This weekend sees Europe’s top youngsters get their chance to stake their claim for a move to a big club as the European Under-21 Championships get under way in Denmark with England one of the favorites for the title (England 4/1 to win the Championship).
The competition kicks off with two mouthwatering Group A ties with Belarus taking on Iceland in Aarhus and the hosts facing Switzerland in Aalborg in two matches that could shape the competition. All the sides will be looking for a strong start and will hope a good performance will set the tone for the rest of the tournament as they look to be crowned European Champions.
The opening match sees two of the surprise packages of qualifying take on each other and Belarus will be hoping to make an impact in their debut appearance in the competition. They surprised a number of people by beating Italy in the play-offs and will be looking to striker Vladamr Yurchenko, who scored twice in their 3-0 victory over the Italians in Monks, to once again fire them to glory (Yurchenko 8/1 to be the first goalscorer).
Iceland were the conquerors of Scotland in the play-offs and much of their hopes will be pinned on former Reading youngster Gylfi Sigurdsson who has started for Hoffenheim in this year’s Bundesliga. Sigurdsson is highly-regarded by many clubs in Europe and could be one of the stars of the tournament after such a strong domestic season (Sigurdsson 15/8 to score against Belarus).
Belarus looked to have quite a strong side but Sigurdsson is a truly class player and could be the difference in what is sure to be an intriguing contest.
The second match sees hosts Denmark face much-fancied Switzerland, with the hosts looking to lay down a marker while the Swiss are tipped by many as dark horses for the title.
The main man for Denmark is Villareal striker Nicki Bille, who boasts a superb international scoring record of 15 goals in 21 games and could be the man to fire the Danes to glory. On the other side Switzerland are currently enjoying the fruits of their ‘golden generation’ and much is expected of their current crop of youngsters.
Five of their squad were involved in the full team’s recent 2-2 draw with England at Wembley and seem bred to play exciting, attacking football. Key to this is playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri, who was one of the stars of the Wembley clash, and much is excited of him as Swiss football emerges from the doldrums.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Switzerland could be the victors here due to their extra experience and the Shaqiri factor (Switzerland 2/1 to beat Denmark).
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