After a disappointing campaign at this summer’s European Championships, Stuart Pearce’s England Under-21 side are back in action on Thursday facing what could be a tricky tie against an unfancied Azerbaijan team (England under-21 1/12 to beat Azerbaijan).
Pearce’s team were seen as one of the favourites for the title in Denmark but crashed out in the group stages after a string of disappointing results. Many expected the former Manchester City boss to walk following his side’s failure but he has been installed for another four years and will see the next European Championships in Israeli in 2013 as his perfect shot at redemption.
However, they have to qualify first and face a group that on paper seems simple but could provide a few slip-ups.
The first game against the former Soviet Republic should be a straightforward task and both players and staff will be expecting an easy win to get their campaign off to the perfect start at Vicarage Road.
One plus point for Pearce is despite losing the likes of Phil Jones and Danny Welbeck to the senior side, he still has a number of talented youngsters at his disposal and will no doubt be fielding an extremely strong side.
The man charged with replacing Welbeck’s goals is likely to be Aston Villa forward Nathan Delfouneso (11/4 first goalscorer), who has been tipped to have a breakthrough year this season at both club and international level this term. Delfouneso made his debut for Villa as a 16-year-old and has shown impressive maturity in recent years, meaning Pearce will be looking for the forward to establish himself in the side as he plans for 2013.
Anther player to look out for is Everton midfielder Ross Barkley (8/1 first goalscorer). The Toffees youngster has made the most of the injury problems at Goodison Park and established himself in the club’s midfield and will be hoping his form can help him earn selection for his first cap at under-21 level.
However, Azerbaijan (25/1 to beat England) will also be looking for a strong performance and look out for striker Cihan Ozkara (16/1 first goalscorer), who has so far scored two goals in his two appearances for the side and could be the man to unlock the young lions defence.
The Azerbaijanis’ other big star could well be Barkley’s Everton team-mate Araz Abdullayev, who has the vision and stamina to trouble any defence and will be looking for a strong showing. The midfielder is yet to make his debut for the Everton first team but is highly regarded at the club and will be looking to make his mark on the game.
Unfortunately, despite Azerbaijan’s likely enthusiasm, they shouldn’t trouble England and the match should be a rather straightforward test for Pearce’s youngsters. They should pull off a comfortable win in Watford.
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After a packed weekend of international fixtures, the Euro 2012 qualifiers continue on Tuesday with a number of potentially explosive fixtures that could have massive implications for next summer’s tournament to be held in Poland and Ukraine, with Germany and Sweden both in action (Sweden 8/1 – Group E winner).