England qualified top of Group D after a nervy 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland that saw the losers eliminated from the tournament.
England made four changes from their draw with the Netherlands, with the most significant being in midfield where both Tom Davies and Trent Arnold missed out through injuries so reserve midfielder Daniel Wright was called upon to play alongside Herbie Kane.
England took a while to adapt to the personnel changes with the Irish settling better as the English began shakily and were unable to move the ball smoothly on the rather bobbly Stara Zagora pitch. The first 20 minutes was littered with scrappy play as both sides had planned to pressurise the other in possession and were as successful in their attempts to regain the ball from their opponents, as they were unsuccessful in their efforts to keep it from them.
A number of recurring themes quickly became apparent; the first was the trickery of Marcus Edwards, the one player of substantial quality on show; the second was the constant niggly fouling of Edwards 30 yards or so from goal; and the third was England’s consistent waste of the resulting free-kicks. Edwards, Holland and Kane all missed the target with differing margins of error, from Edwards’ nicely shaped effort, to Kane’s ballooned strike.
Another theme was that the majority of the chances came from sloppy concessions of the ball in defensive positions, so despite the disjointed nature of the game, there were still plenty of openings to create chances, that almost always ended up as nearly chances due to poor touches and misplaced passes.
After the half-hour mark, England finally began to exert some dominance on the game with two clear opportunities in two minutes. First Ndukwu, who was neutralised for much of the half by the determined O’Keeffe, crept in down the left channel of the defence. His cross-shot was deflected out to Ugbo – who was neutralised for much of the first half by the determined Masterson – and his follow-up from 10 yards was also blocked. As the ball was recycled Nathan Holland broke in from the right, running across the edge of the area until he found the space for a left-footed drive that was well saved by Kelleher.
Half-time saw the introduction of Willock for Ndukwu and there was an immediate increase in productivity down the left with two snap-shots fired off in the opening minutes, the first after a typically swift run, the second after neat interplay with Kane and Wright.
Throughout the match, and the growing English discontent with their sub-par performance, there was the fear the Irish had been showing enough threat of their own that a goal wasn’t out of the question. Anthony Scully, a first-half substitute, almost realised that fear just four minutes after the break when his low shot from 20 yards was palmed out by Woolston into the path of Lunney. Oxford had helped delay matters as he’d managed to get a toe to the ball as it came off the keeper and Lunney was unable to beat to rapidly approaching Woolston who saved the shot (and his team) although further assistance was required from Kane to get the ball clear.
From then on the match was hard work as both teams strived without much strategy or quality for a goal. While it might have appeared there was little pattern to the English play, there was a pattern in that their play bore a remarkable resemblance to that of the elite round qualifiers where Dan Wright had played alongside Davies. It’s cruel to pick upon a fourth choice reserve as a weak point, but England must hope that Arnold and Davies are fit for the quarter-finals. Herbie Kane had begun brightly, but as Davies had in the elite round, he soon began to struggle with having to perform the duties of two players.
As the game dragged on the Irish tired and found themselves increasingly pushed back by England who illuminated the game in the 71st minute through the one real piece of quality from the game’s star performer. Marcus Edwards had done just about everything but score, something he rectified when he picked up the ball, spun 270 degrees away from his markers onto his weaker right foot, which he used to scythe the ball into the top corner, over and around the dive of Kelleher.
The Irish pressed for an equaliser to no avail and England substitute Stephy Mavididi should have ended the contest in the 83rd minute when he ran through on goal against a stretched Ireland defence, showing the power and pace that make him effective at youth level, before finishing by showing the lack of composure and ability that he will have to greatly improve if he is to be a success at the senior one.
For all the weaknesses evident in their display, England did just about earn the result and have qualified from the tournament’s toughest group in first place, with their two excellent performances in the preceding matches meaning hopes can rightfully be high – should Davies or Arnold be available alongside Kane. Having overcome the initial test of Group D they now have the best quarter final draw versus Russia and realistically the semis should be the least that they achieve.
This blog post was provided by the excellent Samuel King, who you can follow on Twitter @KingSRV.
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