It may not garner the attention or press coverage of the regular European Championship, the World Cup, or even the Copa America, but the 2015 UEFA European Under 21 Championship does provide some interesting insight on the up-and-coming talent of European football. Therefore, if you want to get a glimpse at the soccer stars of tomorrow ahead of everyone else, you might want to tune into Saturday's under-21 Euro semifinal matches. Here's what to expect.
Semifinal Match 1: Portugal vs. Germany
The first semifinal match on Saturday will be played between the winners of Group B (Portugal) and the runners-up from Group A (Germany). The Portuguese side will be playing in the "home team" position, while the Germans will be donning their away kits.
This match should be an exciting one to watch, since Portugal and Germany performed similarly during the group stage. The German side, though widely predicted to win Group A, underperformed somewhat during their first three games of the tournament. They only scored one win (a 3-0 victory against Denmark), and sputtered to 1-1 draws against both Serbia and the Czech Republic host team. Ironically, Denmark won Group A and the other two teams were eliminated.
The Portuguese squad was similarly unspectacular in the group stage, and currently has the same one win, and two draw record that the Germans do. They did score a satisfying victory against England in their first game of the tournament, donning the Portugal football shirt for a 1-0 win over the under 21 England team. But a scoreless draw against Italy and a 1-1 stalemate with Sweden put Portugal at the top of Group B more by default than by skill.
So which side will find victory on Saturday? Portugal technically has the advantage, given their group stage win and their "home field" advantage. But the German side actually have the better statistics at this juncture-they finish the group stage with a goal difference of +3, versus Portugal's even 0-and have four players who have scored in the tournament, versus Portugal's two.
German winger Kevin Volland-who plays for 1899 Hoffenheim during the regular season-is actually the top scorer left in the tournament right now, with two goals to his name. The Czech Republic's Jan Kliment (of Czech club Jihlava) scored three points before his team was eliminated from the competition, while Italy's Marco Benassi (Torino) also netted a pair before bowing out.
Bottom line? We're going for Germany in this game, but it could go either way.
Semifinal Match 2: Denmark vs. Sweden
The Denmark under 21 team was underestimated coming into this football tournament, but they are actually the only team in the competition that won more than one game during the group stage. As mentioned above, the Danish soccer squad lost big to Germany in their second game, but they bookended the loss with victories against the Czech Republic (2-1) and Serbia (2-0). Sweden meanwhile only won one of their three group stage fixtures (in a 2-1 triumph over Italy), losing their second to England (0-1), and drawing the third with Portugal (1-1).
Still, these two football teams are pretty evenly matched. They have the same goal difference rating for the tournament (0), and have several players each who have shown an ability to get on the board. For Denmark, Rasmus Falk (a player for Danish soccer club Odesne Boldklub), Viktor Fischer (AFC Ajax), Pione Sisto (FC Midtjylland), and Jannik Vestergaard (Werder Bremen) have netted one goal apiece. For Sweden, the scorers have been John Guidetti (most recently on loan to Celtic from Manchester City), Isaac Kiese Thelin (Bordeaux), and Simon Tibbling (FC Groningen).
Here, we'd give the edge to Denmark, but again, the football match should be a close one.
Will you be tuning in for Saturday's Euro under 21 semifinals? If so, grab a Portugal jersey 2015 2016 from Soccer Box (or another jersey for your favorite team left in the competition) and get ready to watch these young football stars at work. Keep up with tournament action by following Soccer Box on social media! You can find us Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr and other popular social networks.