Toulon U21 Betting: France, Italy and Turkey are the Ones to Watch

Internationals / Alsy / 21 May 2008 / Leave a comment

This year's Toulon tournament will undoubtedly be the first grand stage for some of football's future superstars. But who will be the new Shearer, Henry or Riquelme? And who will be the new Jason Dodd?

The Toulon International Tournament kicked off this week, but few people in England know a great deal about this quirky Under-21 competition. It's a shame when you consider that this is one tournament where England have excelled in the past.

Forget the lone World Cup star above the 3 lions badge, when it comes to the Toulon Tournament England have won four times making them the third most successful nation in the history of the event behind Brazil and France.

However, I did mention that this is a quirky competition, right? Operating outside of direct control by either Fifa or Uefa, the organisers seem happy to adapt how and where they see fit so all games last 80 minutes while this year they've raised the age limit to Under-23s.

Unfortunately, it's not worth scouring EuroSport to check on England's young guns as we're not taking part this year. Participation is by invitation only so the winners will come from the USA, Turkey, Japan, Chile, Netherlands, Italy, Ivory Coast or France.

Over the years, many promising youngsters (Zidane and Beckham both played in past competitions) generate their first back-page headlines at the Toulon Tournament. A list of past recipients of the Best Player award reveals an interesting snapshot of how difficult it is turning teenage promise into enduring talent. Nevertheless, it's intriguing to spot names of youngsters who reached the top level of international football in later years.

In 1985 the top scorer was a certain Jean-Pierre Papin, the Best Player award in 1987 went to David Ginola, while Alan Shearer was named top scorer and Best Player in 1991. In later years, other Best Player recipients include Rui Costa ('92), Thierry Henry ('97) and Juan Roman Riquelme ('98) proving that that this tournament often delivers early glimpses of future stars.

This month, two groups of four teams compete before the top two from each group progress to semis and final games... most would expect France to start as favourites once again. They're hoping to secure their fifth consecutive title after defeating China 3-1 in last year's final but the recent rule change, allowing Under-23 players, has changed their prospects. In an Olympic year most coaches will take this opportunity to finalise squads for China but France and Turkey have opted to field their Under-21 teams. Regardless of that, both still feature among my teams "to watch".

Ivory Coast continue to make strides in the game and it wouldn't surprise me if Arsene Wenger's spies are searching for the next Eboue or Toure. Sekou Cisse will definitely attract plenty of attention after continuing to impress at Dutch side Roda JC. Still only 19 years of age, he's been at the club since 2004, bagging 16 goals from 83 appearances.

Italy coach Pierluigi Casiraghi is slightly hampered by the preparations of the senior Euro 08 squad but he still has plenty of talent including Empoli forward Sebastian Giovinco, Juventus midfielder Antonio Nocerino and the increasingly impressive Cagliari forward Robert Acquafresca.

Presently, Turkey have one of the brightest crops of young players in the world so expect them to mount a strong challenge based around the talents of striker Nuri Sahin. He's represented Turkey at senior level and shined at previous tournaments, winning the Best Player award of the 2005 U17 Euro Finals. This year he's impressed again at Feyenoord (on loan from Borussia Dortmund) scoring 9 goals in 28 appearances.

The Turkey squad is young but very, very talented with players like Caner Erkin, Ozer Hurmaci, Zafer Yelen, Aydin Yilmaz and Serdar Ozkan all exepriencing first-team football across various European leagues.

If France are to be toppled this year I'd back Italy to win the tournament with Turkey in close attendance. You can back Italy to beat Ivory Coast today at [1.87] but instead you might get better value backing Turkey against a weakened USA at [2.24] to win.

How do you think England's Under 23s might cope in Toulon? Use the comment tool below to add your opinion to the debate. Your views are always welcome.