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Wednesday, June 13, 2007

UEFA U21 Competition - Nothing worth a punt?

I'm getting a few emails asking why we're not providing previews for the UEFA U21 competition in the opening few rounds ...

I think that the answer is summed up in the first four results, 1-0, 0-0, 0-0 and 0-1.

As I suggested in the background piece before the start of the tourney, these sides change almost completely for every edition aty this level and it really is hard to get a good form line prior to seeing the first few games.

Holland just squeezed past the "weakest looking" side Isreal in the opener, while 5-time winners Italy butchered a number of chances and then lost to Serbia,

England looked incredibly defensive in drawing 0-0 with the Czech Republic (and missed a late penalty) while Belgium and Portgual showed nothing at all.

Inexperienced strikers, hot weather, ultra cautious coaches have all meant a lack of good action early on - but you cannot even have a punt on UNDER 2.5 GOALS because the format means that this second round of group games are turning into "must win" games.

Let's just look on for the moment - and see if we can get a line n the side for use later in the tournament ...

I hope that the Copa America is better later this month or else it's gonig to be a long football-less summer eh?