2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship: Group A Preview

The 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship kicks off on Monday, Jun. 15 and runs for two weeks as eight of Europe’s finest teams battle to be crowned champions of Europe.

The draw is split into two groups of four, each team playing each other once with the top two from each group progressing to face off in the semi-finals.

Below, I preview the nations making up Group A of the 17th staging of the UEFA competition, hosted for the first time in Sweden.

My Group B Preview can be found here.

Belarus

Belarus finished second behind Serbia in Group Eight by virtue of their head-to-head record in an impressive campaign in which they only suffered one defeat (away to Serbia).

They faced a tough tie against Turkey in the Playoffs and went down 1-0 in the away leg before turning things around at home with a 2-0 win to secure qualification.

Dmitri Komarovski finished as the team’s top scorer with four goals in qualifying. Sergei Kryvets is perhaps their highest rated player, having made his mark scoring against Juventus in this season’s UEFA Champions League for club side BATE Borisov.

This is only Belarus’ second appearance at the Under-21 finals, having only previously qualified in 2004 in a side starring Aleksandr Hleb where they exited at the group stage.

Italy

Pierluigi Casiraghi’s Italy topped Group One with an unbeaten record, winning seven of their ten matches as they finished two points clear of Croatia.

They then faced Israel in the Playoffs and appeared to struggle initially after a goalless draw in the home leg. However, an impressive 3-1 win in Israel in the second leg secured qualification.

Mario Balotelli scored twice in their win in Israel, and big things will be expected of the young Inter Milan forward if he is selected to lead the line this summer.

Italy is the most successful country in the history of the competition with five wins—the first three of which were all back-to-back in 1992, 1994, and 1996.

Andrea Pirlo was named Player of the Tournament in 2000 when the Italians triumphed again and their most recent success was in 2004.

Serbia

Serbia finished on top of Group Eight by virtue of their head-to-head record against runners-up Belarus after both nations finished level on 17 points in a hard fought section.

They played Denmark in the Playoffs for the right to compete in the final tournament this summer, and impressed as they won both legs 1-0 to book their tickets to Sweden this summer.

Gojko Kačar top scored in qualifying with six goals in eight games and helped primarily by his record five goal haul in an 8-0 mauling of Hungary, a feat unequalled in Serbian history.

Runners-up to Holland two years ago, Serbia is continuing their rich history at this level having also finished second in 2004 competing as Serbia and Montenegro.

Sweden

Sweden qualified automatically as hosts, so did not participate in the group stage of playoff qualifiers.

They played ten friendlies in 2008, posting a record of four wins, four draws, and two defeats.

Sweden’s finest hour in previous competitions came in 1992, when a Thomas Brolin inspired side lost to Italy in the final. Their most recent impressive showing was a semi-final defeat on penalties in 2004, the last time they competed in the final tournament.

Group A Fixtures

Tue Jun. 16 Sweden vs. Belarus

Tue Jun. 16 Italy vs. Serbia

Fri Jun. 19 Sweden vs. Italy

Fri Jun. 19 Belarus vs. Serbia

Tue Jun. 23 Serbia vs. Sweden

Tue Jun. 23 Belarus vs. Italy