The England Under 21s will have their hands full when they take on hosts Sweden in the European championship semi final on Friday night. Sweden booked their spot in the playoffs with a convincing 3-1 win over Serbia today (June 23rd) in front of 20,500 fans.

Sweden had two wins and a draw to finish in second place in Group A, while England topped Group B with two wins and a draw. Sweden missed out on first place today when Italy beat Belarus 2-1 in the other Group A match.

Marcus Berg got Sweden off to a quick start as he put them up 1-0 after just eight minutes. He added a second just seven minutes later on a penalty. However, Serbia looked like they were going to make a game of it when they pulled one back through Gojko Kacar to make it 2-1 in the 28th minute.

But Sweden would have none of it and just 60 seconds later regained their two-goal lead when Ola Toivonen bulged the net. Serbia might have been able to come back from a couple of goals down, but their self discipline let them down and the game was basically put to bed when Nenad Tomovic got his second yellow of the match and was sent off in the 45th minute.

Sweden figured they had the game wrapped up and didn’t press the issue in the second half. Serbia self destructed though in the 69th minute when Nikola Petkovic was sent off with a straight red for an elbow to the head of his opponent when going up for a header.

Italy’s win means they will have to take on Group B runners-up Germany on Friday night (June 26th) as well. They had a bit of a scare today though as Belarus took the lead just before half time on a goal by Sergei Kislyak. But just moments later Italy was level as Robert Acquafresca slammed home a penalty kick after Mikhail Afanasiev was ruled to have handled the ball in the box. The Italians wrapped up the win when Acquafresca scored his second of the match in the 75th minute.

Both semi final matchups look good on paper and let’s hope they’re as good on the pitch once the whistle blows. England might find it hard to keep Sweden off of the score board as they have banged ina tournament-leading nine goals in their three games. They play a more wide open style than England and have also conceded four goals. England have score five and let in only two.

Italy have scored four and let in two, while Germany have scored three and only let in one. So on paper, we’d figure that the Italy vs Germany game might be a low-scoring affair, while the England vs Sweden encounter could feature a few goals. It’ll be interesting to see what happens and how much of a factor playing at home will be for Sweden. Whatever happens on Friday night, the matchup for the final on Monday (June 29th) should also be an interesting one.

Sweden definitely didn’t look nervous playing in front of their home fans on the second day (June 16th) of the Euro Under 21 Championships as they laid a 5-1 beating on Belarus in the opening Group A match. You could have forgiven the fans in Malmo for thinking they might have had a bit of stage fright though as the visitors took a 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute on a goal by Sergey Kisliak.

Kisliak hammered home a fantastic strike from about 30 yards that Swedish keeper Johan Dahlin was cleanly beaten on. That goal seemed to wake Sweden up however, and they shook off the doldrums and pounded three goals in during a nine minute span by scoring in the 35th (Rasmus Elm), 38th, (Marcus Berg) and 44th (Marcus Berg) minutes to take a 3-1 lead into half time. Belarus were stunned as they didn’t know what had hit them.

Things quietened down a little bit in the second half, but Berg scored his third in a row for the natural hat trick in the 81st minute. Sweden weren’t exactly finished though, and Gustav Svensson added the fifth and final nail in the coffin of Belarus with a goal in the 89th minute.

In the second match today, things kept going Sweden’s way as Italy and Serbia took two points away from each other as they ended up playing to a scoreless draw in Helsingborg. This left Sweden all alone on top of the group for the time being.

Many fans were anxious to see Manchester United youngster Zoran Tosic in action for Serbia as he could possibly be the next Cristiano Ronaldo, or the first Zoran Tosic for that matter.

The 22-year-old Tosic is a midfielder who also likes to play out on the wing and he had a pretty good game, especially in the second half. But Italy had the better of the play during the opening 45 minutes.

Sebastian Giovinco came close to giving Italy the lead, but his shot was just tipped over the bar by Serbian keeper Zeljko Brkic. Giovinco tried to beat Brkic again later in the half, but the goalie palmed his cross away before it could drop into the far corner of the net. Brkic was called into action again shortly after as striker Mario Balotelli forced him into making another fine save as he drilled a powerful shot towards the near post.

In the second half, Italy tried their luck with a few set-pieces, but Balotelli drilled his shot wide and Brkic watched it go by his post. Giovinco beat the offside trap and was sent through into the open with a fine pass over the top, but he made a complete balls-up of his glorious chance and he lobbed the ball over a relieved Brkic.

Tosic showed some of his class as his passing skills set up a couple of decent chances for Serbia, but Nenad Tomovic’s shot was saved and then Gojko Kacar rattled the post with a fine scissor-kick, keeping the game scoreless. Tosic also showed he can strike the ball pretty good when his long-range free kick just missed the net before the game was over.

On Friday (June 19th), Italy takes on Sweden, while Serbia kicks off against Belarus.