Young Lions suffer shock home loss
ON HIS first camp as manager, Lee Carsley went armed with a picture of Tyson Fury strewn on the Los Angeles canvas, Deontay Wilder standing over him.
It was the night Fury boxed clever, dramatically resurrecting the heavyweight bout in one of the finest recoveries ever seen.
Carsley, possibly mindful of England’s chequered record at Under 21 tournaments, beamed the picture up and told Fury’s story to his new crop of players.
‘The point I was making to the lads was that at some point, this will happen to us,’ he said. ‘What everyone wants to see is how you react.’
Carsley will have to wait until September to see how they respond to this shock by Slovenia, England’s first defeat in a qualifier for 55 matches — a run stretching back more than a decade.
Maybe the Young Lions needed this as a reminder.
Previous England teams have swanned through qualifying and then not reacted to any sort of adversity, failing to progress through European Championship group stages in five of the last six finals.
Time will tell whether this squad can manage that next year but here came proof there remains work to be done.
Slovenia have been the only opposition in this group to cause England problems, shocking them last October to draw 2-2 from two down. And they went ahead within a minute last night, Djed Spence heading a free-kick past Joe Bursik into his own net.
England toiled, Jacob Ramsey going closest when flashing wide and wanting a penalty when breaking through. Emile Smith Rowe’s deflected effort was off target but chances were rare.
The visitors capitalised on a lacklustre display with Mark Zabukovnik sending a towering header beyond Bursik from another routine set play.
Cameron Archer threatened a comeback by squeezing in during stoppage time but it was only a consolation.