Slovakia 1-2 England: UEFA Euro U-21 match report
England turned the game on its head after going down 1-0 in the first half and give themselves a massive chance of qualifying for the next stage of the Euros.
Slovakia 1-2 England: match report
England kept their Euro under-21 dream alive on Monday night as they beat Slovakia in Poland despite falling behind in the first half.
Slovakia enjoyed much of the opening exchanges and dominated the ball with little of not in an attacking sense from England. While the Slovaks were winning in that battle, they were struggling to figure out how they wanted to attack England too.
Albert Rusnak looked sharp for Slovakia but aside from that, there was a lot of wasteful passing in the final third. When they did open the scoring after 23 minutes, it was Rusnak who delivered the cross onto the head of Martin Chrien as he glanced a header beyond Jordan Pickford.
England did take over control of the ball at that point but on too many occasions was their attack broken down byt slow, stale passing and no incisiveness from their creative players. They needed a spark.
It came in the second half whe Jacob Murphy replaced Mason Holgate and he added incentive down the right hand side. His ball into the box after 50 minutes found the toe of Alfie Mawson but Slovakia's goalkeeper, Adrian Chovan, saved well only to see the Swansea defender follow up and poke home the rebound to give England hope.
The game was turned on it's head 11 minutes later just after the hour mark when Southmapton duo, captian James Ward-Prowse and Nathan Redmond linked up to put England in front. A long, raking pass across the field found Redmond in behin Slovakia's defense and Redmond took it down, cut back onto his right and fifled a shot beyond Chovan.
Slovakia took over again as England tried to protect their lead but there would be no further changes on the scoreboard. England were inspired in the second half and will draw strength from this performance but against better opposition won't be given a full 45 minutes to figure out a way into the game.
England play Poland in the same stadium on Wednesday while Slovakia play Sweden on Thursday to decide a group that is extremely tight after England's three pointer on Monday.
Slovakia U-21 v England U-21: live online build-up
Slovakia v England , U21 European Championship: match preview
England face Slovakia, in the second Group A game of the 2017 Under 21 European Championship in Poland.
Aidy Boothroyd’s team got off to a solid start against reigning holders Sweden in Friday's opener and were grateful to the goalkeeping heroics of Jordan Pickford whose second half penalty stop saw England secure a creditable point against the Swedes.
Later on Friday, Slovakia saw off host nation Poland with a 1-2 win despite the Poles taking a first minute lead.
Slovakia: team news
The Slovaks come into the tournament buoyed after a positive qualifying campaign winning six of their eight qualifiers and suffering just one defeat to finish five points clear of the Netherlands at the qualifying Group 8 summit.
Striker Adam Zreak who plays his football with FK Jablonec is the man to watch bagging five goals in the campaign and forms a formidable partnership with FC Viktoria Plzeň marksman Martin Chrien.
Slovakia coach Pavel Hapal described England as the best team in Group A as he looked ahead to the encounter. “All the players are healthy and the team is in a good mood,” he said. “We're going into the game with the ambition of winning it. But we're going to face a good team, perhaps the best in the group. Even if our priority is to win, we'll see during the game whether or not we'll have to settle for a point. We'll have to match them physically and that could be key [but] we have great quality in our side."
England: team news
Coach Aidy Boothroyd will select his strongest side with Friday's hero Jordan Pickford, a recent €30m signing for Everton from Sunderland, generating all the headlines following the opening game against Sweden. In fact, Pickford is the most expensive British goalkeeper in history. Ahead of him, Rob Holding and Alfie Mawson have both enjoyed a fine 2017 in defence for Arsenal and Swansea respectively.
Lewis Baker will once again man the midfield. Dangerous from set-pieces, he has spent the past two seasons on loan at Vitesse Arnhem from Chelsea. The European Championships will provide Baker with an opportunity to place himself in the shop window as he approaches a cross-road in his career.
In his pre-match press conference Boothroyd alluded to the importance of the game against the Slovaks: “We have to go full pelt for every game but at the same time because of the squad we've got I've got to think about using everyone that's in it. But we have to win so I've got to pick the best team, even if some of them might be a bit tired they might have to play a smaller part in the game and [we] think about what goes on in the last half hour of the game.”
England Under 21s have failed to progress from the group stages in the last three European Championships. This year, they will hope to ride the wave of positivity surrounding youth football in England.
Slovakia U-21 v England U-21 live online: odds and betting
Slovakia marksman Adam Zrelak scoring first in tonight's tussle in Kielce with England ultimately winning 1-2 pays out at an attractive 19/1.