European Under-21 Championship Preview

Posted by Rob Shepherd on Tuesday, June 13, 2017

The European Under-21 Championship starts this Friday in Poland. Due to the heroics of the under-20 team in winning the World Cup there is a new expectation placed on the shoulders of the youngsters. In this article, I’ll let you know everything you need to know about the competition and rate England’s chances.

What is the European Under-21 Championship?

The European Under-21 Championship is better known as the UEFA Euro U-21’s and is held every two years. The competition formally was an under-23 tournament but the age was reduced when the tournament switched to its present format in 1978.

Some of the greats in world football made their mark on the U-21 tournament in the past. Previous winners of the Golden Player award include Rudi Völler in 82, Mark Hateley in 84, Luis Figo in 94, Andrea Pirlo in 2000, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in 2006 and Juan Mata in 2011.

Sweden are the current champions, in the last tournament in 2015, they beat Portugal to win on penalties.

This tournament is one that England have had some success in, albeit back in 1982 when they beat West Germany in the final on aggregate 5-4. In the following tournament in 1984, England became the first holders to successfully retain the trophy when they beat Spain 3-0 on aggregate in the final.

Since then though, pickings have been pretty slim for England with two semi-final appearances in 1988 and 2007 and losing finalists against Germany in 2009 being the only performances of note.

What is the Format of the Competition?

There are three groups of four teams, each team plays each team in their group once. Only the winners of the group are guaranteed to progress. There is also one place in the semi-final for the group runner up with the best record.

Group A: England, Poland, Slovakia, Sweden

Group B: FYR Macedonia, Portugal, Serbia, Spain

Group C: Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy

When are the Fixtures Played?

Group A: 16, 19, 22 June

Group B: 17, 20, 23 June

Group C: 18, 21, 24 June

Semi-final 1: 27 June

Semi-final 2: 27 June

Final: 30 June

All games will be shown on Sky Sports 1 and the kick-off times are 17:00 and 19:45.

England Players to Watch For:

Nathaniel Chalobah and Nathan Redmond

Nathaniel and Nathan are the 2nd and 3rd most capped players ever for the U-21’s. Chelsea’s Chalobah has 36 caps and Southampton’s Redmond has 34. The most caps is held by James Milner on 46.

Nathaniel Chalobah – Nathaniel has been at Chelsea since 2012 and made 10 Premier League appearances last season as well as 3 FA Cup and 2 EFL Cup appearances. He has spent most of his Chelsea career out on loan.

Transfermarkt have the player valued at €4 million. One of the Chelsea players who thinks very highly of Chalobah is N’Golo Kante, the current PFA Footballer of the Year recently stated;

“I am not one of the best midfielders in the world or something like that. I play with some talented players like Cesc Fabregas, Nemanja Matic and Nathaniel Chalobah. They have different styles and I can learn from everyone.” High praise indeed from an incredible player.

Nathan Redmond has well over 70 youth caps to his name and unlike a lot of youngsters he put the development of his playing career well ahead of any financial gains. Arsenal and Man City were interested in Nathan when he was 16 and 17 but he rebuffed their interest to maintain playing time. He played 62 games for Birmingham, 112 for Norwich before moving to Southampton. A player who is destined for great things.

Other Players to Watch:

In the Spanish team, there is Thiago Alcantara. He plays in midfield for Barcelona and is so highly regarded that his contract has a buy-out clause set at an eye watering €90 million.

Antonio Rudiger is a formidable character in defence for Germany. www.transfermarkt.com value the 24-year-old at €25 million. The Italian strike force is boosted by the inclusion of Lorenzo Insigne. The 26-year-old is a reported £45 million target for Chelsea. He has scored 19 goals in 41 appearances at the forward left position.

What do the Bookies Think?

Spain are the favourites with the bookmakers, odds of 3/1 are slightly shorter than the odds on Germany at 10/3. The Italians are quite fancied at 11/2 and you will get a similar price on Portugal (6/1). England are further back at 10/1 with a gap to the rest of the teams.

England Games at a Glance

Friday 16th June – Sweden v England

Monday 19th June – Slovakia v England

Thursday 22nd June – England v Poland