It was difficult not to see the first half of England’s opener at the European Under-21 Championship as anything other than a pinball game between two players.
Through Noni Madueke’s four openings and Vasil Kusej’s three, it ought really to have been 4-3 England at the break. But this Euros opener ultimately did not suffer from a lack of high-quality finishing, at least from an England perspective.
Lee Carsley’s side scored well-worked goals in the second half through familiar sources in Jacob Ramsey and Emile Smith Rowe, and a comfortable-enough 2-0 win over the Czech Republic gave England their first victory on the opening day of an U21 Euros since 2009, when they reached the final with a team featuring James Milner, Micah Richards and Theo Walcott.
It was such an eventful start, summed up by the fact Madueke had struck the crossbar and Kusej had forced the first of a string of excellent saves from James Trafford after just four minutes.
England, it seemed, were living dangerously in Batumi. They were deploying an alarmingly high line and the Czechs found relative ease in breaking away at pace.
Madueke shot, Kusej shot, Madueke shot, Kusej shot. And at the end of their two-man stand-off it somehow remained goalless at the break.
England had been the better side in the first half, but that was even more the case after the interval. They broke the deadlock just 90 seconds after the restart, Aston Villa’s all-action midfielder Jacob Ramsey playing a neat give-and-go with Anthony Gordon before tucking coolly into the corner.
The Czechs were wearing white and England red, but the Czechs were red in the face from their unstinting running — trying to stop a midfield of Angel Gomes, Curtis Jones and Ramsey from running the show.
Carsley was so content with what he was watching that he left it until the 79th minute before making the first three of his five substitutions. Two of the subs, Smith Rowe and striker Cameron Archer, combined with 17 seconds of stoppage time remaining to give England an assurance goal that tasted good but they barely needed.
Archer broke free, waited for Smith Rowe’s blind-side run and then fed the ball across the goalmouth for the Arsenal winger to convert for a tap-in.
Carsley played right-back Max Aarons at left-back, midfielder James Garner at right-back and winger Gordon up front. It could be argued this was a somewhat overthought line-up. But his players were certainly not guilty of overthinking.
They were innovative throughout, clinical when they needed to be, and a goal made and scored by substitutes is bound to please any manager. A good start from the Young Lions in Batumi, but they face a tough challenge next in Israel on Sunday.
A cluster of Israel’s players were part of their Under-19s squad that reached the final of the Euros last summer. Their conquerors that day? England.
