England Under-21s were forced to settle for a point in their Euro opener with Sweden on a frustrating night in Kielce.
Coming up against an organised and rigid Swedish team, the Young Lions couldn’t find a way through and had to thank Jordan Pickford for keeping them in the game with a stunning late save to keep Linus Wahlqvist’s penalty out.
But in the end a point apiece was just about fair with defending Euro champions Sweden proving just as tough as boss Aidy Boothroyd had warned ahead of the game.
England had made a bright start too and after a spell of pressure and three successive corners, James Ward-Prowse’s delivery picked out Tammy Abraham in the box only for the striker to volley well over.
Sweden weathered the storm and found the measure of the Young Lions though, with a tactical switch stifling England’s early threat.
And they created the best chance of the first 30 minutes when Pawel Cibicki burst past Ben Chilwell and Nathaniel Chalobah into the box, trading passes with Gustav Engvall before firing over from six yards.
At the other end, Jacob Murphy whistled a shot narrowly over the bar after Abraham had done superbly to control and pick him out from just inside the Sweden half.
Abraham was again off-target on the stroke of half time when Mason Holgate’s long throw-in was flicked on by Alfie Mawson but the former Bristol City loanee couldn’t quite get over the ball to turn it home.
Sweden came even closer to breaking the deadlock 12 minutes into the second half when Alex Fransson’s measured shot from the edge of the area hit the top of the bar and bounced to safety.
Substitute Carlos Strandberg then raced onto a through ball before firing a fierce left-footer into the side netting.
It was then England’s turn to clip the bar as Chilwell’s low drive took a deflection over Swedish keeper Anton Cajtoft before bouncing off the woodwork and over.
