Preview: Spain Under-19s vs Netherlands Under-19s – prediction, team news, lineups

Spain Under-19s and Netherlands Under-19s will be gunning for glory when they face off in Thursday’s European Under-19 Championship final.

La Rojita came through a thrilling semi-final tie against Germany, while the Netherlands made light work of Romania in their last-four outing.

Match preview

Spain have a strong history in their tournament, having lifted the European Under-19 Championship on nine occasions, including in last year’s competition in Northern Ireland.

They are now just one game away from retaining the trophy after successfully navigating their way to the final in Bucharest.

La Rojita kicked off the tournament with a narrow 1-0 win over Denmark, before they recorded comfortable victories over Romania and Montenegro to finish top of Group A with a 100% record.

Spain were made to work much harder in their dramatic last-four clash against Germany, which saw Real Betis’ Pablo Garcia net a second-half hat-trick, including goals in the 91st and 93rd minutes to establish a 3-2 lead, only for a late own goal to send the tie to extra time.

Tomas Marques and Jan Virgili went on to score on either side of a Max Moerstedt brace to make it 5-5, before Garcia netted his fourth goal of the game to clinch a sensational 6-5 victory, sealing a place in the final and extending Spain’s unbeaten run to eight matches.

The current crop of youngsters may draw inspiration from the fact that Spain have won each of their last five finals since they lost 2-1 to France in the 2010 Under-19 Euros.

The Netherlands are on the brink of history, as they look to win the European Under-19 Championship for the very first time.

Their previous best performance took place in 2017 when they progressed to the semi-final stage, only to suffer a narrow defeat to Portugal.

As a result, the Dutch are now preparing for their first final appearance, after they followed a strong group stage performance with a dominant display against tournament hosts Romania in the semi-finals.

After dispatching Germany via a 3-0 scoreline, the Netherlands went on to record 2-0 and 4-2 victories over Norway and England respectively, securing top spot in Group B with a perfect set of results.

Ajax’s Don-Angelo Konadu opened the scoring in Monday’s semi-final, before AZ Alkmaar’s Kees Smit netted a brace to give his side a three-goal cushion, and while Barbu pulled a goal back for Romania, the Dutch stood firm for the remainder of the contest to ease through to the final.

Impressively, the Netherlands have now won eight of their previous nine matches (D1) since they suffered their most recent defeat to Portugal in October.

Spain Under-19s form (all competitions):

W D W W W W

Netherlands Under-19s form (all competitions):

D W W W W W 

Team News

Despite shipping five goals in the semi-final, Spain boss Paco Gallardo is likely to keep faith with a back four of Alexis Olmedo, Jon Martin, Andres Cuenca and Daniel Munoz.

Barcelona’s Marques is pushing for a recall after coming off the bench to score in Sunday’s victory over Germany.

Spain are likely to line up with the same front three of Garcia, Omar Janneh and Antonio Cordero, although the latter is facing competition from Virgili.

As for the Netherlands, head coach Martijn Reuser is set to stick with the same team that started the commanding win over Romania.

Smit will continue to offer a goal threat from midfield, having scored in all four games in the Netherlands’ run to the final.

Konadu will be looking to score in a third consecutive appearance when he leads the line alongside Ayoub Oufkir and Aymen Sliti.

Spain Under-19s possible starting lineup:

Jimenez; Olmedo, Martin, Cuenca, Munoz; Marcos, Merino, Monserrate; Garcia, Janneh, Cordero

Netherlands Under-19s possible starting lineup:

Heerkens; Read, Ugwu, Janse, Djikstra; Verkuijl, Smit, Land; Oufkir, Sliti, Konadu

We say: Spain Under-19s 2-3 Netherlands Under-19s

Spain may be struggling with fatigue after going to extra time against Germany, while the Netherlands should be fresh following a comfortable win over Romania, especially as Reuser made three changes just before the hour mark with one eye on the final.

With that in mind, we think the Netherlands will outlast Spain to record a narrow victory to lift their first-ever European Under-19 Championship. 

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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