England U21 3-1 Switzerland U21
- Published
Substitute Duncan Watmore inspired England as they came from behind to beat Switzerland in a 2017 Under-21 European Championship qualifier.
Shani Tarashaj put the visitors ahead when he reached Denis Zakaria's pass before home goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
James Ward-Prowse equalised with a penalty after Sunderland's Watmore was fouled by away keeper Yvon Nganoma.
Watmore scored with a deflected shot before he set up Chuba Akpom to side-foot in a third goal in injury time.
The result ensures Gareth Southgate's side move three points clear at the top of their qualifying group halfway through their eight-match campaign.
The hosts only had one shot on target in the first half and fell behind in the 45th minute, before the 75th-minute introduction of striker Watmore changed the game.
Despite only being on for 15 minutes, he scored once and made the other two goals as England won for the 21st time in 25 matches since Southgate took over in August 2013.
Only the top team in each of the nine groups is guaranteed a place in the tournament in Poland with the best four second-placed sides meeting in two play-offs to decide the last two spots.
England play their next group match on Saturday, 26 March with the return game in Switzerland.
U21 Euro Championship qualifying: Group Nine | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS |
1. England | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 10 |
2. Norway | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 7 |
3. Switzerland | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 7 |
4. Kazakhstan | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 7 | -4 | 3 |
5. Bosnia-Herzegovina | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 7 | -5 | 1 |
England manager Gareth Southgate: "Switzerland are a well-organised team and good one. We had played well up to a point but to find that edge late on showed tremendous character.
"With all the changes to the squad and to come back like that is a great credit to everyone involved in the group. The players will learn that there are different ways to win football matches.
"Sometimes you have to try different things and we had to give Switzerland different problems and the reaction from Chuba and Duncan to come on and play like that has been fantastic.
"There are 14 players that might have been here but you focus on the guys that are here and this was a great lesson for the boys."
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