England keep semi-final dream alive after dressing room row
For all the preparation, tactics and analysis that goes into international football it can also take a good, oldfashioned ding-dong to win, with Alfie Mawson revealing that the England players “got a little bit heated” at half-time before they turned around this Under-21 Euros tie to keep them in the competition.
“It got a little bit heated, really,” the Swansea City defender said. “A lot of players were frustrated. I was so frustrated about the [Slovakia] goal. But [coach] Aidy [Boothroyd] calmed everyone down. We said we needed to man up and do the right thing…we were all men about it.
“We could have easily crumbled at 1-0 down, but we stood up and passed it with flying colours.”
England, finally, did just that. The history of their involvement in these tournaments has been so crushingly disappointing of late that the way in which they won this encounter felt like a coming of age.
It also saved them. A goal down, playing disjointedly, abjectly at times, England were facing another embarrassing group-stage exit. The feel-good factor from the Under-20 World Cup triumph was being deflated in familiar fashion.
And then it all changed. A bold substitution, bringing on Jacob Murphy in an unfamiliar right-back role, and a change of attitude made the difference. “That’s what I am paid for,” Boothroyd said. “I have to make decisions. If we lose or draw we’re out. We want to progress and do well. I thought we deserved it.”
He said the new format, with only the three group winners guaranteed a place in the last four, “doesn’t help coaches but it makes it more exciting”.
England had to win, after their goalless draw against Sweden in their opener, and they did just that through goals by Mawson – his first for England – and Nathan Redmond – his 10th at this level, which takes him to just three behind Alan Shearer’s record. It means they go into their final group match on Thursday against hosts Poland with a real hope of reaching the semifinals next Tuesday.
Slovakia are no world-beaters, but the pressure was on and they had already defeated Poland and had the lead, given to them by the kind of dispiriting goal England so often concede. From a corner Martin Chrien was allowed to run free to the near corner of the six-yard area, as Mason Holgate and Ben Chilwell were slow to react, before angling his header back across Jordan Pickford and high into the net.
“It was a sloppy goal,” Mawson said. “We were annoyed. I was so annoyed. We have worked hard on set-pieces and winning the first ball and I wasn’t switched on.” It almost got worse, with Pickford having to react quickly to push out Jaroslav Mihalik’s deflected 25-yard shot.
Into the second half, and Redmond drew a smart save from Adrian Chovan, who conceded a corner from which Murphy retrieved possession and crossed to Mawson, whose first effort was parried by Chovan. Mawson then forced the rebound over the line and it was as if a switch had been flicked.
England poured forward again and James Ward-prowse switched the play with a booming crossfield pass to Redmond, who cut inside and drilled a powerful angled shot beyond Chovan. England survived a penalty appeal but, when the heat was on, they saw the game out.