Boothroyd’s side given Portuguese lesson
Carvalho 64, Trincao 74 pen
England U-21s
England Under-21s are heading out of the European Championship with barely a whimper after suffering another defeat in which they failed to lay a glove on their opponent.
Aidy Boothroyd described his attack as a “blunt instrument” against the Swiss in their opening defeat, but at least they got a freekick on target. Here they were shut out completely by a ruthless Portuguese team and have yet to create a single chance from open play.
Dany Mota and Francisco Trincao scored to leave England with no points or goals from their opening two games. They now need to beat Croatia by two goals and hope results go for them on Wednesday, but there will have to be a dramatic turnaround to progress. The likelihood is they will be heading back from Slovenia without the summer’s knockout stages to look forward to. Boothroyd’s position will inevitably be under scrutiny, but it is a familiar story. Since reaching the final in 2009 the Under-21s have made it out of the group stage only once.
“I can’t be blamed for the other ones but I’ve experienced getting to the semi-finals and then not getting out of the group a couple of years ago and this situation, all with different teams and it is something we need to review,” the manager said.
Boothroyd has not been helped with Gareth Southgate needing Reece James and Jude Bellingham. Phil Foden and Mason Mount, both eligible for this tournament, were playing for the seniors earlier in the day and have long forgotten the Under-21s. Callum Hudson-odoi, the only player in Boothroyd’s squad with a senior cap, picked up a shoulder problem on the eve of the game and missed out. He is hoping to be fit for Wednesday’s must-win game. “We couldn’t risk him but expect him to be back,” Boothroyd said.
Even with those players, Portugal would have matched most teams with the form they showed at Stadion Stozice. It was a convincing 2-0 win and would have been greater without Ben Godfrey’s defending and Aaron Ramsdale’s saves.
Their opening goal came from Mota, who finished off a counterattack seconds after England were in the Portuguese half and Oliver Skipp had possession. Pedro Goncalves carried the ball forward and teed up Mota, who rolled the ball in off the post.
The second goal came from the penalty spot after French referee Francois Letexier spotted that Marc Guehi had trodden on Goncalo Ramos’s heel. Trincao put away his spot-kick with confidence.
“It’s deeply disappointing,”
Boothroyd said. “You have to give credit to the opponents as they are a very good team and we got them on a good day, but we didn’t create anywhere near enough or anywhere near what we are used to.
“It is a very disappointed dressing room. That said, it is mathematically possible and we will fight until the end. We came here to play three games and fully intend to play three games properly. But we wanted to go into the final game with it still in our hands and unfortunately it’s not.”
Boothroyd’s contract expires in the summer and he refused to be drawn on his future. “My view is that I’m here to do this tournament and we have three games, we’ve only done two.
“We have some hope and wherever there is hope we have to go for it. I have to consider the immediate future, not my future.”
Portugal (4-3-3) Costa; Correia, Queiros, Leite, Dalot; Vitinha, Florentino (Braganca 45), Gedson (Trincao 45); Vieira (Conceicao 62), Mota (Ramos 73), Goncalves. Subs Maximiano (g), Virginia (g), Tavares, Pereira, Djalo, Soares, Tomas, Joao Mario. Booked Correia, Ramos.
(4-2-3-1): Ramsdale; Tanganga, Godfrey, Guehi, S Sessegnon (Brewster 83); Skipp, Davies (Jones 72); Madueke (Gallagher 72), Smith Rowe (Eze 45), R Sessegnon (Mcneil 55); Nketiah. Subs Bursik (g), Griffiths (g), Aarons, Kelly, Cantwell, Gallagher, Wilmot, Jones. Booked Godfrey.
Referee Francois Letexier (France).