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When Lee Carsley expressed his hope that England’s Under-21 players could give Thomas Tuchel “something to ponder” with their performances while defending their European title in Slovakia, their first-half showing against Germany’s second-string side probably wasn’t what he had in mind.
Needing a point to guarantee their place in the quarter-finals and trailing 2-0 at the break after goals from Ansgar Knauff and Nelson Weiper, Slovenia’s defeat to the Czech Republic in the night’s other match ensured they made it through anyway.
But Carsley will be heartened by a significantly improved performance in the second half as his substitutions changed the game and Alex Scott set up a frantic finale that could not quite produce an equaliser. His side will now face Spain in the last eight on Saturday night, although having beaten the pre-tournament favourites, who are looking for their record sixth title at this level, in the final two years ago in Georgia, the England manager will know that his side cannot defend like this again.
“It has not quite clicked but it is a matter of time before it all comes together,” said Scott. “We’re going to recover from this and look into Spain and pick them apart. Hopefully we can put in a good performance and get to the semis.”
Carsley said this week that this group “needs more leaders” so leaving James McAtee, the captain, on the bench as one of four changes from the side that was held to a 0-0 draw against Slovenia on Sunday was perhaps an attempt to throw some of the less experienced squad members in at the deep end. It didn’t work and a disjointed England found themselves behind after just three minutes.
Although Germany impressively sealed progression to the last eight by scoring seven times in their opening two matches, it was still a surprise to see their coach, Antonio Di Salvo, field a completely different side from their first two matches. Yet having already defeated Spain in a friendly back in March thanks to a hat-trick from Nick Woltemade – the towering Stuttgart striker who already has four goals in this competition – they didn’t seem too concerned about potentially losing top spot in the group.
It was easy to see why when the left-back Lukas Ullrich caught Jarell Quansah napping with a perfectly weighted ball over the top. A deft piece of control and precise finish from Knauff gave Germany the lead. Quansah was almost on the end of a flowing move involving Ethan Nwaneri as England attempted to hit back. But despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession and the stand-in skipper Harvey Elliott’s best efforts, they again struggled to create chances.
Weiper was allowed to head home Knauff’s cross minutes later despite the attentions of Jack Hinshelwood and Charlie Cresswell. Carsley was probably nervously checking the score in the group’s other match just in case when a floodlight failure with 45 seconds left of stoppage time brought a premature end to the first half.
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Thankfully for the hosts in Nitra, power was fully restored for the start of the second half as McAtee was summoned from the bench along with the Birmingham striker Jay Stansfield and Genoa’s Brooke Norton-Cuffy. England began to look more of a threat as news that the Czech Republic had taken the lead over Slovenia filtered through, with Norton-Cuffy, a former Arsenal academy player, providing some much-needed impetus down the right flank. But even though a second goal for the Czechs removed any remaining jeopardy, England still showed desire to get something from the game.
Scott should have done better with a great chance just after he had been booked for a late challenge before Hinshelwood headed over with the goal gaping. The Bournemouth midfielder gave the travelling England supporters something to cheer when he tapped home following a mazy run from Omari Hutchinson. Cresswell came closest to completing the comeback as England laid siege to the German goal in the final 10 minutes but could not direct his header away from the goalkeeper Tjark Ernst.
