In Gori, Georgia on Saturday, England and Portugal’s youth will fight it out to be crowned the U19 kings of Europe. Neither of them have won the tournament before in their history, in fact both have lost their two previous appearances in the final of the tournament. So a bit of history will be created when they meet up in the final on the weekend and for the English it would cap a brilliant summer for their youth overall. In a tournament which has historically been dominated by Spain, who will make their first break through?
As is usual for finals of major tournaments, it is expected that this one will be a tight affair, and with both having won their semi final matches by a narrow 1-0 result, it should translate over into a close game. This is a final after all and neither are likely go out and throw caution to the wind in the match, which kicks off at 3pm GMT on Saturday. England are slightly edging the early markets at a price of 6/5 to win with 10Bet, leaving the Portuguese out at around the 2/1 price to go and claim the win. Should this go to a penalty shoot out, then the new trial sequence of AB BA AB BA AB will be used for the first time.
England U19 v Portugal U19
UEFA U19 Euro 2017 Final – Saturday 15th July 2017 – 5:00 pm
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Draw Best Odd of: 9/4 at Ladbrokes |
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England U19
Portugal U19England U19 Form
If you look collectively at England’s summer it has been very good. Their U20 side won the Toulon Tournament for the first time before going on to win the U20 World Cup. Their U21 side made the semi finals of the European Championships. Their U17 side go to the Final of the U17 European Championships and now their U19 side is on the brink of bringing home a title as well. So it’s been a fantastic summer for the English and the U19 side has impressed in the tournament so far. They won all three of their group stage matches, scoring seven and conceding just the one goal. Their big 4-1 victory over Germany in their final group stage match really showed tremendous composure and quality. They haven’t sat back as an attacking force and their defence has been very good with just the one goal conceded in the tournament. There’s no reason why they can’t hold the Portuguese at arm’s length. Going forward they have averaged almost eleven attempts at goal per game.
Portugal U19 Form
Portugal came through the group stage of the U19 European Championships with a W2 D1 record. They did have a little bit of a sweat on their hands through after having opened with one-goal margin victories over Georgia and the Czech Republic. In their final group stage match, they found themselves 2-0 down against the already-eliminated Sweden but after pulling one back, they needed an 87th minute penalty to earn a 2-2 draw and that goal saw them take spot at the death from the Czech Republic. So it was a squeeze from Portugal who will have been concerned about the goals that they gave up in the group and that defensive weakness could cost them in the Final. But they buckled down to edge the Netherlands in the semi final as expected against the Dutch who were progressively getting worse throughout the tournament. One thing is for sure, they will put the physical work in.
Top betting tips
There is a big trend running from recent finals of the U19 European Championships which is going to be worth exploring again. Each of the last five Finals of the competition have been won by a side to nil. We will throw in a little extra too on top of that, because Portugal have lost both of their previous U19 Euro Finals to nil and England lost one of their two previous final appearances to nil as well.
So that can send you in a couple of betting directions. Either look for some value say in England to win to nil at 2/1 with 10bet (90 minute market), which, given England’s defensive displays so far, isn’t a bad offer at all for what is likely to be a very tight battle.
Or you could cover your bases a little bit and go for both teams NOT to score for even money at William Hill. Either way, England look the best value to come out on top in the contest. The composure, the creativity and the defence is there for them and the Portuguese may not have enough to make the break through. If you really wanted to push the boat out for some value then the 6-1 poke on an England 1-0 correct score is a gift-wrapped price with a bow on top.