England Under-21s made sure they will head to this summer’s Euro Finals with confidence, after a ruthless defeat of Denmark.
Boss Aidy Boothroyd made 10 changes to the line-up which lost to Germany four days earlier as he continues to examine all of his options ahead of the Finals.
And the players involved all staked their claim, as a brace from Ruben Loftus-Cheek and goals from Solly March and Cauley Woodrow capped off an impressive performance against a team who will also be heading to Poland in June.
With no more internationals before the end of the season now, Boothroyd and his squad will meet up again in May for a series of training camps before they head to Kielce for their Euro opener with Sweden on 16 June.
They will do so in good spirits too, as the Young Lions got started within 10 minutes, as March’s raking cross-field pass picked out Jacob Murphy on the opposite flank. He advanced into the area before cutting the ball back to Loftus-Cheek, who calmly side footed home from inside the box.
Five minutes later, England doubled their advantage when Loftus-Cheek picked out March on the right. With the Danish defence standing off him, the Brighton & Hove Albion winger needed no invitation to shoot and he punished them by whipping a fierce left-footer past Jeppe Hojbjerg and into the far corner.
It took Denmark until the 43rd minute to force Angus Gunn into his first save, when Lucas Anderson’s shot from the edge of the area arrowed towards goal before the Manchester City stopper parried it to safety.
After making four substitutions at the break, the hosts looked sharper in attack as they tried to find a way back into the game.
But with the strong running of John Swift and Loftus-Cheek from midfield, England were always a threat on the break and they made it three just after the hour.
March’s corner from the right was met by Kortney Hause, whose downward header was controlled by Woodrow, who spun and tucked home from close range to continue his good recent goalscoring run.
England saved their best until last though, as they rounded off the scoring with a fantastic team goal, finished off by Loftus-Cheek.
The move was started on the left between captain Will Hughes and Swift, who traded passes before finding Jack Grealish lurking on the edge of the box. He nipped a short pass into Loftus-Cheek and the Chelsea man buried a shot past replacement keeper Andreas Hansen to make it 4-0.
Gunn then made another good stop to keep a clean sheet in-tact by turning away Christian Norgaard’s shot as the Danes sought a goal for what was an impressive turnout in Randers.
But England’s back four remained resolute to round off a valuable week for Boothroyd and his staff, who now know the serious business is just around the corner.
England: 1 Angus Gunn (Manchester City), 2 Joe Gomez (Liverpool), 3 Sam McQueen (Southampton), 4 Will Hughes (Derby County), 5 Rob Holding (Arsenal), 6 Kortney Hause (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 7 Solly March (Brighton & Hove Albion), 8 John Swift (Reading), 9 Cauley Woodrow (Burton Albion, loan from Fulham), 10 Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea), 11 Jacob Murphy (Norwich City)
Substitutes: 23 Jack Grealish (Aston Villa) for Murphy 38, 17 Demarai Gray (Leicester City) for March 61, 19 Tammy Abraham (Bristol City, loan from Chelsea) for Woodrow 74
Substitutes not used: 12 Mason Holgate (Everton), 13 Jordan Pickford (Sunderland), 14 Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea), 15 Jack Stephens (Southampton), 16 Alfie Mawson (Swansea City), 18 Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur), 20 Lewis Baker (Vitesse Arnhem, on loan from Chelsea), 21 Christian Walton (Brighton & Hove Albion), 22 Ben Chilwell (Leicester City)
Goals: Loftus-Cheek 10, 69, March 15, Woodrow 69
Coach: Aidy Boothroyd
