Denmark U21 vs England U21
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Today’s secondary featured game is the international friendly in Viborg, Denmark between Denmark U21 and England U21. This game is important for both sides as it’s a warm-up game for the UEFA European U21 Championship in Denmark in June so I expect both sides to take it seriously today.
However, one thing I cannot help but notice is the lack of attacking talent in the Danish team. Young Eriksen in midfield used to carry this team but he’s been promoted to the senior squad now and has travelled to Norway to face Denmark’s local rivals so he won’t feature in this game. For a change, Denmark’s strikers are decent with Jorgensen from Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Bille from Villarreal CF, and reborn Fredriksen from SonderjyskE. Give those three strikers chances and they’ll score goals but looking at their midfield, where is the creativity coming from? I see pace in the side but little creativity other than from Brondby’s Mike Jensen. Denmark’s defence is decent but far from great and overall, this team looks rather average, in my eyes. To be fair, that assessment does make sense because Denmark’s senior team is very much short on talent at the current time and thus any emerging talents ala Eriksen are immediately promoted to the first-team so I think Denmark are not only going to struggle in this game but also in the championships that they’re hosting in June.
England always play well in U21 games. I don’t know why there’s such a difference between their first team and U21 team but there somehow is – there’s more desire, more motivation, and more attacking intent and as such, they’re a much better side to watch than England’s first-team, in my view. England’s attack for this game is very exciting, in my view, with pacey Delfouneso, skilful Welbeck, and emerging Wickham in the squad, not to mention in-form Sturridge. The impressive Henderson, skilful Cleverley and Albrighton, and experienced Muamba should cause the Danes a lot of problems in midfield if utilised and the likes of Smalling, Walker, and Gibbs have all excelled in defence this season for their respective clubs, especially Smalling, so again, we have an exciting England team here. There have been some withdrawals like Hooper, Lansbury, and Rodwell, for example, but against a side that England should be much better than, I’m not overly concerned.
Irrespective of where this game is played, there should be a hefty quality gap on show here. In my view, England bring more potency, more creativity, more experience, and simply a better team than Denmark do. Denmark as hosts cannot be underestimated but they look distinctly average to me whereas England have enough cohesion and ability by now to win this game. It’s usually the finals where England U21 fuck up – the games before that are usually ok! For me, the away win here at 13/10 represents some value today.
Denmark squad:
Lossl, Andersen, Randrup, Bjelland, Hamalainen, Wass, Svatchenko, Sorensen, Vestergaard, Juelsgard, Nielsen, Fenger, Jorgensen, Lumb, Povlsen, Albaek, Jensen, Christiansen, Bille, Jorgensen, Mortensen, Fredriksen.
England squad:
Fielding, Loach, McCarthy, Baker, Bennett, Bertrand, Caulker, Gibbs, Naughton, Richards, Smalling, Tomkins, Walker, Albrighton, Cork, Cleverley, Henderson, McEachran, Muamba, Rose, Sinclair, Welbeck, Delfouneso, Sturridge, Wickham.
Verdict: England U21 to win at 13/10.
Thursday’s Picks
My tips:
As ever, below are my recommended value tips for today in no particular order:
Belgium U21 vs Scotland U21 – both sides to score at 4/5.
I’d be more inclined to lean towards Belgium winning this game than Scotland but solely because the Scots haven’t taken a particularly strong side to Belgium for this game. The likes of Goodwillie have been rested and that does a lot of damage to the Scottish attack. Belgium themselves have some talented attacking players although whether the likes of playmaker De Bruyne cast off the shackles of a long season to produce the kind of mesmerising display that we all know he’s capable of or not is another matter entirely. AA Gent striker El Ghanassy looks set to cause the fairly inexperienced Scottish defence some problems tonight and with Belgium often boasting a strong U21 side such as this, I think it’s reasonable to expect them to score here, especially at home. Scotland’s offensive power has been done some damage with some of their main players not having been brought. However, they have a secret weapon that not enough people are appreciating in winger Greg Wylde. Wylde is a very talented winger for Rangers and I cannot stress enough how talented this guy looks with both his set pieces and general wingplay. Dare I say that he reminds me a lot of the tabloid baby Bale? Either way, Wylde has a lot of ability and if he plays in this game then I fancy Scotland to score because he makes a lot of things happen and Belgium are not assured at the back, as usual. Therefore, my call is for both sides to score here.
Belgium squad:
Angelli, Badibanga, Benteke Liolo, Boyata, Cavanda, Cools, Courtois, De Bock, De Bruyne, De Pauw, El Ghanassy, Fileccia, Labylle, Lagouireh, Maciel Sousa Campos, Mertens, Moris, Saglik, Van Acker, Van Damme, Van Eenoo, Wuytens.
Scotland squad:
Adam, Andrews, Booth, Hanlon, Perry, Saunders, Thomson, Armstrong, Cairney, Forrest, Ness, Kelly, Palmer, Ross, Wotherspoon, Wylde, Griffiths, MacDonald, Rhodes, Russell.
Verdict: Both sides to score at 4/5.
Accumulator fodder:
Velez Sarsfield
Recommended bets:
Velez Sarsfield and England U21 at 2/1.
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
Copa Libertadores:
Oriente Petrolero vs Leon de Huanuco (6) 1-0
Velez Sarsfield vs Union Espanola (8) 2-0
International Friendlies:
Cuba vs El Salvador (7) 0-2
International U21 Friendlies:
Lithuania vs Latvia (5) 1-0
Denmark vs England (6) 1-2
Ukraine vs Iceland (7) over 2.5 goals
Hungary vs Austria (6) 0-1
Belgium vs Scotland (6) over 2.5 goals
France vs Spain (6) over 2.5 goals, both sides to score
Italy vs Sweden (5) 2-1
Singaporean S-League:
Armed Forces vs Tampines Rovers (5) over 2.5 goals, both sides to score
Uruguayan Primera Division:
El Tanque Sisley vs Penarol (6) 0-1
Enjoy your free betting tips!