Aidy Boothroyd: 'From one in eight to one in four chance'

England Under-19s boss Aidy Boothroyd saw his team beat Croatia on Monday to seal a third straight win and complete their Euro Final group stage with a perfect record.

An early strike from Izzy Brown, quickly followed by an own goal from Silvio Anocic, proved enough on the day to beat their final opponents in Group B and secure top spot.

And that result sets up Thursday’s semi-final against Italy, as the Young Lions look to further their challenge for the Euro title.  

"When we arrived, we had a one in eight chance and now we have a one in four chance," said head coach Boothroyd after the win in Heidenheim.

"But there are three very good teams in the tournament as well as us, so it's going to be tough.

"When you get to this stage of the competition, you're up against the very best so we've got to really make sure that we get rested, reflect on our group games and prepare for the Italians who are always a very difficult team to play against."

Having already beaten France and the Netherlands in their first two games at the competition, England already knew they were through to the next stage, as well as qualified for next year’s U20 World Cup.

So Boothroyd was able to make changes to his team in order to ensure all outfield players in his squad have started a match going into the knock-out stages.

And with unfortunate Everton defender Callum Connolly being withdrawn from the squad through injury prior to the game, as well as having Dominic Solanke and Tammy Abraham one caution away from a suspension, the head coach was pleased with the response from his players.

Boothroyd made changes to his line-up, with all 17 outfield players now having started a game

"Before the game, the main objective was to avoid injury and cards because we have two players on a yellow," he revealed, after seeing Croatian captain Nikola Moro ensure a nervy end to the game for his side with a second-half screamer.

"As the game wore on and Croatia changed their tactics, I couldn't put my players on because they're on yellow cards or nursing injuries, so we didn't want to get anymore cards or injuries.

"We just had to do what we had to do and hang on in there and the Croatians were fantastic in the second half so we just had to stop them. 

"We had the odd counter attack, but not as much as I’d have liked. I wanted to change it tactically, but wasn’t able to."

The Young Lions will now met Italy for the second time in the competition, having shared a 0-0 draw in the First Qualifying Round in Macedonia last October. 

But Boothroyd knows there will be a lot more attention on this encounter and with Group A winners Portugal facing France in the other semi-final, there really isn’t an easy way to the title.

"We didn't want any particular team, I’d have preferred they both lost so we got a bye to the final," laughed Boothroyd. 

"At this stage, they're all good teams and they've all got big strengths but have also got weaknesses.

"But we face Italy who we know are a good team as we've played them before in the early qualifying round.

"They're very well organised and have some good players so it will be a difficult game but we wouldn't expect anything else at this stage."

The kick-off time and venue for the semi-final on Thursday are still to be confirmed.