England’s hopes of banishing the demons from their past three attempts to escape their group at the European Under-21 Championship are still intact after a brave comeback win against Slovakia ensured their fate remains in their own hands before meeting Poland on Thursday.
Trailing at half-time to a Martin Chrien header following the disappointing opening draw with Sweden,
Aaron Donald Youth Jersey goals from Alfie Mawson and Nathan Redmond within 16 minutes of the second half rescued Aidy Boothroyd’s team, who now know that another victory against the hosts will almost guarantee a semi-final spot for the first time since 2009.
That revival followed a dismal first-half display which had brought back all the bad memories from previous campaigns in Denmark, Israel and Czech Republic, with only a brave substitution at the break by Boothroyd rescuing his team. Now he will be optimistic that this brave comeback against a side who were roared on by a large contingent of travelling fans could create the momentum required to win a first title at this tournament since 1984.
Boothroyd had initially opted to make only one change from the 0-0 draw with Sweden on Friday, with Reading’s John Swift coming in for Jacob Murphy.
http://www.losangelesramsauthorizedstore.com/alec-ogletree-jersey-elite But perhaps more significant was the switch to a diamond midfield, with Redmond partnering Tammy Abraham up front and Lewis Baker handed a deeper role. At first the tactic seemed to have had the desired effect as England looked more of a threat going forward with the captain, James Ward-Prowse, aiming to hit the front two with early balls to utilise their pace.
Other than a Nathaniel Chalobah effort that trickled harmlessly wide, however, they could muster no shots on target in the first 20 minutes and were made to pay by Chrien’s clever header from the former Manchester City winger Albert Rusnak’s corner that gave Jordan Pickford no chance. Baker almost equalised immediately, only for his left-footed effort from distance to drift just wide.
That was about as good as it got for the rest of the first half,
A'Shawn Robinson Youth Jersey with the familiar failings they exhibited against Sweden in the final third once more painfully obvious. Pickford was on hand to palm away Jaroslav Mihalik’s shot from outside the box just before half-time or it could have been even worse for Boothroyd’s side.
Ward-Prowse did force Adrian Chovan into his first save in stoppage-time with a curling free-kick but the England manager knew he had to act quickly or face yet another embarrassing exit from a major international tournament.
His solution was to bring on Murphy – who is usually deployed much further forward for Norwich City – at right-back for the disappointing Mason Holgate in the hope he could inspire a comeback.
http://www.officialauthenticlions.com/WOMENS_YOUTH_AMEER_ABDULLAH_JERSEY.html The change immediately had the desired effect as Redmond’s shot was turned behind for a corner with England in search of an equaliser. That was cleared to Murphy and his cross was eventually turned in by Mawson from close range at the second attempt.
Suddenly England seemed to grow in belief and Abraham was denied only by an outstretched Slovakian boot from Baker’s cross. The 19-year-old, who spent last season on loan at Bristol City from Chelsea, then played a crucial part in England’s second goal as he held off his marker superbly to allow Ward-Prowse to pick out Redmond with an excellent crossfield ball. The Southampton forward made no mistake as he cut inside on to his right foot and drilled the ball past Chovan.
Slovakia threw on the Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Laszlo Benes in an attempt to find a way back into the game yet, marshalled by the excellent Mawson, England’s defence stood firm.
“It was difficult – Slovakia are a very underrated team,” Boothroyd said. “We knew we had to stop their key players. We had a lot of possession in the first half without penetrating; in the second half we were more of a threat and scored two goals against a team who had the crowd behind them.”
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