Afternoon To the bins, folks - those St George's Cross car window flags might be salvageable yet. And there you were thinking it would be at least another two years before the next opportunity to needlessly get your hopes up about the prospect of some English footballing glory.
Fabio Capello's side might have slunk out of South Africa 2010 with nothing more than a whimper but Noel Blake's Brave Boys are into the semi-finals of the European Championships and now just two games from glory. Admittedly they have so far only won as many games as the seniors did in South Africa (one) and are widely expected to get a thorough doing over from Spain this afternoon, but don't let that dampen your fervour just yet. If nothing else they've given us a football fix to help us through these bleak weeks before the new season - the sport enthusiasts' equivalent of a Nicorette patch.
I'm going to dig up some team news, but in the meantime, here's a snippet from Jon West's preview of the match:
The gulf between Spain and England's footballing fortunes has never been wider than in the last couple of years, but at one age group, at least, the two nations appear to be on a similar plane. Tomorrow they will contest the first semi-final of Uefa's Under-19 European Championship, with the winners taking on either Croatia or the hosts, France, in the final on Friday.
The Spanish will be favourites in the Normandy town of Saint-Lô, having swept all their Group B opponents aside with ease and with Ezequiel Calvente scoring a penalty against Italy so audacious it is already an internet sensation. But the England captain, Matthew James, a Manchester United midfielder about to embark on a second loan spell in the Championship with Preston North End, believes Spain can be beaten.
"I played against Spain a couple of years ago with the Under-16s," he said. "We played them in one of the first games to be staged at the new Wembley and we won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Jack Rodwell.
Team news: Phew - those were a bit harder to track down than I had envisaged, but here they are. Spain are expected to line up in a fluid 4-2-3-1 much like that used by the senior team at the World Cup, with Liverpool's Daniel Pacheco playing the Xavi role. England should be 4-3-3.
Spain: 1 Álex (GK), 2 Martín Montoya, 3 Carles Planas, 4 Marc Bartra, 5 Jorge Pulido, 6 Oriol Romeu, 7 Keko (C), 8 Thiago Alcántara, 9 Rodrigo, 10 Sergio Canales, 11 Daniel Pacheco. Subs: 13 Aitor (GK), 12 Hugo Mallo 14 Iker Muniain, 15 Ramiro Mayor, 16 Ezequiel Calvente, 17Koke, 18 Rúben Rochina
England: 1 Declan Rudd (GK), 2 Nathaniel Clyne, 4 Matthew James (C), 5 Steven Caulker, 6 Nathan Baker, 7 Jacob Mellis, 10 Nathan Delfouneso, 11 Frank Nouble, 14 Thomas Cruise, 16 Joshua Thompson, 18 Ryan Donaldson. Subs: 13 Lee Nicholls (GK), 9 Ryan Noble, 12 John Bostock, 15 Reece Brown, 17 Matthew Phillips, 19 Scott Malone
I had been hoping to do a proper preview of this game But as time's now tight before kick-off. Here's a concise synopsis of why England are in trouble.
1 min Off we go then and it's quite a start for England, as Delfouneso races past his man down the left and cuts a sharp ball back across the six yard box that Alex fumbles across the face of his own goal before it spins behind for a corner ...
2 mins The cross from the corner is too deep and sails right over the area commonly known as 'danger'. Would have been good to make the goalkeeper work again after his initial whoopsy.
3 mins Two classic sets of stereotypes being played out here in the early exchanges - England energetic, fast - pressing high up the pitch and looking to get forward quickly whenever they get hold of the ball. Spain measured, calm, sizing up the spaces available to them and waiting for the inevitable clumsy challenge. Yup, there it is now.
5 mins Canales takes a square ball from Keko a yard or two outside the D and opens up before pinging in a low left-footed effort that was both too close to the goalkeeper and lacking a little power. Spain are beginning to perk up though.
7 mins Yeah, really perking up now. The ball glides across from left to right as Romeu spots Keko angling a run in towards goal as he strides across the face of the England defence. He nudges it on into his team-mates path and Rudd has to act sharp to block the shot behind.
8 mins From the corner an unmarked Spain player rises in the middle to head just a foot over. England are not coping at all well at the back. Incidentally, I've only just noticed that Spain are starting their numbers one through eleven. Don't see that too often ...
9 mins "Pressure on the ball, pressure on the ball" bellows England coach Noel Blake on the sideline. That, of course, plays right into Spain's hands, as Clyne is drawn out of position rushing up to apply said pressure. Pacheco steps past him, takes a pass and curls a shot this far over. Very tidy football from Spain.
GOAL! England U19 0-1 Spain U19 (Pacheco, 12 mins) Well that was really far too easy. The ball was Ticcyed to Canales who drove right down to the goalline inside the area on the right before Taccaing it back across goal to an unmarked Pacheco, who sidefooted home at the far post. Just reward for marked superiority so far.
14 mins "That's a very telling quote from Mr James in your intro - a goal from Jack Rodwell helped them beat Spain's U16s a few years ago," notes Duncan Smith. "How many U19 players should we have sent to this tournament but haven't? Are Spain's squad mainly playing third tier football too?" A fair point - Jack Wilshere and Phil Jones both also would have been eligible but are now reserved for the U21 side.
16 mins Spain have tended to dominate this tournament in recent years (they've won four of the last eight), but even by their standards this is a particularly fine crop. Andy Roxburgh, Uefa's technical director, has been at every tournament for the past 16 years and told the Independent recently that he thought this was the best group he'd seen. Bear in mind his previous trips would have taken in the teams which provided many of the current world champion senior side.
18 mins Nathan Baker has picked up what looks like a hamstring injury after a challenge with Keko, and is now coming off, with John Bostock his replacement. He will likely slot into midfield, with Arsenal's Tom Cruise (pictured above, kinda) dropping back to his preferred spot at left-back.
20 mins "The match seems to be taking place in a public park - apt really, as England are defending like a park team," chortles Gary Naylor. That they are, though Spain have been very good. England need to get back to attacking down the wings with Delfouneso and Nouble - both of whom seemed to give their opposite numbers trouble with their pace in the early going. Of course, to do that they'd have to actually get hold of the ball at some stage ...
21 mins Spain actually look like a superior version of the senior side - just as capable of retaining the ball for long stretches but if anything more incisive. Plus totally unawed by the Hollywood A-Lister playing at left-back for England.
23 mins I don't know if Noel Blake is particularly loud, or if the rest of the ground is just particularly quiet, but it's beginning to feel like the England coach is providing Eurosport's commentary. "Don't give him space, don't give him space," he exhorts of Ryan Donaldson. As if the poor bairn had a choice.
25 mins Oooh - sniff of a chance there for England as Clyne dissects Spain's left- and centre-backs perfectly with a gently angled low ball in from 25 yards out on the right. Nouble races to meet it on the edge of the six-yard box but there is nobody following in to meet his sharp cut-back. The angle wasn't great but given the lack of support he should really have shot.
26 mins If there's one thing Spain haven't mastered quite as well as their senior team yet, it's the gamesmanship. Planas hurls himself to the ground with an audible wail as Donaldson muscles past him, but there's just no commitment to the tumble - he's back on his feet in a second.
29 mins More signs of weakness at the back for Spain, as England take advantage of their high defensive line with a straightforward long ball forward for Nouble to chase. The West Ham forward gets behind the defence but Alex races out of his area - being sure to keep his hands firmly to his sides - and manages to block the early shot with his chest.
31 mins The inevitable, courtesy of Graeme Neill: "Despite the presence of Tom Cruise on the pitch, the difference in quality between the two teams is as clear as Knight and Day. England are Losin' It and Spain are Far and Away the better side. England will hope they can escape this without any Collateral Damage. If this continues, Noel Blake will watch the rest of the match with Eyes Wide Shut. He needs A Few Good Men from the bench to turn around this Mission Impossible. Risky Business, this management lark."
32 mins Spain have lost a little of their momentum in the last few minutes - the midfield are sitting a touch too deep and with the defence so high up the field they are sometimes winding up with a bank of seven or eight players all in a line some distance from their attack.
GOAL! England U19 0-2 Spain U19 (Keko 34 mins) Not for the first time, I spoke too soon. A run of almost two minutes without an England touch ends with an absolutely superb goal, Keko initiating a gloriously simple four-man exchange of one-touch passes when he taps the ball to Pacheco on the right, before racing forward to eventually take a return pass on the edge of the box. From there he jukes across goal from left to right, before clipping the ball back across his own body and into the bottom corner leaving Rudd and Caulker flummoxed.
GOAL! England U19 1-2 Spain U19 (Bostock 37 mins) Flipping heck - that wasn't a bad goal either! The subsitute Bostock waited patiently just outside the area after Planas's attempted clearance sailed up into the air, then crashed the ball first time through a line of defenders and into the far corner of the net. Excellent strike.
39 mins "That's the goal of the season right there," announces Gary Naylor of Keko's goal. But which season Gary, which season?
40 mins Planas picks up a yellow card for wrestling down Donaldson by the corner flag, but the free-kick is wasted by England - walloped across goal with far too much pace for any of the group waiting inside the box to get anything on it.
42 mins Pacheco shapes to shoot on the cusp of the D before spying Rodrigo sneaking into the area from the right and picking him out with a wonderful slide rule pass. Rodrigo's low effort requires a sharp save from Rudd, who plunges to his left to push it behind.
43 mins The corner comes to nothing but I'm still marvelling at that pass from Pacheco. Liverpool fans will have to be excited on this evidence so far, though it must be said the defending is so poor as to make it hard to reasonably assess the extent of his gifts.
45 mins We'll have one minute of injury time. Wow - have we done 45 minutes already?
Half-time: England U19 1-2 Spain U19 Well that is the end of the first half and what a half it's been. Some truly beautiful football from Spain and one of the finest goals I've seen for really quite a long time but England, somehow, are still in it. The Spanish defence is no less frail than England's and I wouldn't be stunned to see them concede again, despite the fact they're hoarding the ball very effectively. But I would be stunned if they don't score again ...
A Special approach "I thought not having the ball was the new possession," pfffts Ian Copestake. "The Special One wins his games that way, why can't it work for England's Underage squad? You have to start to worry when the coach begins bellowing 'get it long'." I think Mourinho might say the missing element for England is really excellent defending. Or even just competent defending. In fact, just some defending would be a step in the right direction.
Angry father syndrome "Do you think Noel Blake is angling for Ray Winstone's role as the angry, overly competitive dad in the FA's films about showing Respect for The Game," ponders Gary Naylor. "I mean, if they don't know their jobs now, they aren't going to work them out being shouted at while being ticky-tackied by technically superior opponents."
A mutual understanding "The biggest difference between the teams is Spain's movement off the ball and their inherent knowledge of when to release it to a colleague," reckons Harris. "Not surprising when they have 6 Barcelona players, 2 Real and 2 Athletico players. We have players from 10 or 11 teams."
46 mins Spain get the second half underway and inside 30 seconds Canales is glancing up before pinging a sharp angled ball forward from halfway - along the ground, mind - for Rodrigo to run on to. His team-mate doesn't react quickly enough to get onto it.
47 mins Planas hits Donaldson hard and late near half-way as the England midfielder attempts to turn and run down the right and to be honest that was very much a bookable offence by a player who has already received one yellow today. The referee lets him off, but Planas needs to be careful.
49 mins England have started the brighter here but compared to Spain their forward play seems so horribly inefficient - all energy and commitment but no vision or structure. Delfouneso's cross from the left seems as much the product of luck as design but still isn't too far away from a pair of English heads attacking the six-yard area.
52 mins From a short corner on the right Spain work the ball back to Montoya, who floats a diagonal ball towards the far post but there's nobody attacking it.
53 mins "Now that Pacheco looks good, and considering he was at Barcelona's youth system, what are the odds that in 4 years Barcelona will tap him up," muses Holly Gan. "Yes I'm an annoyed Arsenal supporter."
54 mins A really rather dreadful miss from Rodrigo, who had snuck unnoticed in behind the English defence - all of whom were too busy ball-watching as Keko carried it forward down the right. He picked out Rodrigo perfectly but from five yards out and right in front of the goal the forward jabbed wide.
55 mins "OK now put your shirt on. Put your shirt on," Blake is heard saying on the England bench. The mind boggles.
GOAL! England U19 1-3 Spain U19 (Canales 56 mins) Outrageous - simply outrageous set-piece trickery from Spain. Yet another goal destined to become a YouTube sensation. It was Rodrigo, I believe, who took a huge run up at the free-kick 30 yards out, but just as he seemed about to strike it, Alcantara - one of two standing over the ball - simply chipped it over the English wall to Canales darting into space on the other side. He then had a straightforward job nicking the ball past Rudd. That was, again, brilliant.
58 mins England again expose the flaws in Spain's backline, Nouble chuntering forward down the right before squaring the ball but Delfouneso can't direct his shot past the attendant defenders.
60 mins "I hate to disagree with Harris at half-time, but I'd say the biggest difference is that the Spain players all look incredibly comfortable on the ball, and are aware of how to exploit England's defensive frailties," says Nicholas Jackson. "England plan appears to be run about a lot and we're bound to get an opportunity sooner or later. If that lad Pacheco doesn't get some games for Liverpool this season Hodgson needs his head examined."
62 mins Spain are enjoying themselves now, Alcantara spinning elegantly past a challenge before just overhitting his throughball. The grins on Spanish faces say it all.
64 mins A couple of substitutions in the last few minutes - Spain have sent Rochina on for Rodrigo, while England have replaced Mellis with Noble.
65 mins And no sooner does Noble get on than he gives the ball away within shooting distance of his own goal. A loose touch gifts possession to Canales, who glances up and decides to have a go himself, but whips his shot too close to the goalkeeper.
67 mins Keko fizzes another low cross back to Rochina a yard or two forward of the penalty spot but his effort is charged down by Noble.
68 mins Koke is on in place of Canales.
70 mins England win a corner on the left but the set-piece deliveries haven't been good enough - a fact only accentuated by the brilliance of Spain's third goal - and again it sails too deep before being sent away by a Spanish head.
71 mins And now another change for England - Matthew Phillips coming on for Ryan Donaldson. No sooner is he on than Pacheco goes jinking past three English defenders before screwing his left footed effort over the bar with just the goalkeeper to beat.
73 mins "Even though most of the squad would only have been seven years old at the time, I'd have thought the U-19s might have at least been familiar with Javier Zanetti's goal in against England in the 1998 World Cup," harrumphs Peter Bonnett. "No-one seemed to realise Canales was standing on the edge of the wall and prepared just such a goal. One day an England side might actually learn from mistakes ..." I'd say you're probably being a little harsh there Peter - I can't say the thought had even crossed my mind as I watched it unfold. It's not really the sort of thing you expect.
75 mins Pacheco falls on his back grimacing and pulling the classic footballer-with-cramp pose but rather than wait to see how serious his ailment is, Spain's coach Luis Milla simply takes him straight off and sends Iker Muiain on in his stead.
77 mins "England players (at all levels) are given jobs to do that the manager then 'encourages' them to keep to," sighs Ian Copestake as Blake continues to bellow at his players from the touchline. "They are not brought up to see the whole picture but see their role as a cog in some mysterious machine. If they have to be shouted at constantly its because they cannot (and are not expected to) think on their own."
79 mins Spain have been perhaps a little more ragged after making all those changes but they continue to press forward in search of goals, Romeu spraying a glorious 40-yard ball out from the centre-circle to Keko darting down the right. He is dispossessed by Cruise as he looks for a way inside but if I either team is going to score again in this game, I'd say it'll probably be Spain.
81 mins Caulker and Alex are each shown a yellow card after colliding while challenging for a high ball forward down the left. Caulker didn't do a lot wrong to be honest, whereas Alex did add a somewhat unnecessary shove after the initial contact.
83 mins Spain win a free-kick 22 yards out after a handball from Thompson and this time it's a straightforward shot from Rochina, which fails to clear the wall. So does his attempt from the rebound.
85 mins England are fully out of ideas now - left to push hopeful long balls up the pitch that lose themselves in amongs the lines of red shirts. There is no hope, no sense of belief that this result could ever be overturned.
87 mins Ah, the joys of the internet - that third Spanish goal is up online already. Thanks to Nicholas John for sending me the link.
88 mins "I wonder how many of the players under Noel Blake have ever seen footage of him playing," ponders Ian Burch. "If only they could have seen him in his prime alongside Mark Dennis, Tony Coton, Robert Hopkins, Pat Van den Hauwe and Mick Harford at Birmingham. They'd sit up and take notice of what he's bellowing at them now that's for sure." Sadly even Black has now fallen silent. Well, silent-ish.
90 mins Cruise angles one last hopeful ball from left to right but Planas heads it away from Phillips for a throw-in. From there the ball is lobbed into Delfouneso, but he is penalised for a foul on Pulido. We'll have three minutes of injury time.
90 mins (+2) Phillips gets above his marker to meet a cross from the right, but the header is tame, somehow taking all the energy out of the ball and just causing it to plop meekly down in front of the keeper.
FULL-TIME: England U19 1-3 Spain U19 That's it - Spain go through to the final after a richly deserved win. They were sharper, cleverer, more organised and, well, just an awful lot better than England. I dare say we'll be seeing a lot of this Spanish group in the next few years, and not only on YouTube. Thanks for all your emails and sorry I couldn't use more. I shall leave the last word to Owen Scrivens: "All game I've just been thinking that the English have picked a squad of athletes and roughly organised them into a football team. In comparison the Spanish are not especially big, strong or fast, but they look like they have been playing football all their lives. In fact this sums up the problems in the English league's youth systems, scouts favour pace, strength and organisation over flair and technique."
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