Aidy Boothroyd felt his side could hold their heads high after the disappointment of a penalty shoot-out defeat to Germany in the Euro semi-final.
The Young Lions shared a 2-2 draw after extra time with Stefan Kuntz’s team in Tychy, before losing by 4-3 in the resulting lottery of penalties.
But the head coach only had praise for his whole squad, who pushed their opponents all the way to come within one kick of reaching Friday’s final.
“I’m absolutely gutted, as you can imagine, as are all the players and the staff,” said Boothroyd.
“The tournament’s been brilliant and the players have been fantastic, but we’re obviously gutted to go out in the way that we did because whilst we weren’t at our best for long periods, we showed real spirit and willingness to put our bodies on the line.
“And we could have nicked it, but that’s football and we’ve practised and practised and practised, but their goalkeeper made two good saves and you can’t do much about that.”
The Young Lions were the better team in the opening exchanges, when they created a number of chances to break the deadlock before Germany’s Davie Selke drew first blood.
But an equaliser from Demarai Gray and a second-half strike from Tammy Abraham put England ahead before Germany went on to enjoy the better of the exchanges from there as the game played out for an extra 30 tense minutes.
“We’d started well, but then they had a real purple patch,” he added. “We managed to get a foothold in the game and when they scored we came back into it.
“They’re a good team and we’re a good team so it was a really good battle and that’s why it went right to the end.”
For all but five members of the Euro squad, this brings to an end their time with the U21s due to their ages ahead of the new campaign for Italy and San Marino starting in September.
And Boothreoyd believes there are bright futures ahead for all of them, following their experiences in Poland and the campaign in general.
“What I will say is that I’m sure there will be some future England senior players come from this team,” he said.
“There are two in there already and we do live to fight another day.
“The experience that these players have got, similar to the players in the U19s who got to the Euro semi-final last year, that propelled them onto bigger things.
“For those players who can’t play again for the U21s because they’re too old, it’s time to push them on and get them playing at their clubs and get them challenging for the senior team.”
Watch the full interview with Aidy from after the game below.
Hear live from #YoungLions boss Aidy Boothroyd after his side's heartbreaking #U21EURO defeat … https://t.co/UJjczRnGN7
— England (@England) June 27, 2017
