England head coach Keith Downing and captain Jay Dasilva ready for European U19 Championship final with Portugal

Friday 14 Jul 2017

England captain Jay Dasilva believes the UEFA European U19 Championship final is too close to call.

The Young Lions and Portugal both clinched top spot in their respective groups to progress to the semi-final where they recorded 1-0 victories over Czech Republic and Netherlands respectively.

Both teams play with a similar ethos – a determination to control the tempo of matches while displaying a cutting edge in the final third.

And Dasilva said: “We’ve shown we’re the strongest teams here.

“We’ve come here wanting to win – it comes down to who is the best on the day.

“It will be a great game, Portugal have good players and have shown they’re a good team. So I think it will be a great game for the public to watch and everyone is excited to get going.

“The tournament has been a success so far. It’s always a good experience for players to play in a tournament at such a young age. We’ll look to build on this through our personal careers.”

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The final was scheduled to take place in Tbilisi, but has been switched to the 5,000-capacity Tengiz Burjanadze Stadium in Gori where a sell-out crowd is anticipated.

The Young Lions are yet to play in the city, whereas Portugal were there for the group stage victory over hosts Georgia and draw with Sweden.

England head coach Keith Downing refutes any suggestion though, that puts his side at a disadvantage.

“It’s going to be a full-house and we’re excited by that,” said Downing, who has a full squad to chose from.

“I gather that was the reason the authorities decided to move the game there. So we’re excited, we’ll embrace the people of Gori and hopefully we can put on a very good show and have a good standard of football for the final.

“Both teams have shown they were very strong in their groups. We play very similar football and hopefully it will be a really good game to finish off what has been a successful tournament.

“May the best team win.”

By Andy Walker Senior Communications Manager Gori, Georgia

'May the best team win'