Arsenal’s Ethan Nwaneri and Chido Martin Obi have both progressed to the knockout stages of the u17 European Championships.
Going into their final games of the group stage, neither England’s Ethan Nwaneri nor Denmark’s Chido Martin Obi were assured of a place in the knockout rounds.
Denmark had beaten Wales and drawn with Croatia in their first two games, putting them on four points with a game to go.
But a Denmark defeat combined with a Croatia victory would have seen them eliminated in third place.
It briefly appeared that could happen, with Denmark going 2-0 down to Austria in the opening half hour and Croatia going 1-0 up.
Fortunately, Wales rallied to draw 1-1 with Croatia, ensuring Denmark’s eventual 4-0 defeat on the day didn’t matter. Wales and Arsenal’s Brayden Clarke had already been eliminated, but they gave Martin Obi a helping hand.
As for England, the team had won 4-0 in their opening game against France, before losing 4-1 to Portugal, so they need a win to guarantee progression.
Nwaneri was on the scoresheet as England won 3-1, poking the ball under the onrushing goalkeeper to secure the victory in the 85th minute. The highlights are available here.
It was a close thing, with France winning 2-1 against Portugal to put all three teams on six points. England’s convincing win over France helped them to finish second in the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Denmark will now face the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals on May 29th at 15:30 BST, whilst England will play Italy on May 30th at 18:30 BST.
Should both teams win, they’ll then face each other in the semi-finals.
U17 Euros Quarter-Finals
- 29th May, 15:30 – Czechia vs Denmark
- 29th May, 18:00 – Austria vs Serbia
- 30th May, 16:00 – Portugal vs Poland
- 30th May, 18:30 – Italy vs England
Times in BST