England U19s suffered a 2-0 defeat in their final Euro qualifier against hosts Macedonia on Tuesday afternoon.
The Young Lions, who had already secured top spot in their Elite Round group following wins over Hungary and Latvia, were caught out in just the third minute when Jani Atanasov opened the scoring following a quick start from Macedonia.
Paul Simpson’s side went in search of an equaliser and came close on a couple of occasions, with the likes of Mason Mount, George Hirst, Phil Foden and Marcus McGuane seeing efforts blocked or narrowly off target.
And with England chasing an equaliser at the Macedonian national training centre in Skopje, the hosts found a second goal through Dimitar Mitrovski in second-half stoppage time
Despite the result, England’s progress to July’s U19 Euro Finals in Finland was already secured before the game and they will defend the title won by Keith Downing’s squad last year.
England: 13 Jamie Cumming (Chelsea), 6 Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea) (c), 10 Mason Mount (Vitesse Arnhem, loan from Chelsea), 12 Dujon Sterling (Chelsea), 14 Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund), 15 George Hirst (Sheffield Wednesday), 16 Phil Foden (Manchester City), 17 Ed Francis (Manchester City), 18 Elliot Embleton (Sunderland), 19 Marcus McGuane (Barcelona), 20 Ben Wilmot (Stevenage)
Substitutes: 11 Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal) for Sancho 69, 7 Reiss Nelson (Arsenal) for McGuane 74, 9 Ben Brereton (Nottingham Forest) for Hirst 84
Substitutes not used: 1 Ellery Balcombe (Brentford), 2 Reece James (Chelsea), 3 Adam Lewis (Liverpool), 4 Flynn Downes (Luton Town, loan from Ipswich Town), 5 Japhet Tanganga (Tottenham Hotspur), 8 Joe Willock (Arsenal)
Head coach: Paul Simpson
Goals: N/A
Cautions: Embleton 64, Nketiah 69
