Young Lions to come roaring back against Romania
England’s young lions lost their opening European Championship match in heart breaking fashion. Will they have the character to bounce back against Romania? Have a read of our preview here:
Young Lions stunned by French
It is more than fair to say that England relied heavily on their ‘keeper to prevent a heavy defeat against the French on Tuesday. The heroics of Dean Henderson were not enough to prevent the loss, however.
The young goalkeeper saved a penalty and made several other top saves to stop a French side from running away with the game.
France outshot England 18 to five and had seven shots on target to England’s one.
This isn’t misleading as, despite having the better of the opening exchanges, England were forced to cling on following Hamza Choudhary sending off for a lunging tackle on Jonathan Bamba.
England led thanks to a brilliant solo effort by Phil Foden but threw the game away conceding, first, and equaliser in the 89th minute and then putting through their own net deep into stoppage time to steal defeat from the jaws of victory – not the start Aidy Boothroyd wanted.
Not Wan to remember
If you haven’t heard, read or come across at least one Aaron Wan-Bissaka transfer rumour this summer then you either live under a rock or are a Palace fan in denial.
The full-back is coming off the back of a tremendous season but had a game to forget against the French. Not only was he the unfortunate player to score the last gasp own goal but he was also sloppy in possession throughout.
It was a shaky performance from the 21-year-old and he will need to step up his game against Romania or face being dropped.
Romania off to a flyer
The great group of Romanian players that took the country to the 1994 World Cup quarter-final have been a hard act to follow for many generations since but is this about to change?
If the 4-1 win against Croatia in the opening game is anything to go by, you’d have to argue it could be. The team in yellow were superb with striker George Pucas particularly impressive. In fairness, he is 23 and playing for Palermo but he was ably supported by Ianis Hagi, son of the former great Ghorghe, and ‘keeper Andrei Radu, who made some excellent saves.
This team were unbeaten in qualifying, finishing top of a group that contain Portugal, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Wales and Switzerland, while notching up seven wins and three draws in their 10 games.
It will be interesting to see how far this group of players can go in these Euros.
England U21 v Romania U21 betting tip
Even though Romania are an impressive team, England still have the better players with more experience at elite level. The young lions must now win this one or face a tough final game for qualification to the knockout rounds. With this in mind, backing England to win and both teams to score at odds of 47/20 is a decent shout here.
