Well, the response to my initial two posts regarding the Youth Squads
of America and England coming to Australia next month has been such that I 
might write them all up. I might not actually have the endurance to do that
but for now why not read about the Germans.

	Despite a reputation as one of the world's most powerful footballing
nations, Germany only scrapped through the qualifying process to Australia '93.
On home soil in the Euro finals, it was thrashed by the tournaments eventual
winner, Turkey, 4-0 in its opening game and only made it through thanks to
a hard fought 3-2 win over Poland (who had earlier been beaten 6-1 by England).
[I don't care. Recall the WC'90 qualifying match between Germany and Wales
which Germany had to win or get at least a 3-3 draw to qualify. They did, and
then some.] Results in its preliminary group matches were more encouraging.
Two draws against Italy (2-2 and 0-0) victories over Spain (3-0 and 3-1) and
wins over Malta (4-0 and 1-0) saw it top the table.

	Although Germany just sneaked into the finals of the FIFA/Coca-Cola
Cup by finishing fifth in in last years European Qualifiers, this team is still
one of the tournaments favourites. You could say that Australia is a favourite
stomping ground - as West Germany, it won its only official world youth title
when the championship was held here in 1981.
	Then, in 1987, it took the brilliance of Robert Prosinecki, Zvonimir
Boban and Davor Suker to deny the Germans another title in Chile, when the
then unified Yugoslavian team came out on top.
	For all its might as a world soccer power, however, this is only the 
third time that Germany has qualified for the final stages of the World Youth
Championship. This time, the Germans are coached by one of their all time
great players, Rainer Bonhof, who was one of the stars in the national team
and Borussia Moenchengladbach in the 70's. It is worth noting that when the
team was runner-up in 1987, Berti Vogts - now senior side coach, was in charge.
Bonhof is a proponent of open, attacking and entertaining football.
	Bonhof is banking on midfielders Stefan Thiele (teammate of Ned Zelic
at Borussia Dortmund) and FC Koeln's Sascha Lenhart to set up his lethal
strike force. The Germans will be relying on their twin strikers for goals,
Andre Breitenreiter of Hannover 96 and Christoph Dangel of Kaiserslautern.
This exciting duo accounted for 90% of German goals on the road to the finals.
Breitenreiter, a regular starter for German Cup Winners Hannover 96, is being
tipped as a likely recipient of the goalscoring award at this years Youth
Championships.
	With only three exceptions, all members of the German Squad play in the
Bundesliga. This first division experience will show in Australia as most are
not just youth players with their clubs. Many, if not all, have first team
appearances to their credit. 
	Traditionally, German youth teams reveal quality players who then
move up to the senior representative ranks, such as Andreas Moeller who
played in 1987 and now stars for Juventus in Italy. German fans are holding
their breath, waiting to see who will emerge from this years youth team.

Squad will be chosen from : (Surnames in upper case)

Ricardo BAICH		Thomas BLECK		Andre BREITENREITER
Christoph DENGEL	Max EBERL		Uwe GOSPODAREK
Tobias HAGER		Dietmar HUMMEL		Guido JORRES
Jens KITZING		Sascha LENHART		Juergen LESNIAK
Torsten LIEBERKNECHT	Frank MEISNER		Sven MOLLENHAUER
Sven NEUMANN		Jens NOWOTNY		Ingo OESTERLE
Frank PARROTTA		Werner PROTZEL		Carsten RAMELOW
Frank SCHMIDT		Markus SCHWIEDEROWSKI	Mirko STARK
Stefan THIELE		Thomas TUCHEL		Dimo WACHE
Roland WENDT