The Under-21 England team thrashed their hosts Denmark 4-0 to continue their strong preparations for the forthcoming European Championship. Ruben Loftus-Cheek was on target as he grabbed a brace – his fifth goal in six starts for the team. Solly March and Cauley Woodrow go on the scorers’ list as England dominated in Randers.
The 21st edition of the Under-21 European Championship is slated to hold in Poland during the summer. England are expected to make their mark at the tournament, going by the results against teams that have qualified. Their current good form should see them riding into the tournament with great momentum, with the teams 1-0 defeat to Germany the only worry for the team ahead of their opener against Sweden on June 16. Their matches against Poland and Slovakia should be relatively straight-forward, so should see England qualify for the knock-out stages at the very least.
Chelsea rising star Loftus-Cheek came on as a sub during the game against the Germans but he was handed a start in the game against the Danes, and connected to a low cross from Jacob Murphy for his first then he scored following a pass from Jack Grealish to complete the rout. Brighton’s Solly March scored a left footed effort while Cauley Woodrow (currently on loan at Burton Albion from Fulham) scored with the help of Wolves centre-midfielder Kortney Hause.
Whilst England don’t quite have the long odds of a fantasy slots machine, they still only have an outside chance of coming home with the European Championship trophy – Germany are the current favoutires, which bodes well for the future of the full German National side, who are already the World Champions. Spain and Portugal are the other main competitors for the title, with Spain recently defeating Italy when the teams met.
England boss Aidy Boothroyd, who took over from Gareth Southgate, thinks that England have a fighting chance, especially after taking Denmark apart so convincingly. “I didn’t underestimate the opposition. They are at the European finals so it makes it even more special to get the result we did. Ruben was terrific. But the reason he was terrific is he had 10 other players who worked really hard for him. He still has things to do in certain aspects of his game, but they all do,” the coach Aidy Boothroyd said after the game.
England actually open the whole tournament with their match against Sweden on the 16th June, before playing Slovakia on 19th, and Poland on the 22nd.