Route 66 is way for Boothroyd

AIDY BOOTHROYD evoked the spirit of ’66 as he looked to find a path to glory for England’s Under-21s.

The country’s head coach dipped into the history books to lighten the mood following an opening-day reversal against Switzerland leaving the Three Lions with it all to do.

Only victory in both of their remaining games – against Portugal today and Croatia on Wednesday – will see them progress out of Group D and into the quarter-finals.

He said: “This is tournament football. I’ve told the boys that the history is there. We did it in 2017, drew our first game but managed to qualify. In 2019, Spain lost their first game but managed to win the tournament.

“In 1966, at our own

World Cup, we drew our first game against Uruguay and the whole country was sad but that’s what you get. You can change it around. We can’t sulk.

“We came here to win six points and that will definitely see us through.” Boothroyd’s (below) contract is up at the end of the season. To his credit, he did not sugar-coat the defeat to the Swiss.

He added: “We were record goalscorers in qualifying. Then we produced what we did on Thursday. “We were irritated at what we got. We didn’t move the ball quickly enough.

“That will need to change because Portugal looked slick in their opening game. Generally, we like to create chances.

“We’ve got to the big stage and we’ve been a blunt instrument.

“But this isn’t a big game for me. It’s an important game for the Under-21s.”