Cuenca and Morlanes shortlisted for the European U21 Championship
The group stage is to be played 24-30 March in Slovenia, taking advantage of the national-team match window... but Segunda Division continues in Spain
UD Almeria Centre-back Jorge Cuenca and midfielder Manu Morlanes have been shortlisted by Spain Under-21s coach Luis de la Fuente ahead of the European Under-21s Championship group stage that is to be held in Hungary and Slovenia.
Spain U21s will be competing against Czech Republic, Italy and hosts Slovenia in Group ‘B’ and their matches will be played on 24/27/30 March. The competition will take place taking advantage of the national-team match window, so there will be no top-tier fixtures in Spain, yet Segunda Division action continues with a mid-week match on Wednesday 31 March.
If the UD Almería players happen to be called up for duty, they will miss two or three second-tier games. The Rojiblancos visit SD Ponferradina on 21 March and both the central defender and the midfielder could join in, everything will depend on when the Spain U21s training camp begins with a focus on travelling to Slovenia. They will surely be out of action for the next league commitment against CD Leganés at the Juegos Mediterráneos (27 or 28 March), and will also miss the trip to Malaga on Wednesday, 31 March.
The top two teams from each European U21s group will qualify for the final phase, which will be taking place from 31 May to 6 June. In the event that UD Almería entered the play-offs for promotion and internationals Cuenca and Morlanes were handed starting places within the Spain U21s XI, they could not be selected by Jose Gomes on those dates. Time will tell.