Boothroyd eyeing Euro 2019 glory as England Under-21s qualify in style

Boothroyd eyeing Euro 2019 glory as England Under-21s qualify in style

England Under-21s boss Aidy Boothroyd wants Euro 2019 glory after seeing his side book their spot in next summer’s finals with a 7-0 rout of Andorra.

The Young Lions reached the tournament in Italy and San Marino with a game to spare after topping Group Four.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin netted a brace, which included a penalty, while Ademola Lookman, Ezri Konsa, Dominic Solanke, Reiss Nelson and Christian Garcia’s own goal wrapped up a dominant win in Chesterfield.

England have now qualified for seven straight tournaments and are 34 games unbeaten in the qualifiers, and Boothroyd is eager for success next summer.

He said: “Whatever the tournament we want to get to the latter stages and we want to win things. This group have won with the junior teams and it has been a little while since Stuart’s (Pearce) team got to the final (in 2009).

“We’ve qualified for Italy which is the biggest thing, to play in the European Championships and getting the boys tournament experience is what we’re about.”

He added of Thursday’s one-sided victory: “We should win the game and you know that going into it but there’s always that banana skin and worry you can’t score and their goalkeeper makes a few saves.

“I’m still thinking about Scotland (on Tuesday) and want to get it out the way. We want to finish with as many points as we can.”

Lookman opened the scoring after nine minutes and Konsa drilled in before Calvert-Lewin added a third before the break.

Calvert-Lewin bagged a penalty when Konsa was tugged three minutes into the second half and Solanke rounded Francisco Pires to score a late fifth.

Arsenal’s Nelson netted a cheeky debut goal in stoppage time before Garcia turned into his own net to complete the rout.

Manchester City’s Phil Foden impressed on his debut along with Lookman after the Everton forward was criticised by Boothroyd in last month’s win in Latvia.

Boothroyd said: “There was a lot going on in his mind at that time. He was excellent tonight. He stuck to the gameplan and he is a very good young player. I am delighted he got his goal.

“Phil is a real team player. When he gets the ball in difficult positions, he wriggles out of it like a little eel. Considering he hasn’t played a game with this group of players, I thought he took to it really well.”

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