Foden gives Albania the cold Shkoder
EURO U21 QUALIFYING Southgate: Let’s make rivals trembly
PHIL FODEN enhanced his reputation with a stunning freekick as England maintained their 100 per cent qualifying record on the road to the 2021 European Under-21 Championships.
The Manchester City star (above) broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute in Shkoder last night, giving goalkeeper Andrea Hoxha no chance with his curled effort into the top left-hand corner.
Aidy Boothroyd’s side were initially made to work hard before running out easy winners as they lead the way at the top of Group Three.
Following a couple of early Albanian efforts from Enis Cokaj and captain Sherif Kallaku, Foden struck from 22 yards.
The City kid, tipped to gatecrash the senior squad at Euro 2020, then struck the woodwork just after the half-hour mark before England wasted the chance to double their lead from the penalty spot 12 minutes later.
Charlton midfielder Conor Gallagher’s fierce strike from distance was deflected narrowly wide by Jon Mersinaj, only for Swiss referee Lionel Tschudi to point to the spot for hand-ball – and book the Albania defender in the process, even though he tried to pull himself away from the ball. But Liverpool striker Rhian Brewster struck the left-hand upright with his spot-kick as Hoxha dived the wrong way.
England continued to press for a second with Hoxha making fine saves from Brewster and Gallagher. But then Gallagher unleashed a left-foot shot two minutes before the break to give the England a half-time cushion.
It was not Brewster’s night as he missed a sitter from inside the six-yard box in the 52nd minute, kicking a post in frustration.
Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood then did likewise, although his embarrassment was spared by the offside flag.
With the clock ticking down, substitutes Ryan Sessegnon and Arsenal striker Reiss Nelson (above) combined for the latter to sweep home the Spurs winger’s pull-back.
FOLLOWING England’s success in qualifying from Group A, it’s been confirmed by UEFA that all three of the Three Lions’ group games at the tournament will be played at Wembley Stadium.
Any of the 12 host nations to qualify for Euro 2020 will be placed into the group where their home city is staging matches.
England will therefore be placed in Group D with matches at Wembley on Sunday 14 June, Friday 19 June and Tuesday 23 June. If Scotland qualify, they – as another host nation – will join the Three Lions in Group D.
EURO 2020 VENUES
Group A: Rome and Baku
Group B: St Petersburg & Copenhagen Group C: Amsterdam and Bucharest Group D: London and Glasgow Group E: Bilbao and Dublin
Group F: Munich and Budapest
LAST 16
MATCH 1 Sat June 27: 1A v 2C, London 2 Sat June 27: 2A v 2B, Amsterdam
3 Sun June 28: 1B v 3A/D/E/F, Bilbao 4 Sun June 28: 1C v 3D/E/F, Budapest 5 Mon June 29: 2D v 2E, Copenhagen
6 Mon June 29: 1F v 3A/B/C, Bucharest 7 Tues June 30: 1E v 3A/B/C/D, Glasgow 8 Tues June 30: 1D v 2F, Dublin
QUARTER-FINALS
A Friday July 3: St Petersburg WINNERS MATCH 5 v WINNERS MATCH B Friday July 3: Munich
WINNERS MATCH 3 v WINNERS MATCH C Saturday July 4: Baku
WINNERS MATCH 4 v WINNERS MATCH D Saturday July 4: Rome
WINNERS MATCH 7 v WINNERS MATCH SEMI-FINALS
WINNERS MATCH A v WINNERS MATCH Wednesday July 8: Wembley WINNERS MATCH v WINNERS MATCH FINAL
Sunday July 12: Wembley 6 1 2 8
D
QUALIFIED D SO FAR:
Czech Republic, England, France, Turkey, Belgium, Italy, Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Spain and Finland
ENGLAND ITINERARY NOVEMBER 30 The draw for the finals takes place in Bucharest
MARCH 23-31 International doubleheader set aside for friendly games – probably one at home and one abroad. UEFA take control of Wembley after the FA Cup final. England will play two warm-up matches against teams relevant to our group - one of those matches is likely to be in the north, possibly Newcastle
England may have a pre-Euros camp abroad to prepare in a different environment.
GARETH SOUTHGATE wants England to turn Wembley into a fortress for the biggest summer of his players’ careers. The Three Lions have now qualified and got the dates in the diary – June 14, 19 and 23 – when they will play their three Euro 2020 Group matches in the “home tournament”.
The whole nation expects and it is arguably the best chance of success since Euro 96 as the sense of anticipation begins to build, with Wembley also hosting both semi-finals and final.
The England boss believes it will be an “incredible experience” for the country and claims they are now able to compete with the very best in tournaments.
Southgate (left) gave his squad a rabble-rousing message after the 7-0 win over Montenegro.
He stressed that Wembley should be a stadium that opposing teams fear as his exciting young players try to deliver a first trophy since 1966. “It’s going to be an incredible experience for the players, for our fans,” said Southgate.
“We want to make Wembley somewhere that teams fear coming, that’s part of the message I gave to the players after the game.
“So, yes, it’ll be a very, very special event to be a part of. And the players deserve it.
“They’ve played extremely well against opponents we should beat, in a group we