Rivals threaten talented Germany

Shehu hope
Albania coach Ramadan Shehu is certainly hoping to cause an upset, the home country have some strong English-based players but Croatia are below full-strength. Horst Hrubesch, the hero of the 1980 UEFA European Championship and 1983 European Champion Clubs' Cup, leads Germany.

GERMANY
Hrubesch, who can call on 2006 U17 stars like finals top scorer Manuel Fischer, TSV 1860 München twin midfielders Lars and Sven Bender plus Manchester United FC goalkeeper Ron-Robert Ziegler, admits he has plenty of choice in picking his side. "We have a strong team with many, many players that can decide a match on their own, that makes it hard to select key players, we are a strong unit," he said. "You have to make one step after the other, but to make it there you need that little bit of luck, as only eight teams make it to the finals compared to 16 for the senior sides." Two years ago Germany surprisingly lost a U17 semi-final 1-0 to Russia, who this season defeated them in the qualifying round though they were already through, while last month two Deniz Naki goals helped them beat Serbia 3-0.

Qualifying round results: Bosnia-Herzegovina 8-1, Estonia 5-1, Russia 2-3 (Group 12 runners-up)

Key players: Lars Bender (midfielder, TSV 1860 München), Sven Bender (midfielder, TSV 1860 München), Timo Gebhardt (midfielder, TSV 1860 München), Deniz Naki (striker, Bayer 04 Leverkusen)

ALBANIA
Albania have been training in the city of Shijak but for the opener against Germany will be without striker Erion Mustafaj through suspension, while fellow forward Mirgen Bushati is injured for the whole of the Elite round. PFC Belasitsa Petrich defender Klodian Semina is doing well in the top Bulgarian division while midfielder Renato Hyshmeraj is impressing for KS Elbasani. Shehu said: "We have had very intensive training preparations. We know our group is very tough and the opposing teams are all very good, but we will try to do our best and show our seriousness in all matches. We will try to play at our best and be a challenge to the other teams."

Qualifying round: Spain 0-2, Serbia 2-1, Liechtenstein 0-0 (Group 5 runners-up)

Key players: Klodian Semina (defender, PFC Belasitsa Petrich), Renato Hyshmeraj (midfielder, KS Elbasani)

SLOVAKIA
Slovakia performed superbly in the qualifying round, but are playing down their chances of reaching the finals in Ukraine. Coach Bohumil Andrejko, whose teams lost two Senec friendlies 2-0 and 4-3 to Sweden last month, said: "Playing at home maybe would be an advantage for us, but we will be playing against strong teams. Germany have made huge progress, Croatia always produce talented youngsters and Albania produced solid performances in the qualifying round. In my opinion, we are not group favourites," FC Twente defender Andrej Rendla and Derby County FC forward Róbert Ujčík recently underwent knee surgery, but the coach added: "Vladimír Weiss is in a good form. Helped Manchester City [FC] win the FA Youth Cup, scoring a goal in the final against Chelsea FC."

Qualifying round: Cyprus 5-1, Northern Ireland 2-1, Austria 2-0 (Group 10, winners)

Key players: Miroslav Stoch (forward, Chelsea FC), Vladimír Weiss (midfielder, Manchester City FC)

CROATIA
Croatia coach Ivica Grnja's plans have been disrupted by the absence of several players involved in domestic league play-offs while top scorer Sandi Krizman is injured. Grnja said: "Again, we have clear favourites in our group, like in the last few years. This time we will not have a full team and we don't have a wide base to fill the team with new high quality players. We still seek first place in the group, but it will be very tough against a very strong Germany team."

Key player: Domagoj Vida (NK Osijek)

Qualifying round results: Malta 3-0, Montenegro 2-1, Italy 1-3 (Group 13 runners-up)