It has become a horribly familiar pattern: domination in qualifying, expectation in the build up and elimination at the finals. For the third time in succession England bowed out of the European Under-21 Championships at the group stage after slumping to a hugely-disappointing defeat to Italy in Olomouc.
Gareth Southgate had hoped his side’s win over Sweden in their second group game would liberate his players but here they were clinically dispatched by opponents who they have now failed to beat in five meetings at this tournament.
In truth, the result was never in doubt after Andrea Belotti and Marco Benassi had put Italy two goals to the good in the space of two minutes midway through the first half. Benassi’s second with just under 20 minutes to go simply killed the potential for drama despite Nathan Redmond’s late consolation. Positive thinking had been prevalent in the camp throughout but this result left little scope for optimism.
“We can’t put this group of young players in with everything else that has happened in England’s football history,” said Southgate. “These are young players and there’s some improvement that needs to happen in terms of their general defending as a group and as individuals. That’s the age they’re at. All teams in this competition have made defensive errors, sometimes they’re punished, sometimes they’re not. We’ve been punished ruthlessly for them.”
Sweden’s 89th-minute equaliser against Portugal in the other Group B game meant that both sides here are heading home before the semi-finals. But while Italy went out on a high, this was certainly the lowest point of Southgate’s two-year tenure with the under-21s. The former Middlesbrough manager signed an extension to his contract with the Football Association in January and is scheduled to take the team through to the end of the 2017 edition of this competition.
“I’m contracted to stay on, I’d like to stay on. In the end, it’s not my decision,” he said. “But I think what we’ve done over two years has progressed the profile of the team, the style in which we’ve played. I think we’ve had some massive success stories in terms of individuals that have come through the programme. Even in this tournament one or two players that have come through have emerged from it. So I think people will look at all of that when they’re making that decision.”
Southgate had been bold with his team selection, playing Danny Ings in the No10 role behind Harry Kane and giving Brighton’s Jake Forster-Caskey a surprise first appearance of the tournament. He was rewarded with the brightest opening his side has made in the competition, with Ings pulling a shot wide when clean through and Kane, a cut above his team-mates here after enduring a largely frustrating tournament, drawing a spectacular save from Francesco Bardi in the Italy goal.
Two minutes after that effort, though, events began to unravel for Southgate and his side. With England caught cold from an Italian free-kick, the impressive Domenico Berardi dinked the ball over the defensive line to find Belotti, whose telescopic volley beat Jack Butland from close range. Almost immediately the Azzurrini doubled the lead, with Lorenzo Crisetig allowed to rumble forward unchallenged and Benassi seeing his deflected shot curl low past the helpless goalkeeper.
That left England with a huge task and though they set about it with relish, Italy drew the sting expertly. Even so Redmond, enjoying perhaps his best game of the tournament, Kane, Jesse Lingard and Ings all went close but any lingering hope was extinguished with 18 minutes to go.
Stefano Sabelli took a throw-in, Marcello Trotta – probably best known in England for a promotion-costing penalty miss while on loan on Brentford in 2013 – hooked the ball over his head and Benassi directed his header past Butland, condemning England to yet another early exit.
Redmond did eventually thrash home a goal that England’s energy deserved from the edge of the area in injury time but for Italy there were two more important late goals in the other group game between Sweden and Portugal. The first, for the Portuguese, looked to be sending them into the semi-finals. The second, an equaliser from Sweden’s Simon Tibbling, meant neither side in Olomouc will be playing in the final four.
“There’s so little between the teams in this tournament,” said Southgate. “Sweden have gone through, Italy haven’t. There’s nothing between the eight teams in my opinion. So it then comes down to detail and concentration and the two-minute spell in the first half when we concede two is the turning point of the game.”
It meant a bleak scene for all concerned at the Andruv Stadium – even the Czech fans in the crowd went home disappointed, with England’s defeat costing their side an Olympic play-off – but Southgate tried to sound a note of positivity. “In general terms, in terms of what they can give to English football, I think there are some good characters that are going to come through this group who will go into the senior team and make that senior team stronger.”
