Boothroyd under pressure as U21s flop yet again
ANOTHER toothless showing, another dreadful defeat as Aidy Boothroyd’s side flopped again in the Euro finals.
Dany Mota gave a vastly superior Portugal side the lead after 65 minutes and Francisco Trincao sealed the win, leaving England with only an extremely slim chance of qualifying for the knockout stages.
The results will trigger an inquest at the FA over how Boothroyd, right, has won just two games out of nine at Euro finals. Man-of-the-match Mota, who plays for Italian club Monza, ran England ragged and left the Three Lions bottom of Group D. Only a big win against Croatia on Wednesday will give them any hope, and they will rely on the result of the Switzerland versus Portugal game.
In reality it’s a likely repeat of the failure in 2019, and is likely to end Boothroyd’s reign as boss.When Mota slid past Aaron Ramsdale, England still hadn’t had a shot on target in open play in two and a half hours of play at the Euros.
Trincao made sure for Portugal with a 74th minute penalty after Marc Guehi clipped the ankle of Goncalo Ramos. England’s campaign got off to a dreadful start with Boothroyd admitting this side were too safe in getting one shot on target against Switzerland and losing.
And it got much worse here. A vow to go all out for goals hit a snag when Callum Hudson-Odoi, the only player with senior experience in the squad, was left out with a “slight” shoulder injury.
“We couldn’t risk him in this game but he will be back for the Croatia game.We were really disappointed,” said the head coach.There was a U21 debut for Noni Madueke, at 19 the youngest in the squad.The PSV Eindhoven star was described as a “tricky customer” by Boothroyd, who added: “He makes things happen and scores a goal. His age is immaterial when you can play like he can.”
But it was mainly pedestrian and the Three Lions failed to get a shot on target in the whole game with, once again, the men in white failing to take responsibility to make something happen.
Group D was blown wide open by Croatia beating Switzerland 3-2, meaning no side could qualify or be officially eliminated after two games.