England made it three wins from three and dumped Germany out of the European Under-21 Championship with a 2-0 win in their final group game in Batumi, Georgia.
Two goals in the opening 21 minutes from Cameron Archer and Harvey Elliott were enough to secure another three points as England topped Group C with maximum points while holders Germany were sent crashing out without a win to their name. England will meet Portugal in the quarter-final on Sunday.
England made an explosive start and hit the front after just four minutes when Jacob Ramsey’s clever through ball found Archer and he calmly tucked the ball past Noah Atubolu to make it 1-0.
The Young Lions nearly doubled their advantage six minutes later when the ball fell to Ramsey inside the area but his low drive went wide of the far post.
Lee Carsley’s side did make it two in the 21st minute thanks to a wonderful solo effort from Elliott. The Liverpool midfielder collected the ball inside his own half, drove at the German defence into the penalty area before coolly slotting home to make it 2-0.
Germany needed to win to have any chance of qualifying and their first chance came on the half-hour mark but Brentford forward Kevin Schade’s shot from inside the area found the hands of James Trafford.
Schade was Germany’s main threat and he had another chance to pull one back just before half-time when he sprinted down the right-hand side but saw his effort tipped away by the keeper.
Germany may have been facing an early exit but they posed little threat in the second half as England continued to probe, with half-chances falling to Cole Palmer after Elliott had forced a great save from Atubolu.
James Garner came close to a third with 15 minutes to go after some neat link-up play but the Everton midfielder could not steer his effort on target from close range.
Germany’s best chance of the game came three minutes from time when Finn Ole Becker’s powerful deflected effort was palmed away by Trafford, who secured another clean sheet alongside three straight 2-0 wins.
Young Lions coach, Lee Carsley, hailed the cutting edge shown by his side. “We were fortunate to take our chances,” he said. “Germany had some really good chances but didn’t take them. We’re really happy with the result but more importantly the performance.
“We thought it was a really difficult game. We knew preparing for the game that it was going to be a tough one.
“We were lucky enough to play Germany in one of the international windows in a friendly. We knew the quality that they had. Tactically they’re very difficult to break down and you’ve seen that in the game today.”
England have yet to concede a goal in the tournament having kept three straight clean sheets, and Carsley praised the performance of his defensive unit.
He continued: “We talk about the whole team defending, as opposed to just the defence. I thought Levi (Colwill) and Taylor (Harwood-Bellis) as well as Jarrad (Branthwaite) and Charlie (Cresswell) have done outstandingly at centre-back, and obviously James (Trafford) in goal.
“As a whole, we’ve defended really well from full-back areas, with midfielders and forwards. It was really pleasing to see, right at the end of the game, players making blocks on the edge of the box and blocking crosses. It’s good to see.”
