Poland U21 vs Belgium U21 Predictions

Can Belgium’s young guns emulate the success of the senior side? While the Red Devil’s golden generation haven’t won major silverware, they are considered the best side in the world in the FIFA rankings. The pressure is on their stars to deliver at a major tournament, given that the golden generation has seemingly peaked. However, could their youngsters go one better and hint at a bright future for Belgian football beyond the current crop? That’s something they can prove in Sunday’s opener with Poland.

Fresh from hosting the Under 20 World Cup, this is a big summer for Polish youth football. They have managed to qualify for the tournament for the first time since 1994, so are we seeing a changing of the guard in Polish football? While it’s too hard to say, the recent emergence of new Polish stars does bode well for their future. As one of the sides to qualify through the playoffs, Poland will be seen as one of the weakest sides at the tournament.

Belgium are making their third appearance at the U21 Euros, with their high point coming 12 years ago in their run to the semi-finals. That was the very early stages of their emergence on the world stage, as the nation started to pick up impressive results in the international game. The Red Devils’ young side isn’t scattered across the continent like the senior set up, with the majority of their stars still plying their trade domestically.

It doesn’t seem to hurt Belgium that their squad is basically entirely based at home. They impressed coming through the qualifiers, which makes us take them very seriously here. While they’ve been handed a tricky group with Italy and Spain, Belgium should at least kick things off with a victory. They were almost faultless in qualifying, winning eight of 10 matches to make it to the finals.

Belgium head into this game with seven straight competitive victories. Their last four saw them win 13-0 on aggregate, while Poland lost at home to Portugal in the playoffs. Poland are in mixed form, with just one win in their last four matches. We expect them to suffer another setback here, as we think Belgium are well priced to keep their winning run going.