H Fandel from Germany.
Feb 22nd, 2000
By Max Wadsworth
Tuesday, Live on Sky Sports 3, at 7.45pm
England have met Argentina only once before at U21 level in the Toulon tournament in May 1998.
Argentina won 2-0 with goals from Quintana (6 mins) and Guerrero (16).
The England team that day was as follows: Richard Wright; Kieron Dyer, Alan
Rogers, Eddie Howe (Jason Euell 64), John Curtis, Steve Elliott (Rory Allen
46), Jamie Carragher, Frank Lampard, Matthew Oakley, Marcus Bent (Robert Kozluk
50), Emile Heskey.
This, therefore, will be the first ever meeting at this level on English soil
England have never beaten South American opposition at U21 level having also
lost 2 and drawn 1 against Brazil. Argentina and Brazil are the only South
American teams England have played at this level.
Sky Sports
Have named a young squad in preparation for the World Youth Championships
to be held next year. They have won the competition 3 times.
They reached the 2nd stage of last years World Youth Championship (U-20's)
held in Nigeria, were beaten 4-1 by Mexico. Spain went on to beat Japan 4-0 in
the final. Christian Grabinski is the only player in the current U21 squad who
featured in those finals.
Argentina begin qualification for the 2002 World Cup next month with a home
game against Chile in Buenos Aires. They will also face Paraguay, Ecuador,
Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Brazil and Uruguay in a bid to reach Japan
and Korea in two years time.
13 of the 16 players in the squad are with First Division clubs in Argentina.
This will be their first proper game of the season having just played a warm up
match against a team in the First Division.
Argentina First Division League Table
As at Feb 19, 2000
P W D L F A Pts
1. River_Plate 21 14 6 1 48 - 23 48
2. Boca 20 13 5 2 39 - 16 44
3. Rosario 20 14 2 4 35 - 18 44
4. San_Lorenzo 21 12 6 3 32 - 15 42
5. Talleres 20 9 4 7 39 - 34 31
6. Velez 20 8 6 6 27 - 17 30
7. Racing 20 7 9 4 30 - 27 30
8. Lanus 21 8 2 11 28 - 34 26
9. Chacarita 20 6 7 7 38 - 34 25
10. Independiente 20 6 7 7 19 - 23 25
11. Gimnasia_LP 20 5 9 6 30 - 29 24
12. Estudiantes 20 6 6 8 30 - 34 24
13. Union 21 6 6 9 27 - 33 24
14. Argentinos 20 4 10 6 21 - 23 22
15. Colon 19 6 4 9 21 - 26 22
16. Instituto 19 5 7 7 23 - 30 22
17. Newell's 20 5 6 9 27 - 28 21
18. Belgrano 18 4 5 9 23 - 38 17
19. Gimnasia_J 20 3 3 14 21 - 45 12
20. Ferro 20 1 6 13 16 - 47 9
Coach
Hugo Tocalli is a former goalkeeper who played for 10 different clubs in the
Argentinian First Division. He has also coached sesveral clubs the most recent
being Velez Sarsfield. Never won an international cap.
Player add lines
Andres Alessandro has played and scored for the U23 side, against Denmark. Has
already played for the first team at River Plate despite being only 18 years of
age.
Alejandro Dominguez, Daniel Garipe and Martin Pautaso are the only members of
the squad who are not with First Division clubs in Argentina. Quilmes, Huracan
and Banfield respectively are all in the Second Division.
ENGLAND UNDER-21
Are due to play their European Under-21 Championship Play-Off against
Yugoslavia at Barcelona's mini stadium on March 29. UEFA made a decision on Nov 2, that this game should be played as a single match at a neutral venue for security reasons. Initially they were due to play at Luxembourg's Josey Barthel stadium on Nov 14 but the game had to postponed due to the political situation in Yugoslavia.
England have scored in each of their last eight games (23 goals), conceding only seven. They have failed to score only once in their last 12 games, a 1-0 defeat by the Czech Republic at Portman Road in November 1998.
Four players in the U-21 squad are senior internationals - Frank Lampard (one
cap), Jamie Carragher (one cap), Jonathon Woodgate (one cap) and Lee Hendrie
(one cap). Lampard is the only one of those players to have played for the
senior team this season, having made his debut in 2-1 friendly win v Belgium on
Oct 9 at the Stadium of Light.
Of the 23 players in the squad - 21 play in the Premiership and two play in the
First Division (Weaver at City and Naylor at Wolves) - although Man Utd's John
Curtis is on loan at Barnsley until the end of the season.
Leeds are represented the most in the squad with six players.
England U21 Home Record:
Played 68 Won 45 Drawn 16 Lost 7England's seven defeats at home have come against the following:
April 1980 East Germany 1-2 Euro Champs Oct 1990 Poland 0-1 Euro Champs Oct 1992 Norway 0-2 Euro Champs Mar 1993 Turkey 0-1 Euro Champs Sep 1993 Poland 1-2 Euro Champs Apr 1996 Croatia 0-1 Friendly Nov 1998 Czech Rep 0-1 Friendly
Referee
H Fandel from Germany.