An international special as two tournaments, at senior and youth level, get underway!
It seems that, the more we steer further away from the end of the league season, the more we are welcomed with other competitions! The biggest tournament in North America starts this weekend with the CONCACAF Gold Cup up for grabs to a number of contenders with no real guaranteed favourite. Better yet, there’s one of the greater underdog stories to look forward to in the tournament with a tiny Caribbean nation featuring for the first time in their history!
There’s action at youth level, too, as the UEFA European Under-21 Championship is already underway with some teams taking an early lead in their groups. It might be a youth tournament by name, but there are plenty of players in this competition that have vast experience at both senior club and international level, the quality will be of a very high standard with a huge range of teams desperate to get their hands on the trophy!
Not sure who to take a punt on? Then read our preview and place your bets wisely!
Contents:
- 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup – United States vs Jamaica
- 2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup – Trinidad and Tobago vs St Kitts and Nevis
- 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Portugal U21 vs Netherlands U21
- 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Spain U21 vs Croatia U21
2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup – United States vs Jamaica
North America’s greatest international tournament gets underway this weekend, the 17th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup with the United States, both co-hosts and reigning champions for this tournament, will get things underway in an attempt to retain their title. It’s 7 Gold Cup trophies to the US’ name, just one behind the record of 8 achieved by bitter rivals Mexico, and it was this exact opponent that the Yanks defeated in the 2021 Final. Since then, Gregg Berhalter’s men have won even more silverware, most recently the CONCACAF Nations League just a few weeks ago by beating Mexico in the Semi-Finals (3-0) and then Canada in the Final (2-0). Defeating the other two strongest teams on the continent mere weeks ago would usually give confidence ahead of a tournament but, for the 2023 Gold Cup, superstars like Weston McKennie, Yunus Musah, Giovanni Reyna, Tyler Adams, Cristian Pulisic, Brenden Aaronson and Ricardo Pepi have ALL been left out of the squad. It’s a far more inexperienced team going to the Gold Cup, how will the States fare?
Surely, that gives plenty of confidence to Jamaica knowing that the USA have a weak squad for this tournament. Even better perhaps for the Reggae Boyz is that plenty of players with Premier League experience have opted to represent Jamaica internationally for their careers, the likes of Ethan Pinnock, Demarai Gray and Michail Antonio will join regulars Bobby Decordova-Reid and Leon Bailey to bolster what is an impressive squad for Jamaica, who will certainly look to travel far into the tournament. There is still revenge to be had, too, because many within this squad will remember the heartbreak 6 years ago when Jamaica lost the 2017 Gold Cup Final to… the United States. It formed part of back-to-back runners-up medals for the Reggae Boyz (2015, 2017), still after their elusive first Gold Cup trophy, but given the strong squad that Heimir Hallgrímsson has elected, there’s every suggestion they are favourites in their group, and who knows how far they can go after that.
2023 CONCACAF Gold Cup – Trinidad and Tobago vs St Kitts and Nevis
There are more groups to look forward to, but Group A continues to stand out to us! Why? Well, not only do we have the reigning champions, but we have a nation that has NEVER previously appeared in the CONCACAF Gold Cup!
Now, it’s St Kitts and Nevis’ time to shine. This tiny Caribbean island with a population of just 47,000 has made it to the Gold Cup for the first time in their history! It’s certainly one of the greater underdog stories in this region’s history, the Sugar Boyz earned the chance to appear in the qualifying rounds after winning League C of the CONCACAF Nations League, and is the first team ever to qualify for the Gold Cup having played in League C of the Nations League. For the qualifiers that followed, they celebrated some giant killings. First, and perhaps the most impressive of all, they defeated a very strong Curaçao side via a penalty shoot-out and, then in the final qualifier, it was another penalty shoot-out victory against French Guiana that confirmed Austin Huggins’ men’s place in the Gold Cup. Many players are semi-professional and now have the chance to play on the continent’s greatest stage, they’ll play without fear as the true underdogs of the tournament!
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As a result, there will be considerable pressure on Trinidad and Tobago to win against the tournament newcomers, especially given that their two remaining group games will come against the much tougher USA and Jamaica. The previous encounter between these two sides came two years ago in the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers and, whilst the Soca Warriors beat St Kitts and Nevis 2-0, the qualifying group eventually ended with St Kitts and Nevis finishing 1st, ahead of Trinidad and Tobago! A huge shock again that shows this game could go either way, but for Angus Eve, they will want to get off to the perfect start in the group on their way to ending an unwanted run of back-to-back group stage eliminations in 2019 and 2021. A current unbeaten run of 9 matches in all competitions should bring confidence ahead of this tournament, one of those being a victory against fellow Group A competitors Jamaica. How will Trinidad and Tobago fare?
2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Portugal U21 vs Netherlands U21
The very first game of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship has already become a contender for the biggest shock of the tournament. Georgia, co-hosts alongside Romania, won 2-0 against a Portugal side that now have it all to do to try and move off last place in their group and finish in the Top 2 (the positions that qualify for the knockout rounds) with just 2 games remaining. A tough task given their remaining two are against the much stronger Netherlands and Belgium, victories are needed if they want to go all the way for their first U21 Euros title. The Portuguese will feel they are cursed in this competition, three times runners-up but never champions, but for this particular edition Rui Jorge will look to a squad that includes plenty of senior experience at club and international level, in an attempt to bring this trophy home.
A draw between neighbours Belgium and Netherlands (0-0) in the opening matchday proved to be a little lifeline for Portugal, because neither of the other big contenders in this group could create a big gap after one game. With that in mind, the Netherlands also see this clash against Portugal as a “must win” if they want to go in search of an U21 Euros title for the first time since 2007. Similarly to Portugal, the Dutch have a squad laden with talent with many already having vast experience at senior club and international level, a plethora of talent at the hands of Erwin van de Looi but that has always been the case during his time as U21 boss. Taking on the role since 2018, van de Looi has experienced a Semi-Final appearance at a UEFA European Under-21 Championship (2021), but how he would love to go even further this time.
2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Spain U21 vs Croatia U21
The senior teams of these two nations clashed just less than a week ago in the UEFA Nations League Final where Spain, thanks to new manager Luis de la Fuente (formerly the U21 manager!) defeated Croatia via a penalty shoot-out in the Final to lift the trophy. Now it’s the turn of the U21s to lock horns, can the youth of Croatia take revenge or will Spain claim victory yet again?
Well, Spain have already got off to the perfect start in Group B thanks to a dominant 3-0 victory over tournament co-hosts Romania, a win that was a template of Spanish-style football thanks to 79% possession and relentless passing accuracy. It’s a philosophy that down the years has benefited both the senior and youth teams, and specifically for the U21s they are the nation with the most UEFA European Under-21 Championships, 5 to their name (joint with Italy), the most recent being in 2019. They failed to defend that title in the most recent edition (2021) by falling at the Semi-Final hurdle, but an impressive start to their group stage here shows the clear intention by new coach Santi Denia: they want to win it. Vast experience up and down the pitch, can this batch of players emulate what those before them have achieved?
In recent years, Croatia have been lauded for developing a fantastic footballing squad in a nation of just 3.9 million people. After all, they appeared in the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final, the 2022 FIFA World Cup Semi-Final (earning 3rd Place), and most recently reaching the 2023 UEFA Nations League Final. All of those players that featured in those impressive runs in the senior squad will have previously risen through the ranks of the youth teams, so how are the current batch of U21 players faring? Well, in their group opener, it didn’t go very well: a 2-0 defeat to Ukraine leaves Croatia 3 points behind the Top 2 with only 2 games to go. In truth, the result is not a fair reflection on what happened in the game, Dragan Skočić’s men had more opportunities and more possession but could not make it count. Now, they come against a team that know all about how to dominate games. Can Croatia come back and leave Group B tensely in the balance for the final matchday?