England U21 2-0 Germany: Young Lions stay perfect at Euros as defending champions exit with a whimper
ngland maintained their impressive 100 per cent start to the European Under-21 Championship with a comfortable 2-0 win over Germany, whose woeful title defence ended with a whimper in Batumi.
Aston Villa striker Cameron Archer and Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott both scored excellent first-half goals to send a daunting message to Portugal ahead of Sunday’s quarter-final clash, with Lee Carsley’s Young Lions still yet to concede a single goal despite making eight changes to their starting lineup on Wednesday evening.
England had already been assured of top spot in Group C courtesy of back-to-back 2-0 wins over the Czech Republic and Israel, while defending champions Germany needed to win but instead suffer an ignominous early exit from the competition, heading home having finished winless and bottom of the table with just one victory from their three matches.
Instead it is Israel who join England in the last eight after their late 1-0 win over the Czech Republic in Kutaisi, now set to face co-hosts and surprise Group A winners Georgia in the capital Tbilisi on Saturday.
England made an explosive start and hit the front after just four minutes when Jacob Ramsey’s clever through ball found Archer and he calmly tucked the ball past Noah Atubolu to make it 1-0.
The Young Lions nearly doubled their advantage six minutes later when the ball fell to Ramsey inside the area but his low drive went wide of the far post.
Carsley’s side did make it two in the 21st minute thanks to a wonderful solo effort from Elliott. The Liverpool midfielder collected the ball inside his own half, drove at the German defence into the penalty area before coolly slotting home to make it 2-0.
Germany needed to win to have any chance of qualifying and their first chance came on the half-hour mark but Brentford forward Kevin Schade’s shot from inside the area found the hands of James Trafford.
Schade was Germany’s main threat and he had another chance to pull one back just before half-time when he sprinted down the right-hand side but saw his effort tipped away by the keeper.
Germany may have been facing an early exit but they posed little threat in the second half as England continued to probe, with half-chances falling to Cole Palmer after Elliott had forced a great save from Atubolu.
James Garner came close to a third with 15 minutes to go after some neat link-up play but the Everton midfielder could not steer his effort on target from close range.
Germany’s best chance of the game came three minutes from time when Finn Ole Becker’s powerful deflected effort was palmed away by Trafford, who secured another clean sheet alongside three straight 2-0 wins.
Additional reporting by the Press Association.
