Antonio Di Salvo LIVE: Ex-Lion is now U21 national coach - What's wrong with the German youth?

Created: 04/07/2022 15:36

By: Corbinian Kothny

Antonio Di Salvo on the left as head coach of the U21s and on the right as a player of TSV 1860 Munich.

© Imago images

Antonio Di Salvo won the Champions League with FC Bayern, later played for the Löwen and is now U21 national coach.

We speak to him in a live interview.

Munich

– Very important success for the German U21 national team.

With the 1-0 win in Israel, the young Germans are just one step away from the 2023 U21 European Championship in Georgia.

This should succeed in June against Hungary or Poland.

In keeping with this, head coach Antonio Di Salvo will be our guest in a live interview on Friday at 11 a.m.

We talk to the ex-lion about the problems in the German youth, the goals for the European Championships in Georgia and his time as a player in Munich.

The interview will be broadcast on our Facebook and YouTube channels.

Antonio Di Salvo criticizes the seasons of young players

Despite the success at the U21 European Championship last year, not everything is perfect in the German youth team.

They failed miserably at the Olympic Games in Beijing and there was also a smashing 4-0 defeat against Poland in the World Cup qualifiers.

After the successes against Latvia and Israel in the last international break, the horror scenario is unlikely to happen.

The U21s need two points from the games against Hungary and Poland in June to complete the European Championship qualification.

Nevertheless, Di Salvo stated in the "Kicker" at the turn of the year: "We lack the breadth of players who get practice in the Bundesliga.

Our pool of candidates is much smaller than, for example, that of the French or the English.”

Di Salvo himself took over the head coaching role from Stefan Kuntz, who became Turkey national coach, in September 2021.

As an assistant coach, he was already involved in the successes of the European Championships in 2017 and 2021.

In the interview we will try to clarify how the problems in the German youth can be improved and whether a European Championship triumph in 2023 is realistic.

Antonio Di Salvo: Champions League winner and German champion with FC Bayern

Born in Paderborn, he started his playing career at SC Paderborn and switched to FC Bayern Munich in 2000.

In his year and a half at FCB, the striker made six Bundesliga appearances and one appearance in the Champions League for the record champions, making him the German champion and Champions League winner.

The now 42-year-old moved back to the Bavarian capital in 2006 via Hansa Rostock.

The striker made 65 appearances for the first team of TSV 1860 Munich, where he played with current Löwen legends such as Michi Hofmann, Benny Lauth and Daniel Bierofka.

After retiring in 2011, he started his coaching career again at FC Bayern as an assistant coach for the U17s before moving to the DFB in 2013.

(kk) *