MX23RW : Thursday, June 3 19:33:32| >> :600:4182849:4182849:
Mar 28, 2021 at 8pm UK at Estadio Nacional
Portugal U21sPortugal Under-21s
2-0
England U21sEngland Under-21s
Mota (64'), Trincao (74' pen.)
Correia (52'), Ramos (90+1')
FT(HT: 0-0)

Godfrey (67')

Aidy Boothroyd: 'Focus must be on slim qualification hopes'

Aidy Boothroyd: 'Focus must be on slim qualification hopes'
© Reuters
England Under-21s are close to an early exit at Euro 2021 after a second successive group-stage defeat.

Boss Aidy Boothroyd insists the focus must be on England Under-21s' slim qualification hopes and not his future after a limp defeat to Portugal left them on the brink of elimination at Euro 2021.

Dany Mota's goal and Francisco Trincao's penalty earned Portugal a 2-0 win in Group D on Sunday.

England failed to have an attempt on target despite Boothroyd's pre-match pledge they would attack more after the opening 1-0 defeat to Switzerland.

Portugal v England – 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Group D – Stozice Stadium
Portugal's Dany Mota opened the scoring in Ljubljana (Luka Stanzl/PA)

The Young Lions have not had a shot on target from open play in their first two games in Slovenia.

They now need to beat Croatia by two goals and hope Switzerland lose to Portugal on Wednesday to reach the knock-out phase in two months.

Boothroyd – who is out of contract in the summer – said: "My view is, I'm here to do this tournament and we are disappointed. We have some hope so while there is hope we have to go after it.

"That's what I have to do, not consider my future but the immediate future and see if we can get a result against Croatia.

"It does hurt because you always want to win, I have to do my job, pick the lads up, pick the staff up and go again.

"It's still mathematically possible. We wanted to go into the final game with it still in our hands but unfortunately it's not.

"Considering the amount of goals we scored leading up to this, it was a real strength of this group. To not have a shot or a real threat is something we need to rectify for the next game.

"This should be about the team, the players who got us here, the players who have done very well.

England suffered their second successive defeat in Slovenia
England suffered their second successive defeat in Slovenia (Luka Stanzl/PA)

"It hurts a lot and I'm affected by it. It's mathematically possible, we have to go out and get a good result. You have to make sure you bounce back when things go wrong."

The Young Lions have won just three of 18 games in European Championship finals since 2011 and they deserved little from another poor display in Ljubljana.

Ben Godfrey blocked Mota's header and Aaron Ramsdale denied Fabio Vieira early on.

Portugal continued to create the openings and Ramsdale saved Thierry Correia's drive before Godfrey denied Mota a tap in from the follow up.

Portugal v England – 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship – Group D – Stozice Stadium
Portugal's Francisco Trincao scores from the spot (Luka Stanzl/PA)

From the corner, Ramsdale palmed Pote's low drive straight to Florentino, who stabbed wide.

There was no threat from England – without the injured Callum Hudson-Odoi – and Portugal deservedly took the lead after 64 minutes.

Oliver Skipp lost the ball in midfield and Pote broke to feed Mota, who expertly curled into the corner off the post.

It got worse for England 10 minutes later when Marc Guehi's clumsy challenge brought down Goncalo Ramos in the box and Barcelona's Trincao fired in high from the spot.

ID:441004: cacheID:441004:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:8858:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Did you know...?
England Under-21s boss Aidy Boothroyd pictured in November 2019
Read Next:
Aidy Boothroyd: 'England will not go down without a fight'
>
Read more about Aidy Boothroyd Football

rhs 2.0
Todays Game Header Right
Tables
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CManchester CityMan City38275683325186
2Manchester UnitedMan Utd382111673442974
3Liverpool38209968422669
4Chelsea381910958362267
5Leicester CityLeicester382061268501866
6West Ham UnitedWest Ham381981162471565
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs381881268452362
8Arsenal381871355391661
9Leeds UnitedLeeds38185156254859
10Everton38178134748-159
11Aston Villa38167155546955
12Newcastle UnitedNewcastle38129174662-1645
13Wolverhampton WanderersWolves38129173652-1645
14Crystal Palace38128184166-2544
15Southampton38127194768-2143
16Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton38914154046-641
17Burnley38109193355-2239
RFulham38513202753-2628
RWest Bromwich AlbionWest Brom38511223576-4126
RSheffield UnitedSheff Utd3872292063-4323

Subscribe to our Newsletter


Transfer Talk Daily
Match previews - twice weekly
Morning Briefing (7am UTC)
Ultra close-up image of Kevin De Bruyne [NOT FOR USE IN ARTICLES]Get the latest transfer news, match previews and news direct to your inbox!