If Lee Carsley cares to indulge in omens then here under the lights in Slovakia, England produced a good one with a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic on Thursday night.
Two years ago England started the Under 21 Euros with a 2-0 win as the designated ‘away’ team against the Czechs. Five games later they were lifting the trophy for the first time in almost 40 years,
Here there was to be no perfect shutout, that was ruined by Czech striker Daniel Fila heading in early in the second half, but for all of Carsley’s angst at a ‘clunky’ and ‘unorganised’ start to this Euros title defence, what was served up was thrills and spills from a new group ready to go back-to-back.
The absence of Liam Delap from this tournament after the striker joined Chelsea in time to play at the Club World Cup always felt a bigger deal to everyone other than Carsley since England arrived here in Slovakia.
Carsley again leaned on his innovation and his penchant for false nines in deploying a 4-2-2-2 system.
It was Anthony Gordon and Noni Madueke two years ago in Georgia and this time the responsibility had been passed on to Jonathan Rowe and James McAtee, wearing the captain’s armband after turning his back on the Club World Cup with Manchester City.
Harvey Elliott opened the scoring for England in a comfortable 3-1 victory
Jonathan Rowe netted the second for the Young Lions on Thursday night
Charlie Cresswell scored the third to put the result beyond doubt in the group game
With Omari Hutchinson operating as an inverted No 10 off the left and Harvey Elliott off the right, fluidity was king for Carsley and England.
And while Elliot Anderson found himself booked after just 16 seconds for a rash challenge, this was a cool and composed start to England’s title defence. With only two survivors from the 2023 winners, no sign of being weighed down by the pressure here.
Hutchinson forced the first big save from Czech Republic goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek nine minutes in with a fizzing strike before Elliott was left to rue a fluffed three-on-two after an error from Stepan Chaloupek.
But Elliott, who was cut adrift in the first half before a positional tweak from Carsley 20 minutes in, made up for his earlier indecision by drilling England into the lead just before the break.
Brilliant work again by Tino Livramento, who was a real standout, saw his cross deflected to the back post and a cushioned pass back into Elliott’s path was drilled home with confidence by the Liverpool man.
The Czech Republic, again facing England to start successive tournaments and arriving without an opening win since beating Ukraine in 2011, did cause some moments of panic, though.
A VAR check for a penalty in the closing moments of the half gave this partisan crowd a brief glimmer of hope before that was waved away, while James Beadle had earlier made a decent save to deny Chaloupek.
Lee Carsley’s side played fluid football and thrived in a 4-2-2-2 formation
The Czechs gave England pause for thought when they answered Rowe making it 2-0 from close range soon after the restart with Fila’s clinical header.
Ethan Nwaneri and Jay Stansfield sparked life back into England when changes were made and from there they regained their stranglehold on a game that only went awry through their own self-inflicted mistakes.
And any lingering nerves, for there some on the England bench, were eased when Charlie Cresswell nodded in with 15 minutes to go from Alex Scott’s corner.
So, as it was, another win over the Czechs as the ‘away team’ by a two-goal margin. We’ve seen that before…
