England U-21 National Team’s Bitter Journey in the U-21 European Cup

DBasia.news –  The England U-21 national team started the group stage C European U-21 match with a defeat against France U-21 at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Tuesday (6/19) WIB. An own goal by Aaron Wan-Bissaka gave victory for France.

England under the care of Aidy Boothroyd had a lead in the 54th minute through a goal by Manchester City player, Phil Foden. However, the situation changed when England played with 10 players when Hamza Choudhury, Leicester City midfielder, was sent off on the 63 minute.

France also took advantage of the superiority of their players and increased the intensity of attacks. Nanitamo Ikone scored in the 89th minute and before the match ended, Wan-Bissaka scored an own goal in the 90+ 5 minutes

A very painful defeat for England U-21 who had an ambition to win this year. In fact, they could lose by a score of 1-3 when Dean Henderson, the England goalkeeper, did not save his goal from Moussa Dembele’s penalty in the 25th minute.

“The expulsion (Choudhury) clearly changed the match, he was devastated. There was no intention of doing it intentionally, but it was only his enthusiasm to block the ball (against Jonathan Bamba),” said Boothroyd after the match ended.

“Bamba was rushed to the hospital. We hope that nothing is broken (seriously injured),” said Sylvain Ripoll, France U-21 national team coach

Boothroyd’s tactic decision when playing two attackers in the second half, when the team had won 1-0 and played with 10 players, was criticized by many (English fans) on social media.

“I saw a lot of surprising decisions from managers over the years, but Aidy Boothroyd included two strikers on the last 15 minutes, when his team had only 10 players might be the worst decision,” Twitter user @JakeSanders92 said.

In the next match, England will play Romania at the Stadio Dino Manuzzi, Friday (21/6) at 23.30 WIB. England must win the fight if they want to keep their hopes for the next phase:

Complete results of the latest U-21 European Cup group matches:

Romania 4-1 Croatia

England 1-2 France