European U21 Championship: England finish bottom of group after 1-0 defeat to Israel
England's miserable European Under-21Championships was completed by a 1-0 defeat to hosts Israel in theirfinal group game in Jerusalem.
Following defeats to Italy andNorway the Young Lions were already eliminated from the competition butOfir Kriaf's 80th minute curling effort from the edge of the penaltyarea ensured they would finish bottom of Group A.
With nothing but pride to play for boss Stuart Pearce - whose futureis also in doubt following the disappointing tournament - opted to makeseveral changes to his starting XI.
Liverpool's Andre Wisdom captained the side while the likes of JasonSteele, Nathaniel Clyne, Tom Lees and Josh McEachran were all handedstarts at the Teddi Stadium.
Tournament hosts Israel still held faint hopes of reaching thesemi-finals, but needed a convincing win as well as a big victory forItaly against Norway in the other group game to be within a chance ofgoing through.
We had to wait until the 20 minute mark to get the first effort ontarget, Sintayehu Sallalich's cross shot from a tight angle pushed awayby goalkeeper Steele.
The best opening in the first half though went England's way on 33minutes, Israel goalkeeper Boris Klaiman doing well to save from TomInce's shot and Wilfried Zaha's header in quick succession.
Pearce's side began the second half well with Connor Wickham - whohad previously seen a number of shots well blocked - bending in aneffort that fizzed just wide of the right-hand post.
Nir Biton then got the crowd to their feet with a swerving effortfrom distance on 57 minutes that beat Steele but thumped off thecrossbar and rebounded away from danger.
The game then deteriorated and looked to be meandering to a drawbefore Kriaf's late intervention, completing what has been a miserabletournament for Pearce's young charges, who failed to score a goal fromopen play.
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