TFT Issue 218!
FreeHowdy guys and girls!
Featured game
Iceland U21 vs England U21 – away win with -1 Asian Handicap at 6/5.
Today’s featured game is the UEFA European U21 Championship Qualifier between Iceland and England.
I’ve waxed lyrical an awful lot about Iceland’s current crop of youngsters over the past year or so. They’ve looked really strong, much stronger than in previous years, and deserved their place at Denmark 2011 although they ended up disappointing in the tournament due to a lack of experience. Iceland’s strength was never their defence; it was always their attack. However, they weren’t scoring goals in that tournament so you can guess the rest if you didn’t watch the games at the time!
However, that side is what Iceland U21 was – they’re a completely different side now as almost all of their excellent youngsters are now out of the team due to age restrictions. The majority are in international wilderness although to give you an idea of how good this crop actually is, at least six of them have been taken to Portugal with the senior team for the game on friday night.
The current Iceland crop, though – I mean the squad we’ve got named for tonight’s game – is not convincing whatsoever. Consider the players they’ve lost – Gudmundsson, Finnbogason, Sigporsson, Sigurdsson, Gislason, Bjarnason, Gunnarsson, Fjoluson, Valgardsson, Jonsson, Vidarsson, Smarason, Bjornsson etc. That’s pretty much all of their good attacking players and all of their good defensive players. Iceland U21’s current squad has no more than one experienced player – defender Eyjolfsson from VfL Bochum. There’s just a handful playing outside of Iceland – defender Eyjolfsson at VfL Bochum, goalkeeper Petursson at SonderjyskE, attacker Johansson from AGF Aarhus, and defender Sigurbjornsson from Orebro. There’s a lot of inexperience in this team and frankly there’s a lack of ability. They’ve got a lot of developing to do, Iceland U21, and playing an established U21 side like England at this stage is never a good idea.
England U21 themselves are missing players. However, a side like England U21 will always be strong because there’s lots of depth and experience, enough to keep churning out player after player. I mean, England U21 miss Welbeck, Wickham, Wilshere, Walker, and Jones for this game, who have all become sizable losses for England. Their attack looks quite feeble without Delfouneso, in my view, although the Brummie hitman is happily included in this squad. However, just look at the midfield that Pearce can name here – Rodwell, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Henderson, Lansbury, and McEachran. That midfield is really very, very good at this level. They’re all playing Premier League football, four of them pretty regularly, and they’re all robust and skilful, which Iceland U21 will find it very hard to deal with. Defensively, England are missing experience as a unit and they may be caught out by their Icelandic hosts but with such a strong midfield, I just can’t see England doing anything but beating an Iceland side that they’re a lot better than.
Will England beat the handicap? Probably. There’s no definites in U21 football as England could concede here against an attack-minded Iceland U21 side. However, I’d be lying if I said that I saw anything happening other than an England U21 win because they’re better and have more firepower, if only from midfield. Iceland U21 lack a lot of everything here so taking the away win with a -1 Asian Handicap at 6/5 looks a bit of a steal to me as the insurance is there if England do concede a stupid goal or fail to capitalise on the chances that they’ll inevitably create as they should at least win the game.
Verdict: England U21 to beat the -1 Asian Handicap at 6/5.
Team news
It’s hard to isolate this kind of information but I’ve done my best!
Netherlands U21 – Zeefuik, John, and Clasie are absent.
Scotland U21 – Toshney is absent.
Germany U21 – No absentees.
Italy U21 – No absentees.
Poland U21 – No absentees.
England U21 – Welbeck, Wickham, Wilshere, Walker, and Jones absent.
Slovenia U21 – Kovacevic and Sirok are absent.
Greece U21 – Skondras and Giannou are doubts.