4 teams, 1 qualifying spot. I had a group with Estonia, England and Denmark. I wasn't favourite to get out of this but I was full of confidence because of our performance against Spain.
I put together a nice little squad but then immediately messed up. During friendlies the squad selection had clashes with the U21's, meaning I lost out on players. I just assumed we had a similar clash here and didn't even bother wasting time on trying to get the U21 squad players. It wasn't until I had to call up a replacement for an injury that I realised I could...and that I was playing a much weaker squad than I actually needed to. Bugger.
Still I was fairly happy with the squad - after all Allen was my striker. A Championship first teamer leading the line? Not bad.
Things didn't go to plan though*.
First up against Estonia...we took the lead, got pulled back. Took the lead, got pulled back again. Then, in the 96th minute (we only had 4 to play!) they scored from a corner and we lost 3-2. I was fuming. We really needed something from the game.
Next up was Denmark. We battered them but only came away with a scoreless draw. The man of the match went to the frame of their goal.
Finally England...at this point we couldn't go through. England had 6 points after beating Denmark and Estonia. Estonia were second with 3. We were third with 1 and Denmark were bottom. We were just playing for pride.
And play we did. It was a scoreless draw again but we were all over them. They were genuinely lucky to survive the onslaught. It didn't let up for the full 90 minutes. We should have won but the draw was creditable.
So we were out but hopeful for better next time. Lesson learnt in regards to the U21's and selection!
*See the next post for a note on this...
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