Twins make identical strides

It is enough of an honour for a family to produce one international footballer, let alone two. But in the German midfield at the UEFA European Under-17 Championship are twins Lars and Sven Bender.

'Delighted'
Having turned 17 just a week before the tournament, they have enjoyed steering their country to the top of Group B in Luxembourg. "We have only been in the team for seven matches," Lars told uefa.com. "But since then we have been delighted with what we have achieved." They made their German U17 debuts 71 minutes apart against Sweden in February; Lars starting, Sven coming on as a substitute. Now both are regular starters in midfield roles they also fill at TSV 1860 München

Similar progress
"There has been minimal difference in our progress as footballers," said Lars, who has overcome a knee problem in time for tonight's game against Serbia and Montenegro. "We have both had our ups and downs, but it has mostly been the same." Sven added: "It is the biggest event of my life. It is important for Germany to win these youth team tournaments. German football has been under pressure because people say we have not been producing quality players so it is important to get a good result."

Little difference
The pair, whose father was an amateur footballer before suffering an achilles injury, have an intuition that clearly impresses Germany coach Bernd Stöber. Sven said: "There is not a lot of difference between ourselves, we just play together. One defends, the other goes forward. We are quite a good combination. We prefer playing together because we know our own strengths and weaknesses - it would be quite tricky to play against each other. We would prefer it if we could stick together but you don't know what will happen in the future."

Mutual ambition
However, this does not mean they are inseparable. "On the pitch it is quite important to be together, to play together," Sven added. "But we do not always share rooms!" What they do share, though, is a mutual ambition at 1860 and both are dreaming of playing professionally at the Fußball Arena München. Lars said: "Because of the financial troubles the club has to look at the younger players and that means that we could have a chance. We are just looking step by step. The first stage is to get into the first team squad at 1860, but we wouldn't mind playing abroad if we had the chance."

Happy in limelight
Should they continue their rise together, even more attention will be focused on their possible emulation of great footballing twins like the De Boers. But the pair are happy to be noticed in that regard. "We see it as an advantage," Sven said. "It is quite unusual."