Germany have capped off a remarkable tournament in the UEFA Under-21 Championships with a 4-0 thrashing of title favorites England.

Mesut Özil, the 20-year-old Werder Bremen midfielder, had a hand in each of the four goals that created history by being the largest winning margin in an U-21 final. An England squad lacking the experience and talent of both striker Fraizer Campbell and keeper Joe Hart never had a hope of challenging the match after the first goal slipped past Scott Loach.

Özil set up the opener with a sneaky through-ball to Gonzalo Castro who was never going to be caught. The rest of the first half was all Germany, but they failed to find the back of the net until the 47th minute. A free kick from Özil doubled Germany’s lead and it was all-too-clear that England were suffering for their loss of Joe Hart; Loach really should have had the shot from 35 metres out covered.

The third goal saw the collapse of England both defensively and mentally. Having missed an easy attempt four minutes earlier, Sandro Wagner was adamant not to go home without a goal. He snapped up his first from a combination attack with Özil and then made it two when he teamed up again with the man-of-the-match to curl the ball around Loach.

The win at Malmö last night completed a hat-trick of youth squad wins for Germany, having already lifted the Under-17 and Under-19 trophies. Even more remarkable was the attacking display; prior to the final, Germany had only scored four goals in four matches and yet, within the space of 90 minutes, they managed to claim an incredible four unanswered goals.

International football will now take a break for a short while until regular World Cup Qualifiers start up again in August. But don’t fret, football fans, there is still plenty of club action on offer, starting Tuesday with the third round of the US Open Cup. This round of the tournament introduces the MLS teams to the lower-tiered clubs and will make for extremely interesting viewing.

BetUS has posted odds on the games and two matches in particular have piqued my interest: Charleston Battery (USL 1st Div.) vs. Chivas USA (MLS), and DC United (MLS) vs. Ocean City Barons (USL Premier Development League). The Charleston-Chivas game has interesting odds, especially considering that the USL First Division club was runner-up in last year’s US Open Cup.

On the other end of the spectrum is tournament surprise packet Ocean City, who is the only 4th-tier club to have progressed to the third round. While they are up against reigning titleholders DC United, don’t write them off just yet – football can be a crazy game.

Be sure to check out BetUS for all the latest odds on the upcoming US Open Cup games.

Rochester Raging Rhinos: +260
Draw: +225
Columbus Crew: -110

Charleston Battery: +250
Draw: +230
Chivas USA: -110

Washington DC United: -500
Draw: +400
Ocean City Barons: +1200

Minnesota Thunder: +330
Draw: +250
Kansas City Wizards: -150