England have launched a defence of their UEFA European U19 title. Twelve months ago out in Georgia, the Three Lions powered their way to the title, winning their group and then taking out the Czech Republic in the semi finals before edging Portugal in the Final. Now the next group of players are trying to drive home some more supremacy for England’s U19 set up as the tournament is played out in Finland this summer.
England aim for more youth success
This is the 17th edition of the tournament under its current format which was started up in 2002. England are aiming to become just the second team to successfully defend the U19 European Championship title with Spain having done it twice before. There has been a bit of controversy about this edition with FA technical director Dan Ashworth unhappy at the timing because it clashes with a busy pre-season time for clubs (notably the International Champions Cup 2018).
It means that England boss Paul Simpson has been limited in choice of players because of the club commitments that the young players have. Notable absentees front the England 19 squad for the tournament are Fulham’s Ryan Sessegnon who was joint top scorer twelve months ago, Man City’s Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund. In total there are 10 key players who are notably missing from the England set up.
UEFA U19 European Championship Format
England topped their qualification group and were drawn against Turkey, Ukraine and France in the group stage. This is a tournament for just the eight teams and the top two from each group go through to the semi-final stage. The top five teams at the end of the tournament will be automatically qualified for the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup in Poland. Those will be the four semi finalists plus one. The teams who finish third in both groups will meet up in a playoff match, the winner of which will take that fifth qualification spot for the 2019 FIFA U20 World Cup. So there is plenty to play for. Players born on or after 1 January 1999 are eligible to participate.
England open strongly
England had to come from behind in their opener against Turkey at the Championships. After falling behind early in the game, England fought back well and edged themselves out to a 3-1 lead. That was reduced just three minutes later as Turkey struck again, but that was the end of the scoring given England a 3-2 win and a strong start in the group.
Next up for England at the UEFA U19 European Championship will be Ukraine on July 20th, before rounding off the group stage action against France on July 23rd.
Previous Winners
England won the tournament for the first time (under the new format) with their success over Portugal last year. That was a step forward for them as they had lost in the semifinals of the 2016 edition against Italy. Spain have been dominant with seven of the previous 16 titles of the competition, with Germany winning twice and France collecting the title three times.
If you look at all of the previous tournaments under all its former incarnations than England and Spain are the joint most successful nations with ten titles each.
Group A Preview
For your UEFA U19 European Championship betting there could be some straightforward action from Group A. You have Portugal and Italy in there who are joined by host nation Finland as well as Norway. The Portuguese have a strong record at this tournament with them having made the semi-finals at least in three of the last four editions and finishing runner-up twice in that spell. Italy were in the semi-finals two summer’s ago as well and they should both have enough to move ahead from the group. After both opened with wins, then it looks fairly routine for both to get through.
Portugal v Italy is the big group clash for UEFA U19 European Championship betting and that is on July 19th. A draw would be our betting tip for that clash because it should be enough for both of them at the end of the day in terms of qualification from the group, leaving Finland and Norway to scrap it out for the third spot. Of them, we are leaning towards host nation Finland to grab it.
Group B Preview
Twelve months ago a strong England squad beat the Netherlands,, Germany and Bulgaria to top spot in their group. England won all three of their group stage matches, scoring seven goals and conceding just the one. While England are not as strong this time around they do have a big scoring threat in Ben Brereton from Nottingham Forest who performed well twelve months ago and opened his account against Turkey in their first group’s stage match this time around.
With Ukraine beating France in the other match in the opening round of group stage matches from Group B, that leaves England in a good position. England will face Ukraine on July 20th in a big showdown for the top spot for the group. Despite not being as strong as twelve months ago we are still tipping England to win Group B in UEFA U19 European Championship betting. Ukraine aren’t as strong as the Three Lions and France have taken a setback. We are tipping France to get through as they were undone by a red card in their opening game. An England/France Dual Forecast in the group would be a decent option.
UEFA U19 European Championship Prediction
We expect Italy, Portugal, France and England to be in the semi-finals of the UEFA U19 European Championship 2018 tournament and that leads to some interesting match ups. The semi finals will be decided by final positioning in the groups, the winner of Group A faces the runner-up in Group B and vice versa for the other game. Of them, we are going to lean on Portugal to come through the pack this time around as they have been knocking on the door recently and with reigning champions England not at full strength, there could be an opportunity for the Portuguese who continue to produce good talent at this young level.
