Full-time: Poland 0-3 England
Boothroyd’s youngsters sweep into the semi-final with a thoroughly deserved victory. They were superior from start to finish, highly accomplished as a collective and enhanced by some particularly fine individual performances (including Gray, Chilwell, Mawson, Swift and Murphy). The only bad note was an injury of unknown severity to Chalobah, who was also excellent until forced to hobble off in the first half. It’s the first time since 2009 that England have reached the last four of this tournament, and since they’re getting better with each game they can feel confident about going even farther.
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90 min: England spurns the chance to inflict further damage, as Baker tries to dance around the keeper rather than bang the ball past him first time. Still, dancing past the keeper is the fun option when you’re 3-0 up.
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88 min: Stepinsky steps into the back of Chilwell, conceding a dumb freekick and allowing England to erase the semblance of a Polish attack.
86 min: Swift, another excellent performer overall, is caught in possession in midfield. But Mawson steps in to restore order.
Point of order
Contrary to the information published on-screen by Uefa, that booking a moment ago for Mawson was not the player’s second of the tournament, so Mawson will not miss the semi-final. Unless he does something barmy in the next five minutes, of course.
Poland 0-3 England (Baker pen 83)
After refusing to relinquish penalty-taking duties to Abraham, who won the spotkick, Baker strokes a low shot into the net.
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PENALTY TO ENGLAND!
Lovely skill by Abraham before he’s brought down by Bednarek, who gets a second yellow. Off he goes to reflect that bollocking the ref may not have been such a good idea, after all.
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79 min: Baker curls a low left-footer around the wall but is denied by Wrabel, who gets down well to claw it away. Abraham pounces on the rebound but can’t get it on target from an awkward angle.
78 min: Bednarek booked for climbing up the back of Abraham. HE then bollocks the ref, which never changes his mind but, in fairness, can be quite satisfying.
77 min: Sweden, the holders, are making an ignominious exist from the tournament, now losing 3-0 to an admittedly handy Slovakia team.
75 min: Swift sends Murphy hurtling down the right. He cuts inside Jarosynski buts over-runs the ball, which is a shame because Abraham was well placed to convert if the cross came. “Is Kownacki actually the injury sustained or his name?” asks Andrew Dennett, because the hamstring is above the calf. Honk!
73 min: Chilwell is caught flat-footed for the first time today, allowing Frankowski to nip in front of him and take down a crossfield pass. 15,000 Poles in the crowd leap to their feet in anticipation of a home goal ... but Frankowski drags his low shot wide from 10 yards.
Poland substitution: Szyminski on, Kownacki off, apparently with a hamstring pull.
England substitution: Abraham on, Ward-Prowse off, presumably so he can have a rest. The Southampton man has been capital today, most obviously from setpieces.
70 min: Everything’s coming up Boothroyd! His selections have been vindicated in style, with Gray scoring one and creating the other for Murphy, who has made a decisive contribution since being introduced at half-time, just as he did in the last match. What is more, Holgate has rewarded the faith shown in him by producing his best performance of the tournament so far at right-back. Chilwell, meanwhile, has been excellent on the left.
GOAL! Poland 0-2 England (Murphy 69)
England strike on the counter-attack just as Poland were looking troublesome! Gray was instrumental in it, racing down the let and into the box and then retaining enough sang-froid to roll the ball across the face of goal for Murphy, who converted from close range!
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68 min: What a blunder by Pickford! He shanks a kick straight to Murawski, whose 25 yards from goal. Suddenly England are in a world of bother! But Murawski was taken by surprise and took his time to get the ball from under his feet, allowing Chambers to come to the rescue.
NO GOAL! Poland 0-1 England
Don’t fret, just offering you a reminder of the scoreline.
65 min: Mawson is booked for clambering above Niezgoda in an aerial duel.
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Poland substitution: Niezgoda on, Piatek off.
64 min: Ward-Prowse spreads it wide to Holgate and then dashes into the box in the hope of getting on the end of the return pass. But it’s slightly overhit.
62 min: Chilwell, who has been excellent, checks back on the halfway line and draws a foul from the exasperated Murawski.
60 min: Poland’s insurgency seems to have abated and England look to be in total control. Years of experience suggests that is not a comfortable state-of-affairs for the Three Lions. But are we really witnessing the emergence of a new, stronger-minded generation?
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57 min: Holgate wins a corner for England. Trusty Ward-Prowse is on delivery duty again. His out-swinger is headed clear at the near post but Baker retrieves it at the edge of the area and manoeuvres himself into a shooting position. But his right-footed blast is blocked.
55 min: Another freekick to England, this time for a foul on Chambers. Ward-Prowse delivers again, from about 40 yards out and to the right. It skims off the top of the Mawson’s head and continues on to Swift, who races in at the back post ... and sidefoots wide! Creating chances is a great thing, but continually missing them eventually inspires the opposition. England could really do with killing this game off pronto.
53 min: Poland are looking a tad more dangerous. They’re attacking in greater numbers and with more urgency. But they’ve not yet suggested they have enough quality to unhinge England. Pickford has remained untroubled in the England goal.
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51 min: Gray fires in a low cross from the left. A polish defender gets a foot to it but succeeds only in diverting it into the path of Ward-Prowse, who has a free shot from 12 yards out if he’s fast enough! But he hesitates because he’s unsure of his left peg, then tries with the outside of his right foot. Blocked.
48 min: Ward-Prowse produces another exceptional delivery from a freekick, again sending the ball bouncing invitingly across the face of goal. But again England fail to get on the end of it.
47 min: Murphy did very well as a right-back in the second half against Slovakia but he appears to be playing up front alongside Gray here.
46 min: Poland get second half going and immediately launch it long towards the right flank, where Kownacki jumps to compete for it with Holgate, who wins the duel.
England substitution: Muphy on, Redmond off.
Poland substitution: Lipski on, Moneta off.
Half-time: Poland 0-1 England
Everything has gone swimmingly for England, except for the fact that Poland’s goalkeeper, Wrabel, has produced a couple of neat saves to prevent Boothroyd’s team from getting the win in the bag already. To finish the hosts off, the manager would be well advised to replace Redmond with Abraham for the second half. Even without that, however, England will cruise through to the semi-finals unless Poland improve radically. Which isn’t out of the question, of course, bearing in mind that England did exactly that in the last game and, whats more, Poland kept going right into stoppage time in their last outing, when they equalised late on against Sweden.
45 min: Chilwell and Gray combine yet again down the left - the Leicester double-act has really irritated the Poles since the start. This time, however, England decide against crossing - probably because Redmond is no kind of target man - and England just knock the ball about until the ref blows for half-time.
44 min: Poland are there for the taking. England are clearly better. They need a second goal to confirm that, though. Because no matter what the cliche says, 1-0 is always a more dangerous scoreline than 2-0.
41 min: After a foul by Hughes, Ward-Prowse produces a magnificent delivery from the freekick, floating the ball tantalisingly acros the face of goal. Swift hurls himself at it but fails to connect. If his boots were one size bigger, he’d have been certain to score.
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England substitution: Will Hughes on, Chalobah off. Chalobah appears to have suffered an injury, which is a pity because he’d been bossing things at the base of England’s midfield diamond.
38 min: Swift accepts a roll-back from Gray and then tries to send a 25-yard curler into the far corner of the net! It’s a handsome effort that brings a spectacular save from Wrabel!
35 min: Chalobah imperious at the base of the midfield diamond, neutralises another Polish attack by stepping in to dispossesses Kedziora.
33 min: Ward-Prowse sends over an out-swinging corner from the right. Chalobah meets it about eight yards out. Wrabel pushes it behind for another corner. And from that corner the keeper produces an even better save, flinging himself low to his right to paw away a powerful downward header by Mawson!
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31 min: Gray retrieves an overhit pass by Swift, then rolls the ball back to Chilwell, who bangs over a delicious cross from the left. But again, Redmond is not the man you want to be aiming crosses at, so the delivery goes unrewarded.
30 min: Frankowski throws himself to the ground after a gentle brush from Chilwell, and the ref is duped into giving the hosts a freekick in a dangerous cross position. Chambers rises strongly to head it away.
28 min: Chilwell and Gray link up down the left again before the latter supplies a cross. Jach heads it away, preventing Redmond from getting on the end of it. Redmond has had a tough time getting involved at all so far, but not for the want of trying.
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26 min: Ward-Prowse curls in a freekick from the left wing. It’s far too close to the keeper, who can simply let it drop into the old picnic basket. But instead he chooses to punch, and it’s a feeble punch! Happily for him, or perhaps not, his defenders seemed to be expecting it. They tidy up his mess.
25 min: Slovakia have gone 2-0 up against Sweden. But they are a point behind England in the group as things stand.
24 min: Chambers keeps his wits about him and cuts out a dangerous attempted through-ball, then sweeps the ball wide to Chilwell to start a counter-attack, which comes to an end when the Leicester man is chopped down by Kedziora.
22 min: Brilliant by Gray! He ridicules Jach with a lovely shuffle-and-dash down the right wing before firing a low cross towards the near post. Redmond had been there but drifted out in anticipation of a pull-back. So Poland hoof the ball away.
21 min: As Ward-Prowse and Holgate lose out to tough tackles outside the Polish box, the hosts launch a rapid counter-attack through Frankowski down the right. Chalobah stomps across to put an end to that insolence.
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19 min: Chilwell flings in a mighty town from the left. But neither Gray nor Redmond was ever going to outjump Bednarek at the near post.
17 min: The home fans are doing their best to rouse the Polish team but England are cruising at the moment. Complacency could be their most dangerous opponent at this rate.
15 min: Better from Poland, who ping the ball around nicely before Jaroszynski delivers a deep cross from the left wing. But Pickford collects it easily.
13 min: After a period of tidy, progressive passing, England release Gray down the left and he digs out a wicked cross, forcing a defender into a hasty clearance at the edge of the six-yard box.
11 min: Poland are trying to get on to the front foot but they’re looking clumsy at the moment, too imprecise to mount any serious pressure.
9 min: An uncharacteristic goof by Mawson gives an opening to Poland, but Chambers bails out his team-mate by blocking a shot from Kownacki.
6 min: Slovakia have taken the lead in this group’s other game, Chrien heading in after a corner and some dodgy Swedish defending. That’ll be of no concern to England if the score remains the same here. Or if England enhance their lead, which they look more than capable of doing.
GOAL! Poland 0-1 England (Gray 6)
What a goal by the Leicester man, who was drafted into the starting lineup today to do exactly that! His club-mate Ben Chilwell created the chance by scampering down the left wing and then looking up and picking out Gray at the edge of the area. Gray got it under control and then let fly, with his shot taking a nick off a defender before landing sweet as you like in the net! The perfect start for England!
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5 min: Ward-Prowse flights over a corner from the left. Mawson gets his head to it six yards out but glances his shot just wide.
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4 min: Swft pulls a corner back to Ward-Prowse, who loops a cross into the box from the edge of the area. Well, it was surely intended as a cross but it turned into a tricky shot, and Wrabel had to backpedal in a panic in order to tip it over the bar.
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3 min: Kownacki collects the ball near the corner of the English box, then holds it up to await an overlap. Then he slips a pass into the channel behind Chilwell. But the overlap never came so the ball trickles sadly out of play.
1 min: Off we go. England relax into the game with some careful ball circulation.
Amusing scenes in the English huddle, as one player (whose head is obscured) tries to swat away a fly but ends up slapping James Ward-Prowse in the face! It’s an omen!
God Save the Queen is generously applauded by the Polish fans. Now there’s a reaction England don’t always get on their travels. The Polish national anthem, meanwhile, is accompanied lustily by those same locals and possibly also by a small band of England fans eager to reciprocate Polish hospitality. England, by the way, are dressed all in white, Poland all in red, and the officials in black shorts and the traditional turquoise top.
Here come the teams, two bands of young men full of smiles despite the so-called pressure of the occasion: there’s nowhere in the world they’d rather be right now and quite right, too.
Boothroyd is on Sky Sports explaining his lineup. He confirms that the formation is a four-diamond-two and says that Abraham has been omitted because he’s knackered. “We’ve to manage the minutes in tournament, he’s run his heart out. He’ll be ready to come on as a sub if and when he’d needed … and we’ve got a squad that we need to use.”
Regarding the front duo of Redmond and Gray, the manager says: “They’re both like little wasps and they’ll be flying in between the Polish lines hopefully. [Poland] are going to come flying out of the traps at us and it’s important we have a counter-attack.”
Of the possible permutations of this group, Boothroyd says: “I looked at it earlier and I’ve got a headache ... I’ll get updates on the other game [Sweden v Slovakia] and half-time and regularly from 70 minutes but the most important thing is we take care of our own result.”
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Teams:
Below are the lineups. England have not made the expected change – because Holgate remains at right-back despite struggling in the previous two matches, when his crosses were sadly erratic – but they have made one significant alteration, as the inclusion of Demarai Gray instead of Tammy Abraham (who did well in the first two matches) perhaps indicates a switch of formation, with Gray and Redmond operating up front ahead of a midfield diamond. We’ll have to wait and see.
Anyway, here are those lineups (the asterisks are offered as handy scapegoat identifiers, as they denote players who are one booking away from suspension and who could, therefore, cost their team qualification for the next round if positions in this group do end up being decided by disciplinary records):
England: Pickford; Holgate, Mawson, Chambers, Chilwell; Chalobah, Ward-Prowse*; Baker*, Swift; Gray, Redmond
Subs: Gunn, Mitchell, Stephens, Targett, Murphy*, Holding, Hause, Iorfa, Hughes, Grealish, Woodrow Abraham
Poland: Wrabel; Kędziora, Bednarek*, Jach, Jaroszyński; Frankowski, Linetty*, Murawski, Moneta; Kownacki*; Piątek.
Subs: Dragowski, Stryjek, Bielik, Lasicki, Lipski, Dawidowicz, Niezgoda*, Kapustka, Kubicki, Buksa, Szyminski
Referee: H Lechner (Austria)
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to England’s attempt to venture beyond the group stage of the U-21 European Championship for the first time since 2009, when a squad featuring players such as Joe Hart, James Milner, Theo Walcott and Andrew Driver made it all the way to the final. Aidy Boothroyd’s tyros were in danger of suffering another early elimination after 45 minutes of their last match but then they calmly mounted an impressive turn-around to beat Slovakia 2-1 and seize the top of their group. That means that a victory today will guarantee their progress to the semi-finals. But it won’t be easy, as Poland will be roared on by a noisy home crowd and still have an outside chance of reaching the last four themselves. Anything other than an England win would make the permutations tricky:
- a draw would send England through if Slovakia and Sweden draw in the group’s other game. But if England draw and Sweden win, those two teams, who drew 0-0 earlier in the tournament, would have to be separated either by goal difference, goals scored or, failing that, by disciplinary points.
- If England lose, then things could get really complicated. Poland would top the group if they won 2-0 or by a one-goal margin if they score two or more (2-1, 3-2, etc) so long as Slovakia and Sweden don’t draw 2-2 because that eventuality would lead a three-way tie at the top of the group, with the winner determined by disciplinary record.
If you’re a fan of maths, you know who to root for. Simple folk should cheer for England.
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