U21 International Friendly
at Bramall Lane (Sheffield United)
England U21 (1) 3
Folarin Balogun 41, Conor Gallagher 47,
Cole Palmer 90+5
Germany U21 (1) 1
Felix Nmecha 35
Attendance: 10,735
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| Programme covered first team game last night and U21 game tonight. |
England:
James Trafford, Max Aarons, Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Luke Mbete 82), Levi Colwill (Ryan Sessegnon 68), Luke Thomas (Charlie Cresswell 68) Harvey Elliott (Angel Gomes 68), James Garner (Oliver Skipp 68), Jacob Ramsey (Tommy Doyle 68), Conor Gallagher (James McAtee 68), Folarin Balogun (Cole Palmer 68), Anthony Gordon (Rhian Brewster 68)
Unused subs - Djed Spence, Josh Griffiths, Carl Rushworth, Tyler Morton
Germany:
Noah Atubolu, Kilian Fischer (Jordan Beyer 73), Malick Thiaw (Maximilian Bauer 74), Márton Dárdai, Noah Katterbach, Felix Nmecha (Jamie Leweling 66), Yannik Keitel (Tom Krauss 64), Angelo Stiller, Reda Khadra (Eric Martel 64), Lazar Samardžić (Faride Alidou 74), Jan Thielmann (Ansgar Knauff 74)
Unused subs - Luca Netz, Christian Früchtl
My first visit to Bramall Lane of the week, in advance of my return on Saturday for the Sheffield United v Birmingham City game, was for an U21 international friendly, between England and Germany.
Antonio Di Salvo's German side and Lee Carlsley's England, played out a fairly cautious and uninspiring opening half and hour, where they cancelled each other out for the most part.
Ironically, it was a goal for the visitors that seemed to provide England with the inspiration to up the ante, before getting a grip of the midfield exchanges and claiming a well earned win.
It was almost inevitable that Felix Nmecha would make his mark on this game, given his international pedigree thus far, where he has represented the England U16 side in 2015, both England and Germany U19s in 2018 and the England U19 side during the 2018-19 season. And in the 35th minute tonight he scored for Germany U21s when he headed home Noah Katterbach’s left-wing cross
Minutes later James Garner was close to restoring parity when he found a pocket of space in the German defence, got his head onto the end of a corner and glanced the ball against the woodwork.
But the equaliser wasn't long in coming, when Folarin Balogun pounced on a loose ball in the visitors area and steered the ball past Noah Atubolu.
Two minutes into the second-half, while a good number of people still hadn't returned to their seats from nipping off for a pint, or a piss (or both) during the interval, Conor Gallagher put England in front, after Jacob Ramsey had surged forward and saw his shot deflected shot fall kindly towards Anthony Gordon, who cleverly saw off Kilian Fischer before squaring the ball for Chelsea striker to add the finishing touch from close range.
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| I can't imagine any England or Germany fan wanting to wear a scarf with both teams on it |
Gallagher had a great chance to increase the dominant host's lead, but he didn't strike the ball cleanly enough and merely punted it straight at Atubolu.
The second-half was punctuated by the curse of friendly international's... numerous substitutions. As Carsley made nine changes and Di Salvo seven, though thankfully the majority of these were made in groups rather than one at a time, because it was a school night and being as ugly as sin, I need as much beauty sleep as possible. Rhian Brewster, Tommy Doyle and James McAtee were amongst those who were introduced in the sixty-eighth minute, which went down well with an appreciative home crowd, because all three of them are currently playing for Sheffield United (albeit on loan from Manchester City in the latter two cases). Reda Khadra (also on loan at the Bramall from Brighton & Hove Albion) put in a decent shift for Germany, but was substituted four minutes before his trio of Blades pals entered the fray.
As the rack of replacements settled into the game, the visitors had two opportunities to get back into the game, with Eric Martel glancing Angelo Stiller’s free-kick narrowly wide of the left-hand post, while Faride Alidou broke forward and cut inside on the right hand side of England's area, but couldn't keep his shot down and skied the ball over James Trafford’s bar.
Brewster went close to netting on his home-turf but his headed opportunity was deflected narrowly wide.
Deep into stoppage time, Oliver Skipp threaded a measured pass through the visitors rear-guard that put Cole Palmer clean through and he finished the move with aplomb, netting England's third and final goal of the night. And even deeper into stoppage time Ansgar Knauff was sent off for a second yellow card offence, meaning Germany finished the night with ten players, as Knauff headed off for an ever so slightly earlier bath than his teammates.
FT: England U21 3 v Germany U21 1
