England U21 – Netherlands U21 Tip, Prediction & Odds 25.06.2025

U21 European Championship, Semifinal, Wednesday, 25.06.2025, 6:00 p.m.

The defending champions are marching on – and have their sights set firmly on the final! At the U21 European Championship in Slovenia, the young Lions have fought their way into the last four, where they will face one of their bogey teams.

I expect this semi-final, which we don’t see all that often, to be less than spectacular. That’s why I’d like to reveal why I’m going for “under 2.5 goals” in my England vs. Netherlands prediction.

The English national team has regularly fallen short of its big goal in recent years, with a title simply proving elusive. Luckily, the U21s can step into the breach.

Two years ago, the young England team won the European Championship title with a 1-0 victory over Spain. It’s a trophy they would love to defend in 2025, having already achieved this feat in 1982 and 1984.

But enough history, let’s turn to the team that beat Spain 3-1 a few days ago. They scored two goals in the opening quarter of an hour and sealed the win with a penalty just before the final whistle.

Three goals from three shots on target? The young Lions certainly didn’t lack efficiency. The group stage for the number 4 in the world rankings did not go quite as hoped.

After a 3-1 opening win against the Czech Republic, there was only a 0-0 draw against Slovenia, followed by a 1-2 defeat against Germany. The results don’t really add up.

1-0, 0-0, 0-2, 2-1? To be honest, the half-time results also confuse me a little. Let’s take a quick look back: In the spring, England played two friendly matches, against France (3-5) and Portugal (4-2), where they really got down to business.

So I can’t really decide what exactly I think England is capable of in attack on Wednesday. The squad is obviously not lacking in anything, and its market value could be among the highest in the world.

Whether it’s Ethan Nwaneri, Tino Livramento, Elliot Anderson, Harvey Eliott or Archie Gray, the team is teeming with top stars. Top stars who must prevent the Netherlands from continuing to be considered a formidable opponent.

They haven’t won in six games. 1-1, 1-2, 0-0, 1-1, 0-0, 1-1? The last few games couldn’t have been any closer – and at the same time, you can see why I’ve gone for “under 2.5 goals” from a historical perspective.

I’m also taking a quick look at Betano, because both a 0:0 result and a 1:1 could be worthwhile. A goalless draw after 90 minutes offers odds of 8.00, while 1:1 is at 6.30.

The team from the island is definitely the favorite, with 2.35 to 3.15 for a win after regular time. But: The Dutch were impressive in the quarterfinals, and I didn’t see the win against Portugal coming!

The Elftal were down to ten men from the 21st minute onwards after Ruben van Bommel was sent off. The score remained 0-0 for a long time, but in the 84th minute, Ernest Poku scored the winning goal to great acclaim.

26% possession, four shots, two of them on target, 254 passes played (compared to 695 for the opponents) – I don’t need to mention that reaching the semi-finals was more than fortunate.

In terms of play, the impressions from the group stage were confirmed. There, Holland had drawn 2-2 with Finland (equalizing in the last second), lost 1-2 to Denmark, and still reached the knockout stage with a 2-0 win over Ukraine.

A final at a U21 European Championship? The Netherlands hasn’t achieved that since 2007, but they did win the title back then. Among the goalscorers was a certain Ryan Babel.

Whoever beats Spain has what it takes to be champion – and that’s also true for the U21s! The English achieved this feat in the quarter-finals – sometimes they play offensively in this tournament, sometimes the exact opposite happens.

Defensively, however, the Dutch caught my eye in the last eight. Oranje fought Portugal down, but were certainly not the better team in terms of play. History has also shown that we shouldn’t necessarily expect a spectacular game.

Accordingly, I expect England to dominate the game, but Holland to put up a good fight. With a lot of battle in midfield, the following tip seems logical:

There won’t be more than 2.5 goals!

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