The Final of the Under-21 European Championships takes place this Tuesday, June 30 in the Czech Republic when Portugal takes on Sweden at the Eden Stadium in Prague at 8:45 pm local time. If the game ends in a draw it will go to 30 minutes of extra time to decide a winner. If the match is still tied it’ll be decided by a penalty shootout.
European U-21 Championship Final Betting Preview – Portugal vs Sweden
- bet365 lists Portugal as the current favorites to win the game at 8/11 with Sweden 7/2 and a 90-minute draw at 13/5.
Portugal managed to win Group B by shutting out England 1-0 in their opening match and then drawing 0-0 with Italy. They clinched first place in the group with a 1-1 draw against Sweden in their final contest and advanced with five points out of nine. Sweden took the runner up spot with four points by beating Italy 2-1 in their opener and then dropping a 1-0 decision to England before scoring a late goal to earn a draw with the Portuguese.
Portugal scored just two goals in their three group contests, but allowed only one against with a pair of clean sheets. Sweden scored just three times in group play and conceded three. However, while both teams struggled to score goals in their group matches, they both broke out in a big way in their semifinal contests. The top two nations in each group advanced directly to the final four since there were just eight teams in the tournament.
Portugal was matched up against Group B runners-up Germany and blew them out of the water with a 5-0 win on June 27. Sweden managed to find the back of the net four times in their semifinal clash as they downed Group B winners Denmark 4-1. Portugal heads into the Final on a better roll though as they’re now unbeaten in their past seven European U-21 games with five wins and a pair of draws. Meanwhile, Sweden has three wins, two losses and a draw in their past five outings.
This is the second Cup Final appearance for both Sweden and Portugal in the history of the event. Sweden was beaten by Italy back in 1992 and Portugal also lost to the Italians, in 2004. Both teams should be full of confidence after their displays in the semifinals and they each earned a point in their 1-1 draw against each other in the group stage. Portugal and Sweden have met seven times in the past in Under-21 European Championship and qualifying games. Sweden has the edge with three wins, two losses and two draws and has outscored the Portuguese 12-10 in those meetings. No layer on either side has more than two goals in the current tournament as Simon Tibbling has two in three games for Sweden and Joao Mario has a pair in four outings for Portugal. Patrik Carlgren has played all four games in net for the Swedes and Jose Sa has done the same for Portugal.
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Written by Ian S. Palmer
