Portugal ensured England’s European Under-21 Championship campaign got off to a familiar disappointing start in Uherske Hradiste on Thursday night, though Gareth Southgate’s side showed enough to suggest that their pre-tournament optimism was not entirely misplaced.
Sporting’s João Mário scored the only goal of the game just before the hour and, while at times it was clear that some of Portugal’s number had played in the Champions League last season whereas some of England’s had played in the Championship, the gulf was rarely all that stark. Nevertheless the result means a 10th England game at these finals in succession without a win in normal time and a fifth straight defeat.
“I think we’ve played the best team in the group tonight and ridden them very, very close,” said Southgate, for whom this was just a second defeat in 18 games as Under-21 manager. “They’ve got some excellent players, as we have.
“So from what I’ve seen in the tournament we can still have faith in what we’re doing. Of course now the margins for error are much smaller but that is being in a tournament.”
England’s previously serene preparation for the competition had suffered its second blow in the space of 24 hours during the build-up with the news that Saido Berahino had been ruled out of the tournament with a knee injury. The West Bromwich Albion striker joined John Stones on the absent list, with the Everton defender unavailable for England’s first two games after suffering a suspected concussion on Tuesday.
Those absences meant two changes from what might well have been Southgate’s preferred first XI. Liam Moore and Ben Gibson became the central defensive partnership, while Jesse Lingard was the replacement for Berahino, who watched from the sidelines with his knee in a brace. A full-time squad replacement, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Benik Afobe, has also been called up.
Before the match Southgate had expressed his confidence that his squad had the strength in depth to cope without their defensive keystone and top scorer from qualifying. If anything it was the absence of the former that was more apparent early on and Moore was in debt to Jack Butland’s reflexes after deflecting a low cross from Ricardo Esgaio goalwards.
In truth, though, the midfield was the source of Portugal’s strength with Sporting’s William Carvalho, who was hugely impressive, shutting down Tom Carroll in his scheming role behind Harry Kane and Nathaniel Chalobah while JamesWard-Prowse was unable to have the same neutralising effect on Bernardo Silva at the other end of Portugal’s midfield diamond.
That meant Portugal enjoyed the bulk of the ball but England were effective on those occasions they could wrest possession from their opponents. While Bernardo Silva was allowed to run on to an unprotected back four only to thump a shot straight at Butland and João Mário should have done better than scoop over the bar from the edge of the box, Nathan Redmond was able to sting José Sá’s palms, Kane drew a wonderful save with an effort from distance and Lingard curled just wide in the final seconds of the opening half.
England had the better efforts in the opening moments of the second period, too, with Redmond denied by José Sá and Ward-Prowse curling a free-kick just wide of goal. But a fairly even contest tilted decisively on 57 minutes. A Carvalho pass deflected through to Silva off the heel of Carl Jenkinson and, though the Monaco midfielder sidefooted on to the the post from little more than six yards out, the rebound fell to João Mário who guided his shot into the roof of the net from similarly close range.
England reeled. Ricardo might have extended Portugal’s lead but glanced wide from João Mário’s cross but in the final 10 minutes the Young Lions were able to muster a fighting finish. Kane prodded a shot straight at José Sá, the substitute Alex Pritchard snatched a shot wide as the ball dropped on the edge of the box in the final minute and in injury time José Sá had to stretch to keep out Jenkinson’s header.
“We won against a great team with great quality in attack,” said the Portugal coach, Rui Jorge. “England scored in all their qualifying matches and we didn’t concede a goal. It was a fantastic game for us.”
Next up for Southgate’s side on Sunday are Sweden, who came from behind to beat Italy 2-1 in Olomouc last night despite being reduced to 10 men after only 28 minutes. The good news for the England head coach is that both other teams in Group B appear beatable. The bad news is that that game is now something of a must win.
“We play first so we have to go for the win, that’s pretty obvious,” said Southgate of Sunday’s games. “But I think every game in a tournament has that importance attached to it. What we have to do is make sure our mentality is right, that we approach things in the way that we did for this game. I don’t think we were a million miles away.”
