I spent my afternoon watching the young England boys play in a tough encounter against Greece in the European U19 semi final. We started brightly, but cooled somewhat and conceded a headed goal from Diamantakos from a corner that we really should have defended better. However, we were not ones to give up, we came back more lively than before and just before half time the Greek defence was split in two, only for the goalkeeper Kapino to make an excellent tackle. The referee adjudged it to be a foul though, and subsequently sent the poor guy off the pitch. We missed the penalty, and Greece went into half time in positive spirits.
A little way into the second half, we were able to nick an equaliser through another header, this time from Afobe up front. We pressed and pressed, dominating the match, but were unable to find the winner we wanted.
So to extra time we went, and England continued in a dominant manner, only to be undone by poor defending and a deft lob over keeper Sam Johnstone by Lykogiannis. The game was up; we tried to press, but no further clear cut chances were created. A wasted chance at beating a very good side who were not on their best of form, but we couldn’t take it.
A few players stood out from this match for me, most notably of which was Everton youngster John Lundstram (http://twitter.com/jlundstram), the playmaker. However, Manchester United centre back Michael Keane left sided midfielder Ross Barkley (another Toffee) (https://twitter.com/RBarkley20) shone in patches through the match. I thought England played well today, despite a shocking injustice with the sending off, they deserved to get through to the final. Alas, it was not to be, and I expect the Greeks will feel that justice has in fact been done. A 2-1 defeat but I expect they will have their heads held high after that performance. There’s always next time…
Oli's Insight 