Internationals / Mike Norman / 17 June 2009 /

After Sweden's demolition of Belarus, and Italy's draw with Serbia, it's clear to Mike Norman that the U21 European Championship is wide open... and England have just as good a chance as any...

They say football tournaments are a celebration. Well if that's the case, this U21 European Championship is fast resembling an 18th birthday bash at my local watering hole.

The host of the party (in this case Sweden) is grabbing all the early attention, whilst the more popular guys (Italy and Spain) are biding their time waiting for the party to hit full swing. The disciplined father (Germany) and the attractive mother (Serbia) are lurking, whilst the guys who just made it onto the guest list (Finland and Belarus) are fully intent on enjoying the crack.

Then there's the one who drinks very little, complains of a headache, but seems to enjoy himself more as the party comes to an end.

I'm talking about England of course, and in particular Stuart Pearce, who last suffered a defensive headache akin to what he is suffering now back in his playing days when he clashed skulls with some unsuspecting winger.

Pearce has major problems at the heart of his defence ahead of tomorrow night's crucial encounter with Group B rivals Spain. Michael Mancienne is suspended, Nedum Onuoha and Monday's match winner Micah Richards are yet to be confirmed as fit, and Steven Taylor and David Wheater didn't even make the 21-man squad due to injury. I will update you with team news from the England camp in tomorrow's blog, but I get the feeling that Pearce would take a draw right now if it were offered to him.

That result would keep Group B wide open. Spain are the marginal favourites to top the group at [2.1], with England available to back at [2.12], Germany at [2.52], and Finland at [12.0].

Group A is just as open as Group B, in fact, after last night's results, the whole tournament is wide open with no less than six teams separated by less than four points in the Outright Winner market.

Sweden have been matched at a high of [65.0] to become European Champions, but after last night's demolition of Belarus they are available to back now at a price of just [8.2].

Poor Belarus were sunk by an iceberg, an ice-cool-berg to be precise in the form of Swedish striker Marcus Berg. After scoring an early contender for goal of the tournament (through Sergei Kislyak stunning 30-yard strike), Belarus were quickly pegged back and had lost their lead within 90 seconds.

From then on it was the Berg show. This cool-looking striker (no pun intended), who arrived at the tournament with a glowing reputation, put himself firmly in the shop-window with a stunning hatrick that included a wonderful individual effort and a technically superb volley. Having been matched at a high of [20.0] to be the tournament's Top Goalscorer, Berg is now available to back at just [1.95].

For the second night in a row, the supposed 'match of the day' ended goalless. Italy were the better team in the first half but Serbia were by far the better in the second. The Serbs only failed to net all three points thanks to a superb save from the Italian goalkeeper, and the intervention of the woodwork from Gojko Kacar's speculative acrobatic shot.

Italy remain as favourites to win the tournament but have drifted slightly to [4.3], just ahead of Spain ([5.0]), England ([5.1]), Serbia ([5.9]) and Germany ([6.2]). I told you it was tight.

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