UEFA Euro U-21 Draw Results: Three Heavyweights Placed Together in Group B

The draw has concluded and the groups have been decided. It is definitely going to be a group stage worth watching as Die Mannschaft (Germany), La Furia Roja ( Spain) and England have been placed in the same group stage alongside Finland. Group A is also quite exciting as Italy have been drawn alongside Serbia, Belarus and Sweden. Sweden will be hosting the tournament in June 2009.

Format: There are ten groups. Ten group winners emerge from the groups and four best runners-up are chosen. A draw determines who plays who in the playoffs. The seven winners are then joined by the hosts, in this case, Sweden for the final tournament and divided into two groups.

Group A

Sweden

Sweden don’t have Johan Elmander to score goals for them any more, but they have Marcus Berg. They made it to the semis in 2004 but at the moment, seem like an outside bet to win the Euros. They lost five matches out of the eight they played in 2007 but they lost only twice last year. Due to being the hosts, they may have a chance to reach the semis again. They will come face to face with Serbia who knocked them out of the competition in Germany in 2004.

Belarus

Belarus have done extremely well in qualifying with only one defeat which came against the Serbs. There is no Alexsandr Hleb this time, but there is BATE Borisov’s midfielder Sergei Kryvets. They aren’t exactly an outside bet to win, but will have to overcome the Italians and Serbs to reach the semis.

Serbia

In Gojko Kacar, Serbia has a defensive midfielder who can score five times in one match. In the 8-0 rout of Hungary, that’s exactly what the Hertha Berlin man did. It was heartbreak for the Danish as Serbia beat them in the playoffs for a place in the final tournament. A 2-0 aggregate win over the Danes was enough to see the Serbs book a trip to Sweden.

Italy

Italy have the habit of grinding out wins and they did just that in qualifying. Unconvincing victories over teams like the Faroe Islands and a draw against Greece was followed by the demolition of possibly the weakest side in their group, Azerbaijan, 5-0. In the play offs, they met Israel. With an aggregate score of 3-1 in their favour, Italy went through to the final tournament.

Group B

Germany

Germany have Marko Marin, Mezut Ozil, Toni Kroos, Rouwen Hennings, Sebastian Boenisch, who else do they need? However everything wasn’t easy for Germany. They drew twice with Israel and would have lost had it not been for Henning’s late strike. A couple of one-sided victories against Luxembourg and Northern Ireland helped them to qualify.

A very late strike from Howedes Benedikt allowed them to go through at France’s expensive in the playoffs with an aggregate score of 2-1. Coach Dieter Eilts lost his position and was succeeded by Horst Hrubesch due to poor results in qualifying. A team with the likes of Sami Khedira, Eugen Polanski, Manuel Neuer and Mats Hummels is expected to go far in the tournament though.

Spain

Spain had a 100 percent record in qualifying. They scored 21 times and conceded just twice. Their qualifying results read eight wins, zero draws and zero losses. Captain Raul Garcia, Miguel Torres, Bojan Krkic, Jose Enrique, Gerard Pique, Javier Martinez and Juan Mata are just a few names in this star-studded Spanish squad.

In the playoffs they were drawn against Switzerland. Spain were given a rude awakening by the Swiss as they lost the match 2-1. In the return leg in Spain, the score line was 1-1. It took a goal from Recreativo winger Sisi to send the game into extra time. Captain Raul Garcia scored the winner sending the Spaniards through.

England

The team which consists of stars such as Lee Cattermole, Tom Huddlestone, Joe Hart, Fraizer Campbell, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Jamie O Hara, Theo Walcott and James Milner is definitely a good bet for the title. England just dropped two points in qualifying. They won seven out of eight matches and only Portugal were able to hold them to a 1-1 draw.

However, it was Wales awaiting England in the playoffs. England won the away leg 3-2 thanks to Gabriel Agbonlahor but managed to survive 2-2 in the second leg thanks to an own goal. Thus England qualified on an aggregate score of 5-4.

Finland

Finland will want to leave a mark behind as this is their first appearance in the tournament. They finished top in their qualifying group ahead of Denmark with seven wins, a draw and a loss. Austria almost beat them in the playoffs. However Finland scored an astounding two goals in the last nine minutes to take the game into extra time and defeated Austria 4-2 in the shootout. They don’t have too many star players. Tim Sparv has done well in qualifying though.

Top Scorer in qualifying: Rouwen Hennings of Germany with seven goals.

Well, from Day One, this competition will be interesting as on June 15th, Spain and Germany will be kicking it off in Sweden. It will be interesting to see whether Italy or Spain run riot.

Serbia, Germany or even Sweden could claim the title depending on their performances. I am personally hoping for a Germany victory. Who knows? Maybe even Finland might be holding the title in June 2009 just like the senior side of Greece in 2004.