Preview for England Under-21 v Netherlands Under 21
England Under-21s finally showed the kind of form befitting the defending champions in swatting aside Spain in the European Championship quarter-final on Sunday.
Lee Carsley’s men advanced to the knockout stages without hitting top gear but looked a good side in seeing off the Spanish in Trnava.
After riding their luck early on, goals from James McAtee and Harvey Elliott put the Young Lions in control and even though Javi Guerra’s penalty halved the deficit, Elliot Anderson’s late penalty secured a deserved win.
The result and performance was vindication for Carsley, whose tactical approach had been questioned following three underwhelming displays in Slovakia.
“I said this team would click,” he told UEFA afterwards. “We’d clicked in parts, but for 75% of this game I thought we were very good – outstanding, even – and there’s still more to come. We can keep building on what we’ve achieved.”
Carsley knows the Dutch will be tough opposition, though.
He added: “We’ve been watching the Netherlands for maybe six months. One of the things we do between camps is watch the top teams and I’d definitely put them in that bracket. They are an exciting team, a team that we will be fully prepared for and we will look forward to the game.”
Jong Oranje also limped through the group phase and had to beat Ukraine in their final game to guarantee progress.
Their quarter-final display was memorable for a remarkable show of resilience as they beat Portugal 1-0 despite being reduced to 10 men after 21 minutes when Ruben van Bommel, the son of former Barcelona and Bayern Munich enforcer Mark, was dismissed.
Geovany Quenda missed a penalty for Portugal and Netherlands provided the ultimate sucker punch with five minutes to go when Ernest Poku scored the winner on the counter.
Netherlands boss Michael Reiziger said: “I’m very proud of the work my players did. They fought for every metre on the field, on the pitch. It was a victory that we had to go very deep for.”
The winners will face either Germany or France in Saturday’s final.
