BLOG - 2014 European Under-17 Championship: England 4-1 Turkey - Match Report
England beat Turkey 4-1 in Gozo, a result which effectively secures them qualification and knocks the Turkish out.
Two of England's admitted problems this season have been slow starts and wasteful finishing and, while the former was not an issue as they opened the first half at exhilarating pace, the second negated their positivity as they failed to take early chances. After four minutes, Brown burst down the left nutmegging the Turkish right back Polat who brought him down in the box as Cetin dived at his feet. The ball ran loose to Roberts, whose shot from six yards was blocked by a retreating defender. Despite appeals for a penalty none was given but the replays showed the goalkeeper's dive in front of Brown obscured Polat's contact on his heels, creating the optical illusion he'd gone down anticipating contact with Cetin rather from the knick.
England followed this by attacking at pace down the left, where Brown and Armstrong were running free in the channels, played in by Ledson's passing, while Patrick Roberts was busy on the other wing terrifying the left-back. However, England's early dominance in the opening quarter of an hour didn't yield a goal and they would be punished moments later.
Incedere on the Turkish right cut infield and played an excellent cross-field pass to Enes Unal, whose first touch took him goal side of Gomez. The defender got himself back in position but Unal went down under his physical challenge and the referee deemed it to be a penalty. Unal took it, scuffing it a little on the bobbly pitch down to Freddie Woodman's right, where the goalkeeper made a fine save and the ball was cleared. From the next phase of play Unal received the ball just inside the box with three England defenders around him who, scared to concede another penalty, left it to the other to challenge him. Gomez, who was goal-side, allowed him to turn and get off a shot which bobbled over Woodman's hand into the bottom corner.
England took a few minutes to recover their momentum but six minutes later Gomez took the opportunity to restore his pride by storming the Turkish barn. Intercepting the ball in front of Unal, he powered down the right beating three players and pulled the ball back to the ever-calm Dominic Solanke, who controlled it perfectly ten yards out, turned onto his left foot and slotted past Cetin for the well-deserved equaliser before joining his team-mates in congratulating Gomez.
Two minutes later Turkish midfielder Hasan Ozkan was booked for a late challenge on Ledson and he would provide the crucial turning point in the match when he was given his second yellow card two minutes before half time for clipping the heels of Cook as he broke on the Turkish defence.
After the interval it took England nine minutes to make their numerical superiority count as the brilliant Roberts worked a neat one two from a short corner routine, sped into the box and pulled back for Solanke to further demonstrate how little putting balls in nets flusters him as he controlled superbly in the midst of a crowded box, shifted the ball away to give him the space for the shot and slotted in.
From then on the result was assured and was only kept respectable by Cetin as England had 19 out of their 26 shots on target. Their work-rate in the heat was commendable as they pressed Turkey's 10 men from the front, with Ledson and Cook providing great energy and quality in the middle. The third goal was again supplied by Roberts, who looks odds-on to be the tournament's best player, as he came inside and fed the overlapping Jonjoe Kenny to fire high into the net.
Roberts got his hat-trick of assists as he again went inside the Turkish left back, who by now was waving a white flag, and placed his shot just inside the far post which Cetin did well to save, but Adam Armstrong tapped in to score a deserved goal. Roberts has now featured in six of England's seven goals in the tournament's opening two matches. The remainder of the game was slow-paced in the heat, although there was a chance for Isaiah Brown to show his mastery of the driven pass as he played in Callum Cooke, whose finishing is much better than his work at this tournament would suggest as he slid the ball wide.
After the opening scare it was a strong performance from England, who offensively have been the most impressive team at the tournament and the addition of Brown's quality on the left to Roberts on the right has made them even more dynamic. They were the dominant team before the sending off as the Turkish only had two shots on target in the first half which were the penalty and goal while England could easily have been four up before they conceded. Still, coach John Peacock will hope to address the defensive errors before they take on the Dutch on Tuesday in a match that will likely decider who tops the group.
With thanks once again to Samuel King, who you can follow on twitter @KingSRV
