Whisper it but there seems to be something a little unusual about Gareth Southgate’s Under-21 squad that jets off to the Czech Republic on Sunday for the European Championship. They are among the favourites – with good reason. They are supremely confident – with good reason. They relish the opportunity to play for the national side. And they are even rather likeable. No, this is not really your typical England squad.
“They go with belief, not just hope, that it’s going to happen,” was Southgate’s assessment of the attitude of his squad, who begin their campaign against a much-fancied Portugal side in the eastern Czech town of Uherske Hradiste on Tuesday. That belief is borne from a qualifying campaign in which they dominated their group before battling past Croatia in the play-offs. And wins over the Portuguese, the hosts and the bookies’ favourites, Germany, have only added to the optimism.
“We can all travel with hope, but I think we’re going as genuine contenders,” said Southgate, who took over as head coach at the beginning of the qualifying campaign in 2013.
“I always go back to when we won the Rugby World Cup. We went to Australia and we won the year before, they went and won in New Zealand. So you’re then going as the No1 team. You’re not going thinking: ‘Well, if this goes right and if that drops for us.’ I don’t know that we’re the No1 team because we lost to France [whose Under-20 side won the 2013 World Cup but failed to qualify], Germany was very tight and the game with Portugal could’ve gone either way. But we have beaten those teams and there’s evidence for the players to say: ‘We’ve beaten them, so what’s to fear? What’s stopping us doing what we do all the time?’”
What they do all the time is beat teams – their victory over Belarus on Thursday in their final warm-up game for the tournament was their 15th win in 17 games. Harry Kane is perhaps the highest-profile player at the tournament but the Spurs striker faces a battle for his place with Saido Berahino, the leading scorer in qualifying with 10 goals, and the Liverpool-bound Danny Ings completing an attacking trio that few, if any, other countries in the tournament can match.
A midfield five has been less heralded but no less effective, while the defence – which could feature three full internationals in goalkeeper Jack Butland, central defender John Stones and either Calum Chambers or Carl Jenkinson at right-back – boasted the best goals-against record in qualifying.
But plenty of England teams have excelled in qualifying before disappointing on the big stage. Tournament management has not always been a strong suit and while no one is likely to go full Jack Nicholson in The Shining, the hotel bubble is not necessarily an easy environment to cope with.
Southgate accepts that handling both that and the emotions that will surge – one way or another – after the opening game will be key but is confident of his young squad’s ability to succeed where others have failed.
“Once we fly we’re in a hotel that we stayed at in March, we know the facilities, we know the people,” he said. “There are fewer of the unknowns and really it’s just what happens on the field that they’re going to have to react to and respond to in the right way.
“But generally I think the mentality of the group is good. I think they see it as a challenge – if there is pressure, it’s a positive pressure. We’re trying to win something and trying to win something is easier than trying to avoid relegation from personal experience, so there’s more energy in the group when you’re working towards something.”
If there is a spectre that hangs over this squad then it is England’s record in the past two European Championships. Played: six. Won: none. Group stage exits: two.
After the 2013 edition in Israel the departing coach, Stuart Pearce, accused some players of “apathy” in their attitude towards representing the Under-21s. Southgate has no concerns on that score – “I think that if we’ve had any feeling that players were not desperate to be involved we haven’t picked them. Simple as that” – while the chastening experience has been put to good use by the members of the current squad who were there to suffer it.
“We’ve let the lads know that in the finals it’s a big thing and to get knocked out and not win a game … it’s borderline embarrassing,” said the Norwich midfielder Nathan Redmond, a late call-up to the 2013 squad and now a mainstay of the group. “We feel now that we’ve got a group of guys who are willing to work hard for each other and put themselves on the line to do ourselves proud.”
England have not won the European Under-21 Championship since 1984, when the tournament had a straight knockout, rather than group, format. The closest they have been since came in 2009 when a squad that included Theo Walcott, James Milner, Jack Rodwell and Micah Richards were beaten 4-0 by Germany in the final. Since then five of the German lineup have started in a World Cup final (and it would have been six but for Sami Khedira’s injury), while England’s youth systems have been the source of much headscratching and discontent.
But might a new wind at last be blowing? “We sort of want to change how people view young English players,” said Redmond. “I think with recent performances and the performances we’ve shown over the past two years we’re starting to do that.” They now have the chance to finish the job.
