European Under 21 Tournament
The European under-21 Championship starts next Monday in Sweden with England facing Finland in the opening match in Halmstad.
Eight teams are taking part in the tournament-seven qualifiers plus host nation Sweden-split into two groups of four. The top two teams from each group then qualify for the semi finals. Group A comprises of hosts Sweden plus Italy, Belarus and Serbia. Group B has England, Finland, Spain and Germany.
Current holders of the tournament Holland failed to qualify this time and the tournament does look wide open. Of the teams who are taking part Italy are the most successful at this level having won five of the seven tournaments between 1992 and 2004. They have assembled a strong team again and are available currently at 10/3 (Paddypower) to win the tournament this year.
England were beaten 13-12 on penalties in the semi finals two years ago by eventual tournament winners Holland and will be looking to do better this time. Their main opponents in the qualifying group would appear to be tournament favourites Spain 3/1 (Coral).
On paper at least England seem to have a strong group of players and included in the squad are have a few player splaying regularly in the Premier League , including Micah Richards, Theo Walcott, James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor. Despite having had talented squads in the past England haven’t actually won the tournament since the 1980’s and their semi-final appearance at the last tournament was their best performance since 2000.
Whether they will be fresh and ready for a tournament like this after such a long season remains to be seen, but they do look capable of getting out of the group and are priced at 4/1 (Bet365) to win the tournament outright. The just managed to edge out an inexperienced Wales team to reach the finals and we’d be surprised if they went on to win the tournament. We don’t the 4/1 on offer represents great value given their past record in the tournament and we think teams like Serbia offer better value.
Serbia reached the final two years ago and look certain to qualify for the semi finals again as they are in the weaker of the two groups. If they can take a point or more from their first match against Italy then their odds of 13/2 (Coral) could halve so it could be worth getting on them now. They may not have as many players playing regular club football at the highest level as some of the other teams in the tournament, but they are strong, athletic and have some skillful players in their team, including Manchester United’s Zoran Tosic who is highly thought of at Old Trafford.
It may come as a surprise to many that we haven’t mentioned Germany who has a fantastic record in tournaments at senior level. They have never really shown a lot at under 21 level and always look a bit lightweight when coming up against other top teams at this level. They don’t appear to have any real stars or potential star players in their squad and will rely mainly on teamwork and tactics to try and progress in the tournament. The Germans are 11/2 (Ladbrokes) to lift the trophy, but that’s far to short a price to interest us.
Host nations don’t have a great record in the tournament and Sweden at 9/1 (Coral) could get into the semi’s if they raise their game, but that’s as far as they will go.