England Under-21s captain James Ward-Prowse says it wasn’t a lack of preparation for penalties that cost them ahead of Tuesday's semi-final shootout defeat to Germany.
Aidy Boothroyd’s squad have practised penalties throughout their pre-Euro training camps and since they’ve been in Poland for the Finals.
But they couldn’t find a way past their opponents from the spot, after a 2-2 draw following extra-time in Tychy and the Southampton man says the whole group will take the positives from their experiences in the tournament.
“It’s a difficult thing to take. We put a lot of preparation into it, but it just wasn’t meant to be,” said Ward-Prowse.
“We’ve practised during the weeks leading up to this and sometimes, the keeper can do well, but we have to learn from these experiences to make us stronger.
“We’re obviously disappointed, the reaction in the changing rooms is that everybody is proud of themselves and whilst it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted tonight, we gave ourselves the best chance to win the game.
“We had to keep our heads up, we had to give ourselves the best chance and no-one has any regrets about the way we worked to get where we are.
“Tonight just wasn’t our night.”
For many of the group in Poland, including Ward-Prowse himself, this will be their last appearance for the U21s.
But he believes everybody will head home with plenty of belief and confidence from their displays in both qualification and the finals themselves before returning to their clubs for the new season.
“We come away with our heads held high,” he said.
“We’re proud of the way we prepared ourselves for every game and we’ve had to overcome some difficult times but that’s the kind of character that we’ve got.
“But everybody, collectively and individually will learn from this experience.
“We’re young players and have great pride in wearing the England shirt and we gave everything. You could see towards the end that we were pulling each other through and we showed our spirit.
“But everyone from this group will come out of this and go into the next season having learned a lot and be better people and players for it.
“Overall, over the last couple of weeks, everybody has developed as a player.
“You can see from the young players throughout the league that they do well when they get given the chance and there are lads in the seniors right now who we have played with and been given a chance.
“To get this experience, can only help us.”
