Lee Carsley believes England’s team of youthful champions can emulate Spain and Germany by going on to win tournaments at senior level.
Interim manager Carsley coached the Under-21 side who won the 2023 European Championships and has already called up 10 of them into the full squad in his brief reign.
And Thursday’s 3-0 win over Greece included a debut goal for Curtis Jones and assists for Noni Madueke and Morgan Gibbs-White.
Carsley has taken note of the 2009 German team who won the Under-21 Championships, with many of them going on to lift the World Cup five years later, while Spain took the 2019 crown with players who would help them to triumph at Euro 2024.
He feels England could do likewise, explaining: “They’ve won at under-18s as well and I think it definitely helps. We’ve seen that with Germany in the past and with Spain so why can’t that be England?”
England won the 2022 Under-19 European Championships and the 2017 Under-17 World Cup and Carsley believes his young generation flourished in Athens on Thursday.
He added: “We’ve seen a lot of these young players in the past but to get an opportunity to play and to be as exciting and attacking as they were is good to watch. We want to see a side that’s attacking, playing with energy, enthusiasm, creating chances and we had that.”
England host Republic of Ireland on Sunday with the possibility Carsley will give a debut to Taylor Harwood-Bellis, the captain of his Under-21 team.
