Authors: Mark Szczuka & Roddy Speirs
Tuesday 16 October 2018, Tynecastle Park (Edinburgh)
In the final match of the Group 4 Euro 2019 Under-21 qualifiers, Scotland lost at home in Edinburgh to league winners England. The match was effectively meaningless in terms of qualification for next summer’s tournament in Italy and San Marino given that England had already won the group while Scotland’s defeat away to Ukraine last Friday had meant they could no longer finish second in the group and potentially qualify as one of the best second-placed teams. However, such is the rivalry between these two sides historically, even at under-21 level there was still a lot of pride at stake. England’s youngsters also had the impressive unbeaten record of 34 consecutive qualifiers to maintain as well, which they did comfortably.
England took the lead in the 60th minute through a well taken free kick from Arsenal striker Reiss Nelson (who is currently out on loan to German Bundesliga club 1899 Hoffenheim). England sealed the victory with a second goal in the very last minute of the match through a goal by Everton’s Kieran Dowell (another player out on loan from his parent club, this time to Nottingham Forest). It was a well-deserved victory for England who had significantly greater possession and chances than their hosts, unsurprisingly given that 5 of their starting 11 players (and 3 of their subs) had won the 2017 under-20 World Cup in South Korea.
The match was played in front of a crowd of 4,122, many of whom were local kids taking advantage of the early kick off time of 17:30 (set to avoid clashes with the UEFA Nations League matches kicking off at 19:45 across Europe).
England finished the group eight points ahead of The Netherlands who secured second placed after a comfortable 3-0 victory at home to Ukraine. Scotland meanwhile finished fourth in the group of six three points behind Ukraine. It was a disappointing end to the tournament for Scotland manager Scot Gemmill (son of Archie Gemmill who famously scored the best goal of the 1978 World Cup Finals against The Netherlands and who named his son Scotland Gemmill !). Despite the defeat, Scot was still upbeat after the match about the future of Scottish football. He is confident that there are several players in the current under-21 squad as well as in the younger national team squads that are capable of breaking into the main Scotland team in the future. This will be pleasing news for Scottish fans who are currently having to endure a painful run of poor results, with 6 defeats in their last 8 matches, including a poor defeat away to Israel last Thursday evening in the UEFA Nations League.
Scotland
12 Ross Doohan Celtic (loan to Ayr United)
2 Liam Smith Ayr United
3 Greg Taylor Kilmarnock
5 David Bates Hamburg
6 Ryan Porteous Hibernian
7 Chris Cadden Motherwell
8 Allan Campbell Motherwell
10 Lewis Morgan Celtic
15 Oli Shaw Hibernian
16 Billy Gilmour Chelsea
20 Ross McCrorie Rangers
England
1 Dean Henderson Manchester United
3 Jay DaSilva Chelsea (loan to Bristol City)
12 Aaron Wan-Bissaka Crystal Palace
14 Joshua Onomah Spurs (loan to Sheffield Wednesday)
15 Jake Clarke-Salter (C) Chelsea (loan to Vitesse Arnhem)
16 Fikayo Tomori Chelsea (loan to Derby County)
17 Kieran Dowell Everton
19 Reiss Nelson Arsenal (loan to Hoffenheim)
20 Dominic Solanke Liverpool
21 Harvey Barnes Leicester City (loan to West Bromwich Albion)
23 Tammy Abraham Chelsea (loan to Aston Villa)
England
Scotland
