Abraham shows no fear as he makes England tick
TAMMY ABRAHAM is one of the reasons why England are growing into the European Under-21 Championship. The Chelsea forward, who is poised to join Swansea on loan, provides England with a valuable attacking pivot and will lead the line against Poland here tonight when victory will guarantee Aidy Boothroyd’s side a place in the semi-finals.
Abraham scored 23 goals in the Championship on loan at Bristol City last season and although he has yet to score in this tournament, his worth to the side is clear.
Boothroyd said: “We know he can score goals but it’s the other stuff that he does for the team which is really important. He has no fear.”
Nathaniel Chalobah, a team-mate for club and country, is also delighted with impression the 19-year-old has made.
“I’ve known him for a long time and I’ve seen him grow as a player and a person,” said Chalobah. “Tammy deserves all the plaudits he’s getting right now because he works hard.”
England have not made the semifinals since 2009 and although they are now in control of their destiny, they have yet to be entirely convincing here — impressing in patches but never looking particularly comfortable in games. That must change.
To be victorious against Poland, it is imperative — particularly in front of a home crowd — that they start well and extinguish whatever faint optimism exists among the hosts.
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The win over Slovakia in baking heat will have come at a physical cost and, with the match against Poland promising a similar intensity, training was scaled down yesterday. Progress through a tournament relies, in part, on a squad making life easy for itself and keep something in reserve and, so far, England have had to struggle.
But it’s a struggle they seem willing to fight. The blunt exchange of opinions which took place at half-time against Slovakia i s widely credited with sparking the comeback with England
AFC Wimbledon have taken another big step towards a return to their spiritual home at Plough Lane. Historic England has decided the Wimbledon Greyhound Stadium, where the club’s new 11,000-seater ground will be built, should not be listed. Wimbledon can now proceed with the next phase of the project and hope to move into their new stadium for the 2019-20 season. Chief executive Erik Samuelson said: “This is very welcome news and a major hurdle overcome.” winning 2-1. Boothroyd said: “That’s when you know you’re on to a good thing — when you’ve got players who take responsibility and are accountable for what happens on the pitch.”
There was proof of more confidence on the pitch, too. By full-time on Monday, Nathan Redmond was starting to swagger, Chalobah was beginning to look as authoritative as he did in qualifying and Abraham’s technical hold-up play had sprung the counterattack which won the game.
The type of threat they will face next is hard to gauge. Poland looked panicked in their loss to Slovakia and were not particularly steady against Sweden, needing a late, contentious penalty to draw.
The Poles will not want to be eliminated from their own competition at the first stage and a win tonight plus a draw between Slovakia and Sweden would spare them that embarrassment. The Kolporter Arena in Kielce is sold out to its 15,500 capacity and, as they had to against Slovakia, England will need to draw deep to silence it.