Last night I went to Carrow Road in Norwich to watch an Under 21 International Friendly between England and Slovakia.In truth there was only ever gonna be one winner and before Ashley Young was tripped inside the area which resulted in Keiron Richardson scoring from the spot David Nugent had already hit the post and Nedum Onuoha forced a good save from the Slovakian Keeper. England then should have had another penalty when Ashley Young was fouled again but it was to soon after the 1st one so the referee bottled it.
England ran riot in the 2nd half and it was one way traffic as Nigel Reo Coker's drive was deflected in to make it 2-0. Newcastle defender Steven Taylor headed England's third from a good cross by Ashley Young from the left wing. The best goal of the night came from Tom Huddlestone who curled a peach from outside the box into the top left hand corner. Reading's Leroy Lita the pounced on a loose ball and calmly slotted home to complete the rout six minutes from time.
After the 90 minutes there was a penalty shoot out arranged by England manager Stuart Pearce to help his players practise in case they needed to take them in the forthcoming championships. England won the shootout 4-3 with Leighton Baines the only England player to miss.
All in all this was a useful exercise for England who will now head to the U21 championships full of confidence and no doubt believing the can win it.
1 comment:
The shootout didn't help them that much.
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