Time to step up – Lee Carsley issues challenge to England Under-21s
It is two years since the Young Lions won the competition for the first time since 1984, and just the third time in their history, by beating the Spaniards 1-0 in a tense final in Georgia.
La Rojita will look to avenge that loss in Saturday's quarter-final in Slovakia as England seek to keep their title defence alive by bouncing bounce back from Wednesday's 2-1 defeat to Germany.
'I think it's important that when people watch England Under-21s play back at home, they're excited by the way they're playing,' boss Carsley said.
'We want to see real attacking football, aggressive football, because what we've done in the past has got us to this position.
'If we're going to win major tournaments, these are the moments where we have to step up.
'To get out of the group we must give them the positives for that. It's always balanced with the losing the game, which is disappointing, especially in the manner that we did.
Our #YoungLions training under the Slovakian sun ☀️
Tomorrow: Spain v England in the #U21EURO quarter-finals! pic.twitter.com/4883jogksi
— England (@England) June 20, 2025
'Probably the first 20 minutes wasn't great, but a lot of positives from that moment onwards in terms of still creating a lot of chances, a lot better in the second half.
'All of that has to go down to the players and the way they approached the second half and hopefully the plan is that they carry that now into the start of the game against Spain.'
Carsley's England may boast some exciting talents and head into the quarter-final as holders, but Spain are considered the bookmakers' favourites to win the Trnava encounter.
'I don't feel like an underdog,' head coach Carsley said. 'I think there's still a massive expectation that against Spain we can perform, and that's all we need to do.
A post shared by England football team (@england)
'If we can perform, we can play to our ability, we've got a great chance of winning the game.
'I believe that Spain are a top team. Anyone that was with us in the last Euros, you have to beat all of the top teams and Spain are another team we've got a lot of respect for.
'The final that we had a couple of years ago was so close, could have gone either way. We scored a fortunate goal and played OK in the game.
'But there's definitely a lot more to come from us if we're going to progress.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
T20 Blast: Jacks stars for Surrey and Somerset win again
England white-ball batter Will Jacks provided the Friday night fireworks in the T20 Blast as Surrey hammered Middlesex by 75 runs at the Kia front of a packed crowd, Jacks hit 97 off 56 balls, with five sixes, as Surrey enjoyed a third win in four stay second in the South Group, four points behind leaders Somerset who made it seven wins out of eight with a six-wicket success over Glamorgan. Northamptonshire remain top of the North Group, but it is now back-to-back defeats after they lost by 24 runs to Nottinghamshire jumped up to second as they smashed a huge 243-7 against Derbyshire in an emphatic 80-run victory, while Durham beat Yorkshire by 63 the best game of the night, Gloucestershire beat Hampshire by two wickets off the last ball of the game, while Bears had a thrilling one-wicket win over Worcestershire at Edgbaston, also in the final spare a thought for Essex, who remain winless after losing by 47 runs at home to Kent. South Group - Top two pulling clear Runners-up last year and winners in 2023, Somerset's T20 pedigree was again in evidence at Sophia seam attack of Matt Henry, Riley Meredith and captain Lewis Gregory reduced Glamorgan to 49-5 in the ninth over and the innings did not recover.A total of 130-9 never looked to be enough as T20 specialist Tom Kohler-Cadmore hit 38, with Gregory scoring the winning run with 20 balls to captain Stevie Eskinazi had asked Surrey to bat first in the London derby and he must have regretted it when Jacks was hitting to all fell three short of his hundred and the loss of wickets in the latter overs kept the score to reply, Middlesex lost wickets at regular intervals, with New Zealand white-ball skipper Mitchell Santner impressing with it was left to Jacks to grab the last wicket as Surrey bowled their rivals out for just opted to chase at Ambassador Cruise Line Ground, in Chelmsford, in search of that elusive win, but they watched Kent opener Tawenda Muyeye strike his maiden T20 century with 100 off 59 balls as they racked up an imposing Elgar struck 50, but Matt Parkinson produced his T20 best figures of 5-23 to leave the chase in tatters.T20 captain Simon Harmer smashed four successive sixes as he hit 55 off 21 balls before he was last man out as they were bowled out for defence of their T20 crown began with six straight losses, but they made it two wins in a row in a Bristol Payne starred with the ball taking 3-20 as Hampshire were squeezed to despite D'Arcy Short's 49, things got tense as Liam Dawson and Benny Howell slowed up the scoring, and with three needed off Chris Wood's final over and then one off the last ball, Payne hit it for six to secure victory. North Group - big wins for Lancs and Durham Northamptonshire opened the T20 season with six straight wins, five of which were achieved by batting decided to bat themselves and despite losing wickets, Tom Moores' 53 helped them to in successive overs from England Lions leg-spinner Farhan Ahmed put the Outlaws on top as Northants slipped to 45-4 inside nine put them in trouble and they were always second best, eventually all out for 140 in the final Midlands derby at Edgbaston provided the drama even though visitors Worcestershire were bowled out for 134 in the 19th over batting first as Dan Mousley took 4-19 for Davies hit 42, but his wicket to Fateh Singh (3-18) and then two in two balls from the slow left-armer left the hosts in big trouble at Sam Hain played a match-winning knock of 38 not out as he guided the tail through with just one wicket and three balls to spare. Meeting for the second time in six days, Yorkshire invited Durham to bat at Chester-le-Street with opener Graham Clark hitting 53, before New Zealand white-ball specialist Jimmy Neesham provided a fine 42 not out from 21 balls to take the score to needed a big innings to get close, but nobody bettered Adam Lyth's 38, with four Durham bowlers claiming two wickets each to bowl out their opponents for 130 in the 18th Wells plundered a club record eight sixes in a Lancashire T20 innings as he top-scored with 83 in his side's huge total against Derbyshire, while Matty Hurst smashed 59 off only 29 Caleb Jewell was last man out for 65 as the hosts were bowled out for 163 in reply, and they stay bottom of the group as the competition now takes a two-week break.
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Pulse edge out Lightning to reach Grand Final
London Pulse booked their place in the Netball Super League Grand Final with a thrilling 50-49 win over Loughborough who secured top spot at the end of the Netball Super League regular season, ahead of Lightning, had trailed 29-21 at the third quarter saw Pulse seize the upper hand as they battled back into the contest at the Copper quick turnovers from captain Zara Everitt allowed Pulse to chip away at Lightning's Tchine's clinical scoring helped Pulse draw level before she put them in the lead towards the end of the third then held her nerve in the circle with a trio of decisive super shots in the final five Wallace-Joseph scored a super shot at the death but it was not enough to prevent Pulse taking victory and booking their place in the Grand Final on 6 July. 'Grit and determination' Player of the match, Pulse's Olivia Tchine: "I don't think it has sunk in yet but we had to work hard for that. We didn't have the best start - I don't know why. The fact we were still able to come out and grind showed we really wanted this."We haven't been a grand final for two years so it feels good to be back. We came into the changing room and it was like 'do we want this or not' and we came out to show it. In order for us to compete with the big teams we had to show we wanted it."Pulse director of netball, Sam Bird: "I am buzzing after that terrible start we had. I am really proud of the players for the grit and determination to pull it back."By half-time we knew the tide had turned. Defensively we were like a brick wall and it's such a big agile box which is difficult for any team to break through. We'll give our best against whoever we play next."Lightning head coach Vic Burgess: "I thought we had a good start but the third quarter we were hesitant in our plan and made errors."We had opportunities and didn't take them. We have another crack again next week in the preliminary final. We need to keep being consistent and execute things in attack and defence."There's lots positives and it was down to very small margins tonight. It could have gone either way, so we have to make sure our intensity is high and having that belief." Thunder cruise into preliminary final Manchester Thunder eased to a 79-49 victory over London Mavericks to secure a meeting with Lightning in next weekend's preliminary attack Elmere van der Berg led the way in a dominant display for Thunder with 46 goals while goal shooter Paige Reed weighed in with had led 24-13 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back despite the best efforts of Emily Andrew, who finished with 17 goals for the preliminary final will take place on the weekend of 29 June with the victors heading into the Grand Final to face Pulse on 6 July.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
How record Florian Wirtz transfer could spark £400m Liverpool overhaul as Arne Slot plots Feyenoord-style transformation
ARNE SLOT spent just £10million last summer on Juventus playmaker Federico Chiesa. But the Liverpool boss — fresh from winning the Premier League title in his debut season — is on a £200m-plus transfer blitz to make sure the Reds blast out of the blocks from day one of pre-season. 6 6 German sensation Florian Wirtz, 22, is the marquee signing for a British-record £116.5m and joins his old Bayer Leverkusen team-mate Jeremie Frimpong — who cost £29.5m — at Anfield. Bournemouth left-back Milos Kerkez is next to make the move to Merseyside after a £40m deal was agreed yesterday, while Valencia's £30m keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili joins on July 1. Slot is also keen on Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi, while Newcastle pair Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon remain targets in a flurry of summer transfer activity that could see the Kop boss spend another £200m. While rivals Manchester City and Chelsea exert themselves in the sweltering heat of the Club World Cup — which runs until July 13 in the USA — Liverpool are primed to turn up the pressure in the title race when they kick-off the season against Bournemouth on August 15. Playmaker Wirtz is the headline act in Slot's revolution — one the Dutchman has been plotting over the last 12 months. Slot, 46, paid tribute to predecessor Jurgen Klopp when he lifted a record-equalling 20th league title in front of an adoring Kop back in May. But the former Feyenoord boss clearly felt he inherited a squad that needed a complete makeover in tactics and personnel. 6 Slot saved his money and waited while winning the hearts and minds of a doubting red half of Merseyside — as well as players, who were unsure of what would come next. At the same time he was identifying who he wanted — and who he didn't. Andy Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas, Jarrel Quansah — almost certain to leave for Leverkusen — Joe Gomez, Harvey Elliott and Darwin Nunez could all be out this summer. Of course, Slot had been here before. After his first season in charge of Feyenoord, in 2021-22, he instigated massive changes. He moved on 16 players, including £12.9m Tyrell Malacia to Manchester United and Luis Sinisterra, who was sold to Leeds for £25m, while 11 were either let go or sent out on loan. Meanwhile, for around £35m — far less than the mammoth budget he is now armed with — 15 were brought in. Slot lifted the Eredivisie title in 2023 and the Dutch Cup last year before making his way to Anfield. And changes were made as he got his feet under the table, although none of them suggested how seismic they would become. Klopp's 'heavy metal football' morphed into far more controlled and muted melodies, the beat about possession, not frantic assault. Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister went to double-bass, the pair redeployed from attacking roles to holding midfielders. Trent Alexander-Arnold no longer busked away from his right-back spot so often, Nunez was made a third string, Dominik Szoboszlai moved into a more free–flowing, attacking role, much of it to enable Mo Salah to play all that jazz and become the Football Writers' Association and Prem Player of the Year. 6 6 Slot got the band playing to a more sophisticated rhythm and turned them into a No 1 hit. The campaign morphed into what seemed a perfect symphony but as Liverpool's summer splurge shows, with Wirtz coming in as the conductor of a new orchestra, it was really only the opening overture. Now comes what Slot will hope will be the creation of his very own work of art, led by 5ft 10in Wirtz, who many believe is becoming one of the great maestros of the game. He arrives as a generational talent who not only creates but scores — 44 goal contributions across the last two Bundesliga campaigns, including 21 goals and a league-high of 23 assists. Wirtz's figures are the second most of any player aged under 23 in Europe's top-five leagues, just behind Chelsea's Cole Palmer. Last season, for the second in a row, he was one of just six players to reach double figures for goals and assists in Europe's big-five leagues. Wirtz is his own one–man band. He is almost faultless with both feet and waltzes past defenders because he is so difficult to predict. Over the last two years he attempted a Bundesliga-high of 313 take-ons. And just Barcelona's Lamine Yamal (231), West Ham's Mohammed Kudus (216) and Manchester City's Jeremy Doku (203) completed more than his 161 dribbles in that same time frame in Europe's top five leagues. Wirtz created 124 chances from open play in that period, a figure bettered only by Salah (150), Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard (139), Manchester United's captain Bruno Fernandes (137) and Chelsea's Palmer (134).
