Sweden U21 v England U21 preview: Young Lions out to emulate U20s

England Under-21 boss Aidy Boothroyd admits the Young Lions fear Sweden because they cannot afford to be complacent when they meet live on Sky Sports on Friday.

They face the defending champions in the opening game of Euro 2017 in Poland on Friday with Boothroyd insisting they must be respected.

The Young Lions go into the game aiming to build on the recent success of the U20 side who won the World Cup last weekend.
Sweden have moaned they did not see a video of England’s 3-0 behind-closed-doors win over Iceland last weekend, although England are not obliged to provide one as it was not an official UEFA fixture.

Sweden boss Hakan Ericson has also said England are favourites for the Group A game in Kielce but Boothroyd is wary of the opposition.

He said: „Of course we are, you don’t go into a game thinking you’re easily going to win. You have to have a bit of fear.

„It wasn’t a very good game anyway so I don’t think they want the tape.
„I think we have as much chance of winning the game as they have. They have won the tournament before, they’re defending the trophy, and he’s a coach who has won the tournament so he has one up on me.

„If he thinks we’re favourites that’s great. If he thinks we’re big favourites perhaps they’ll not turn up and just give us the points.“

But Ericson believes he knows enough despite not seeing the video of the Iceland match.

„They have good organisation and had a good qualification, were unbeaten, and we saw them in their last two friendlies against Germany and Denmark,“ he said.
„They had a problem against Germany and were very good against Denmark. Then they had a secret game against Iceland. We have some information but no pictures. We have the information we need.“

Team news

England have named a 23-man squad but will be without Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Isaiah Brown and Patrick Roberts due to injury for this Sweden test.

However, England can still call upon a very strong group of players, including Jordan Pickford, who signed for Everton for £30m from Sunderland on Thursday.

James Ward-Prowse will captain the side in midfield with Tammy Abraham likely to start as one of the strikers.