England beat Czechia in European U21 Championship opener | OneFootball

England started their European U21 Championship title defence strongly, beating Czechia 3-1 in their opening match at the DAC Stadion on Thursday evening.

Head coach Lee Carsley named a strong team, which included Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah, Tottenham Hotspur’s Archie Gray and Newcastle United full-back Tino Livramento.

Nottingham Forest midfielder Elliott Anderson, Ipswich Town’s Omari Hutchinson and Manchester City’s young star James McAtee also started the game.

England made a bright start, with Livramento coming close to setting up the opener and McAtee firing his effort off target.

Hutchinson registered the Young Lions’ first shot on target in the eighth minute before Czechia also threatened to score at the other end.

Goalkeeper James Beadle was forced to make a save in the 26th minute, denying Stepan Chaloupek’s header from breaching his goal.

Elliott gave England the lead in the 38th minute, rifling the ball into the net with a powerful low strike after a lovely move that involved Hutchinson, Livramento and McAtee.

The defending champions doubled their lead two minutes after the restart when Livramento delivered a low cross into the area, which Jonathan Rowe flicked in.

Czechia quickly halved the deficit as Daniel Fila nodded Vaclav Sejk’s cross beyond the reach of Beadle.

Three minutes before the hour mark, Beadle had to make a save to prevent Czechia from equalising.

Carsley replaced Rowe and McAtee with Jay Stansfield and Ethan Nwaneri in the 68th minute.

Charlie Cresswell scored England’s third goal seven minutes later, heading the ball into the net from Alex Scott’s corner.

Livramento was named the man-of-the-match for his brilliant performance.

Germany beat Slovenia 3-0 in the other group game to gain top spot on goal difference ahead of the Young Lions.

England return to action when they face Slovenia at the Stadion pod Zoborom on Sunday.