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Current U21 Europe Cup Top Scorer is Scottish

Written by _JesseJ_

Lawrence Shankland or Bojan Miovski? Perhaps any discussion about who is the best Scottish Forward will end after the career of the new HT super star named Archie Burnworth. He is the current top scorer in the U21 Europe Cup. Here you can read an interview with his manager.

The U21 Europe Cup is not only about achievements of NT-coaches. The players are also a key component, and therefore I would like to introduce to you guanda80 (6380245), the manager responsible for training the current Top Scorer of the U21 Europe Cup (after 8 games).

Q: Archie Burnworth (473199174) scored 10 times in the tournament so far. Is he your first U21 player? Was it difficult to fulfill the needs for the national team vs. your team ambitions?

He's not my first U21 player. In the team I managed in my earliest years I had U21s and even in my current primary team two players have been capped for the U21s. At present my Scottish team has no particular ambitions for success on the pitch and therefore it was not particularly difficult to follow the national team scout requests.

Q: You are playing under the Italian flag with your second team in Scotland. Why did you choose Scotland and who is the man behind your username?

A few years ago I took a trip to Scotland and I really liked it, so when I decided to open a second team this was enough for me to open it in Scotland. My name is Andrea, I live in Verona (Italy) and I am 43 years old. I am Branch Manager of a transport company.

I discovered HT in 2007, a friend of mine played HT and I started too. In 2015 I stopped due to work commitments and then started playing again in 2020 (due to the lockdown).

Q: You told that it was not difficult for you to follow scout requests and guidance. Can you tell more about this?

When I coached Archie in my youth team I saw he had potential, but the training targets require a lot of careful attention and it takes a long time, plus you can never be certain your player will be selected. Disciplined training also requires luck (with respect to form etc) in order to become an important player. Archie seems to be on good terms with Lady Luck. The U21 scout was perfect (he is Italian!! emilioveronica (12516586)), and we always discussed what was needed without any debate. Obviously, when the owner doesn't have needs in the first team it's much easier for everyone with training adjustments as and when they are required.

The Scout has written to me several times to tell me that he was progressing well, so I was reassured that my player had aroused some interest.

Q: Recently, there was new Homegrown League announcement, something many managers enjoy. Did you focus more upon on Archie because he was a homegrown player?

I don't overly focus upon the players who grew up in the team, he was very strong from the off, and having no team goals I decided to focus upon his training requirements. I have to say that I am very very happy, having chosen this approach..

Q: In a few weeks the Europe Cup ends and Archie will age up to 22yo. What's next?

I would be very happy for him to become a player for the NT. I'm waiting for a helpful message from the NT coach or an NT scout.

I don't think I would want to train a U21 player again. Soon I would prefer to consider focusing upon my team in order to progress and I think that continued low stamina training of an U21 is not likely to be compatible

Ed note. Low stamina is also recommended for managers looking to train great U21 players toward becoming NT players, at least until age 28-29.

Q: Last but not least: do you follow the national teams and if Scotland makes it to the playoffs and meets Italy, for which team will you be cheering on? ;-)

I don't really follow the national teams, there isn't much time and therefore I prefer to dedicate the time I do have to my own teams. I always check the results, because it only takes a moment. I like to see what has happened, but nothing more really.

In case of U21 Scotland vs. U21 Italia I will just be cheering for Archie!!!!

Q: Thank you for this interview and all the best in future!