England U17s 1-2 Germany
Friday, 08 February, 2013
A second-half winner for Germany sees England U17s lose Algarve opener
England U17s were unfortunate to end on the losing side in the opening match of the Algarve Tournament on Friday.
A fine striker from Everton youngster George Green had put John Peacock's side ahead against Germany in Lagos.
But an equaliser and a second-half strike from the Germans saw them come back strongly and get off to a winning start in the annual competition in southern Portugal.
It all seemed to be going to plan for Peacock, as Dan Crowley did well to set up Green for a strike at goal and he needed no invitation to put the Young Lions ahead.
Goalkeeper Angus Gunn did superbly to keep England in front as the half-hour mark approached, saving defender Jonathan Tah's close-range header.
And then Green almost had a second, only for a last ditch tackle from Simon Kranitz to save the day for Germany.
Moments later, Germany equalised as Schalke striker Donis Avdijaj tapped home from close range to see things level at the break, which was perhaps unfortunate for England gievn their first-half performance.
England started the second half well though, and Crowley came close to putting the Young Lions back in front only to see his shot fly narrowly wide of the post.
But it was somewhat against the run of play when Germany got their winner early in the second half, as Timo Werner of Stuttgart stroked them ahead.
Germany ended the match strongly and a draw probably would have been a fair result, but Peacock's side will learn from the experience and now focus on their second game of the tournament when they play hosts Portugal on Sunday afternoon.