in July, while Parrott has since featured for Tottenham Hostpur’s first-team.
But what makes the difference between a young player excelling at underage level and going on to have a solid career in the game? Based on what some of the other teams were saying, structure and opportunity seem vital.
The Belgian experience
After the game in Tallaght, I asked Belgium head coach Bob Browaeys about how youth development had helped his country – with a population of around 11 million – become the number one ranked team in the world.
“We started 20 years ago after the [1998] World Cup,” he said. “We saw not enough creative players. Also in the European Championship in Belgium and the Netherlands we developed a vision – Vision 2000 – at that moment.
“So we focused more on one-v-one, skilful players. We wanted to develop them, not with the idea to become the first in the world ranking but only to prepare them better.
“We did it also with our national youth teams. We played 4-3-3, we tried to play offensive football, building up from behind. And OK, we did our best.
“The clubs are also doing a good job in Belgium. So it starts 20 years ago and we are proud that we can do this with these players – this kind of playing style… it’s a job that we did together with the clubs. Federation and clubs.”
Belgium were well beaten, 3-0 by eventual champions the Netherlands, in the last eight, before losing a World Cup play-off against Hungary at Tolka Park. As Browaeys explained after the Ireland game, however, results are only one aspect that coaches look into at that level.
“The result is one of the three objectives for us,” he said, after watching his team hold on in front of a crowd of close to 5,000. “The second objective is individual development. So it’s no problem when we are making mistakes. Like today, the game they played, it’s very useful for their career. It’s like they play in Belgium 10 games – it has the same value.
“And then the third is also to show a little bit our Belgian DNA, the way we are playing. I hope that people enjoyed the game and that you see a little bit the same playing style as the A team, the under-21s and so on.
“So we had three objectives, and it’s not because you’re out of the tournament that you cannot be satisfied. It’s always a win for players at the age of 16 and 17 to play this kind of tournament. It’s not only [about] the result.”
Belgian brilliance
The approach appears to be bearing fruit, with the Belgian Pro League – ranked eighth in Europe – known for developing young players. By March 2020, for example, five of Belgium’s starters against Ireland had already featured in their domestic club competitions at senior level.
Four of them – Doku, Anouar Ait El Hadj, Marco Kana and Killian Sardella – are at Vincent Kompany’s Anderlecht. This season, more than ever, the record Belgian champions have sought to give opportunities to talented teenagers from their youth academy. Doku, Kana, and Sardella – who are all still just 17 – have featured over 15 times in the league.
Genk’s Maarten Vandevoordt, meanwhile, became the youngest ever goalkeeper to feature in the UEFA Champions League before injury curtailed his season.
True to his billing, explosive wide man Doku has impressed the most – scoring his first double in a recent 7-0 win over Zulte Waregem. In February 2020, he extended his contract until the summer of 2022, but Anderlecht know he will soon follow in the footsteps of other academy graduates like Kompany, Romelu Lukaku, and Youri Tielemans.
Doku’s father told Belgian newspaper La Derniere Heure recently that – on a visit to Anfield in January 2017 – Jürgen Klopp suggested that he saw the Anderlecht teen as a potential successor to Sadio Mane. Doku himself decided to stay in Belgium though, because he knew he would get plenty of chances with Anderlecht’s first team.
He has continued to improve at a dramatic rate and, according to the Belgian press, Liverpool are still interested, along with several other English and German clubs.
Young enough, good enough
Everywhere you looked at the under-17 tournament, however, there were players who would soon feature for their club teams at senior level. The leading goalscorer in the competition, France attacking midfielder Adil Aouchiche, has gone on to play for Paris Saint-Germain, just like Netherlands midfielder Sontje Hansen for Ajax.
Coming into the tournament Dutch full-back Ki-Jana Hoever had already played for Liverpool in the FA Cup, while Italy’s Sebastiano Esposito had done so for Inter Milan in the UEFA Europa League. While Hoever netted a wonder goal against Belgium in the last eight, Esposito scored a stunning free-kick for the runners-up in their opening group win over Germany.
“He always has maybe two free-kicks after a training session and you know for a fact that one of them he is going to score,” Italy coach Carmine Nunziata told me.
“The free-kick was outstanding,” Germany coach Michael Feichtenbeiner said afterwards. “But this is a player, Esposito, who has scored a few goals against us in the past. One free-kick and some other goals. He is in the first team for Inter Milan and he has this spirit to take every chance.”
One of the next times I saw Esposito, the 17-year-old made German World Cup winner Mats Hummels look foolish, outpacing and outsmarting the Borussia Dortmund defender to win a penalty in Inter Milan’s 2-0 Champions League win at the San Siro last October.
Portugal, who have appeared in the final of the past three European under-19 Championships, were crestfallen after losing an epic quarter-final against Italy in Dublin. Their striker Fabio Silva has since got regular time with Porto, and came on as a substitute three times in the Europa League.
Portugal coach Emilio Peixe, who played for Benfica, Porto, and Sporting Lisbon, told me that his country’s natural love of the game – coupled with the work of his former clubs – was leading to consistent success.
“We have a normal talent for football,” he said. “We like playing football so much. I think our players are happy with the ball. For us it’s normal to grow up in football because we love football.
“The clubs did really fantastic work with the young players. Not just those three clubs [Benfica, Porto, and Sporting], more clubs are working very well in Portugal.”
While success in these tournaments isn’t everything, simply being there has the potential to be extremely important for a country’s development. Hungary, whose goalkeeper Krisztian Hegyi had agreed a deal to join West Ham shortly before travelling to Ireland, were roared on in their World Cup play-off between the two beaten quarter-finalists with the best record.
After a penalty shootout win over Belgium, the players – with hands over hearts – lined up to sing the national anthem in front of the couple of hundred supporters who had travelled to Ireland especially for the game.
“This was our first qualification for a World Cup in this age group – it’s huge,” their coach Sandor Preisinger explained afterwards. “A lot of people in Hungary watched us to reach this goal. So yes, it was a very big thing to qualify.”
Dutch masters
Hungary took one point from three group matches at the World Cup last October, with hosts Brazil beating Mexico in the final. France claimed third ahead of the Netherlands, who were beaten on penalties by Mexico in the last four.
The Dutch have been European champions at under-17 level in each of the past two years. Five months before the World Cup, their coach Peter van der Veen explained the secret.
“What we did, we talked a lot with the clubs,” he told me after the Netherlands’ victory over Belgium in Bray. “I think we still have great youth academies. Of course, they are in the process with the players every day, so we go there a lot. We share our findings in this kind of tournament.
“What we see is that transition is so important. So we say to the clubs: ‘transition, train it more because it’s not only about attacking, it’s not only about defending. We have to transit.’
“And you see these boys, if they lose the ball then the transition is really good. If they win the ball, the transition is also good to attack. So yeah, we focus on that with the clubs in Holland and you see what the result is. It’s good to see.”
All of the Dutch FA’s coaches spread that message, which is no doubt based on the theory that a lot of goals in modern football are conceded within seven seconds of a team losing possession.
Such strong youth sides, however, could not come about without the co-operation of clubs. Coaches like van der Veen spend three days at Dutch sides to make sure that the players are working on the right things.
“We go hand-in-hand,” he said. “We’re actually on the training sessions with the clubs, so you see the players in their own environment. You can talk to the coaches, [discuss] what we experienced at tournaments.
“I give presentations to the coaches of the club. ‘Look to this and this, this is important.’ I think if you train it, you get discussion. And with discussion, both develop – the coaches of the FA and the coaches of the club. So I think that’s really good.”
Like Ireland, the Dutch under-17 side was missing key players in May. Despite having only recently turned 17, Mohamed Ihattaren was already becoming a key member of PSV Eindhoven’s squad, while 16-year-old Ryan Gravenberch was also not allowed to travel to Ireland while his club Ajax were in a title race.
The beauty of the Dutch side, who thumped England 5-2 in the group stage and Italy 4-2 in the final, was the freedom they played with once they had the ball. Like the stylish Ajax team that were winning admirers on their way to the Champions League semi-final, the Dutch under-17 players were encouraged to “let their unconscious take over” once they got in the final third.
“I cannot say you have to do this, you have to do that,” van der Veen said. “Bring them in the situation in the sessions and they will find their way. It’s hard to make a plan for the opponent [based] on that, because you cannot defend it.”
In other words, they let their creativity flourish.
“We try to build up in a structure,” he continued. “When they come in the last 40 metres, it’s theirs. I’m not going to say you have to do this, you have to do that. It’s just their creativity and I think if you leave that with a player he’s going to feel nice. When a player feels nice, he’s going to enjoy it. And when you have joy, you get results.”
Ireland’s youth teams have been experiencing plenty of both in the last couple of years. The next challenge for the players is to get the same opportunities – in terms of game time at senior club level – that their Belgian and Dutch colleagues are nearly certain to have.
alwaysbeclosing 