England knocked out of U-21 Euros following Romania defeat
ByTNT Sports
Published 21/06/2019 at 21:38 GMT+1
U-21 EURO Group C, Orogel Stadium-Dino Manuzzi - England U-21 2 (Gray 79, Abraham 87) Romania U-21 4 (Puscas 76(p), Hagi 85, Coman 89, 90)
ames Maddison of England U21 during the EURO U21 match between England v Romania at the Orogel Stadium-Dino Manuzzi on June 21, 2019 in Cesena Italy
Image credit: Getty Images
Aidy Boothroyd’s England were eliminated from the 2019 UEFA European Under-21 Championship after they fell to a 4-2 defeat against Romania.
It was a must-win game for the Young Lions, who were defeated 2-1 by France in their Group C opener on Tuesday, and Boothroyd made a number changes ahead of the Romania game.
Kieran Dowell came in for the suspended Hamza Choudhury, sent off in that opening loss to France, while Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Mason Mount, Harvey Barnes and Jonjoe Kenny were in the stead of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Phil Foden, Ryan Sessegnon and Dominic Solanke.
The reshuffle seemed to unsettle the England defence, who gave Andrei Ivan a gilt-edged opportunity after just seven minutes but the Krasnodar forward got his bearings wrong and dragged his effort wide.
England monopolised the ball but found themselves a goal down and staring down an early elimination when Kenny felled Florinel Coman and George Puscas dispatched the resultant penalty.
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George Puscas of Romania U21, Vlack Dragomir of Romania U21,Tudor Baluta of Romania U21, Florin-Bogdan Stefan of Romania U21, Florinel Coman of Romania U21 celebrate 1-0 during the EURO U21 match between England v Romania at the Orogel Stadium-Dino Manuzz
Image credit: Getty Images
However, a flash of individual brilliance from Leicester man Demarai Gray gave England a flicker of hope but that was extinguished just moments later when Ianis Hagi capitalised on a heavy-footed Fikayo Tomori to re-establish the one-goal lead with a fine strike from distance.
Tammy Abraham, rather surprisingly left on the bench until the 77th minute, again drew England level but Romania, in a position of strength having opened with a 4-1 win against Croatia, held firm before hitting Boothroyd’s men on the break.
Coman hit a quick-fire brace to seal the match; if the first of which owed much to an unconscionable error from Dean Henderson, the second rendered the Manchester United stopper a spectator as the FCSB star fired an unstoppable effort into the top corner.
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