IF you're looking for an explanation for England's continued struggles at international level, rather than assessing the fall-out from Sunday's friendly in Brazil, perhaps it would be better to cast a glance towards Israel and the European Under-21 Championships that start today.

Reigning champions Spain will attempt to defend their crown with a squad that features Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea, Barcelona midfielder Thiago Alcantara and Malaga attacker Isco, who is regarded as one of the most exciting young talents in the world.

Holland coach Cor Pot has been able to name Borussia Monchengladbach striker Luuk de Jong, even though he is an established member of the Dutch senior side, while the Italy team will feature Paris St Germain midfielder Marco Verratti, who has been touted as the future of Italian football since making his full international debut at the start of last season.

England? Jordan Henderson and Wilfried Zaha are the only players with any senior experience, and they boast a grand total of 157 minutes of international action between them. Beyond that, Stuart Pearce will be picking players from the likes of Leeds United, Blackpool and Birmingham City as he attempts to improve on England's showing in Denmark two years ago, when they failed to survive the group stage.

In part, that underlines the lack of opportunities for young English players in the Premier League and highlights the scale of the challenge facing Roy Hodgson as he attempts to bring through a new generation of senior players.

However, it also reflects badly on the English tendency to downplay the importance of representative tournaments beneath full international level.

The Spanish football fraternity regard an under-21 title as something to be cherished, hence de Gea's personal plea to be allowed to play in Israel.

German officials do not believe the likes of Manuel Neuer, Mats Hummels, Sami Khedira and Mezut Ozil would have had such an immediate impact at senior level had they not been part of the side that won the 2009 European Under-21 Championships, trouncing England in the final.

Yet in England, representative youth football is seen as a hindrance rather than a help.

To the FA, it is seen as subservient to the demands of the senior team, so while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Danny Welbeck and Phil Jones are eligible for the under-21s, it was decided their development would be better aided by a jaunt to Brazil for last weekend's friendly. Had they not been injured, Jack Wilshere and Kyle Walker, also eligible for under-21 duty, would have been in Hodgson's senior squad too.

Oxlade-Chamberlain will never forget the memory of scoring in the Maracana, but when it comes to next summer's World Cup finals, might his prospects not have been better served by the rigours of a fully-fledged tournament?

When we are complaining that our players do not know how to entertain themselves in their team hotel in 12 months time, perhaps we should reflect on how many have been denied the opportunity to experience the tournament environment.

It is not just the FA that have their priorities wrong of course, England's all-powerful Premier League clubs are also guilty of damaging the prospects of the under-21 team.

Raheem Sterling was withdrawn at an early stage by Liverpool, while Callum McManaman and Luke Shaw have also failed to travel to Israel because of injuries detected by their clubs.

Perhaps they really are stricken. Perhaps, however, their employers would rather see their players with their feet up than tearing into competitive challenges in the middle of the close season.

"Are we serious about international football?" asked former Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate, shortly after he left his position as the FA's head of elite development. "Or is our football geared towards the clubs?"Because in the end it's very difficult always to get the release of players for international junior tournaments, and sometimes that's because clubs want their players to play in friendlies or go on friendly tours. So at some point we've got to decide, 'Are we really serious about our international team, or is it just an add-on?'"

The irony is that there has arguably never been a better opportunity for England to end their 29-year wait for a European under-21 title.

Having avoided Spain, Germany and Holland in the draw, England will take on Italy, Israel and Norway in their pool, with the top two sides qualifying for the semi-finals.

Pearce's side have won their last nine games without conceding a goal, an excellent record, even if it is possible to quibble about the strength of some of their opponents.

There is a healthy North-East contingent in the squad, which will be skippered by former Sunderland midfielder Henderson. Middlesbrough goalkeeper Jason Steele is the understudy to first-choice Jack Butland, Danny Rose and Josh McEachran should have benefited from their loan spells at Sunderland and Middlesbrough respectively, while Connor Wickham will have a point to prove having been overlooked by the Black Cats for most of last season.

Rose and Tom Ince are suspended for today's opening game against Italy - the pair were both banned as part of the fall-out from last October's incendiary play-off in Serbia - while Zaha is struggling with an ankle injury.

Nevertheless, provided England avoid defeat in Tel Aviv this evening, they should be able to plot a course to the last four with a modicum of confidence.