UEFA Under 19 Championships – England look to future with youth

England v Austria Match Odds

England to win: 3/5 at Bwin
Draw: 11/5 at Bwin
Austria: 5/1 at Bwin

The future of English football could be on display in France on the weekend, as the UEFA Under 19 Championship kicks off. The eight team tournament will give England’s youth a chance to shine, in the hope that the FA can learn something from another senior World Cup failure, and learn how to nurture and embrace young talent, instead of training any flair out of them. After all the fall out of England’s failure at South Africa 2010, eyes will turn to the Under 19’s as the benchmark for the next generation of England’s youth. There have been concerns that there is not enough youth coming through from grass roots in English football, and that the English game and lack of professional youth coaches, are taking something away from the national game. It has been suggested that any inherent flair and technical ability to play a passing game, is drilled out of youngsters, as the focus is more on the physical aspect of the game, and learning to play at tempo. So, just how England do at the UEFA Under 19 Championship could be an eye opener for things to come. England have been drawn in Group A of the tournament, along with host nation France, Austria and the Netherlands. It is a group from which they will be expected to get out of without too much trouble. Here are the fixtures for England at the UEFA Under 19 Championship:

Sunday, July 18th: Austria v England
Wednesday, July 21st: Netherlands v England
Saturday, July 24th: England v France

There is a sprinkling of hope for the future of English football, as England finished as runner’s up in the previous tournament, where they lost to the Ukraine in the finals. This, in all honesty, is not too bad of a draw for England, as Holland are making their debut in the competition, and Austria are rank outsiders to win the tournament. The toughest challenge in the group stage will be France, who are joint favourites along with Spain to win. After the group stage, the top two teams from each group will go forwards to the semi finals. This tournament does have bigger implications, as the teams which finish in the top three out of each group, will earn automatic qualification for the 2011 FIFA Under 20 World Cup. Coached by Noel Blake, England were the last team to qualify for the tournament, and hopes could rest on 2008/09 top scorer Nathan Delfouneso, who is on the books at Aston Villa. They also have a strong pairing in the midfield of Dean Parrett and Jacob Melis, while there is plenty of experience t the back with Fulham’s Matthew Briggs and Manchester United’s Reece Brown.

There were some club v country discussions going on ahead of the tournament, as some clubs were unwilling to release some of their young players for the tournament. However, after the senior England side failed to perform and lessons were learnt from Germany’s youngsters, England were able to select a strong squad to take to France. There are two notable omissions though, with Everton’s Jack Rodwell and Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere missing out, as they are wanted to step up an age group. It is the Germans and the Spanish which England need to emulate. Since investing heavily in their youth, Germany have won the European Championships at every age level, while Spain have won the Under 19 Championships four times. Getting things right at these young levels, will naturally enhance the quality of what will come in future senior teams. There are signs that England are on the right track, after the Under 17’s won the European Championships a couple of months ago, and that was on the back of the Under 21’s reaching the final of their respective tournament the year before. Germany didn’t make the tournament this time around, after failing to get out of the Elite group qualifying process, finishing third in a group which Holland won.

England Under 19 Squad: Goalkeepers: Declan Rudd (Norwich), James Severn (Derby); Defenders: Nathan Baker (Aston Villa), Matthew Briggs (Fulham), Reece Brown (Manchester United), Stephen Caulker (Spurs), Nathaniel Clyne (Crystal Palace), Thomas Cruise (Arsenal), Josh Thompson (Celtic); Midfielders: John Bostock (Spurs), Matthew James (Manchester United), Jacob Mellis (Chelsea), Dean Parrett (Spurs), Matthew Phillips (Wycombe), Andros Townsend (Spurs); Forwards: Nathan Delfouneso (Aston Villa), Ryan Donaldson (Newcastle), Frank Nouble (West Ham).

UEFA European Under-19 Championship Winners
2002: Spain
2003: Italy
2004: Spain
2005: France
2006: Spain
2007: Spain
2008: Germany
2009: Ukraine

While England are in with a fair shout at claiming the honours here, there are some quality youth teams taking part alongside them. Spain will be one of the strongest competitors at the tournament, and they will be expected to win Group B, where Portugal, Italy and Croatia also reside. Croatia are making their debut in the tournament, and therefore they won’t be looked at for too long in the betting. Portugal have shown in the past they can put out a decent crop of youngsters, but they have probably fallen just a little bit behind the other stronger European nations, as this is their first year back after missing the last two tournaments after failing to qualify. Italy are a little bit of an unknown quantity, but will be expected to get through to the semi finals. From a football betting point of view, England and France will be expected to progress from Group A, and Spain along with Italy will be expected to get through from Group B.

UEFA Under 19 Championship Outright Odds at Bwin
Spain: 4.50
France: 4.50
England: 6.00
Italy: 6.50
Netherlands: 8.00
Portugal: 8.50
Croatia: 12.0
Austria: 15.0