England U21 take on Ukraine U21 in a crucial Euro 2025 qualifying clash on Friday night in Bournemouth, where only a win will do for the Young Lions if they want to top the group,

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England U21 take part in their penultimate qualifying group stage match on Friday night against table toppers Ukraine, in a crucial must-win game for the Young Lions.

Ben Futcher’s side head into Friday’s fixture in second place in Group F five points behind their opponents, with only the first placed side qualifying automatically for next summer’s Euros in Slovakia.

England had won six of their seven matches in qualification before being held to a surprise 0-0 draw away against Northern Ireland last month, which loves their automatic qualification hopes out of their own hands even if they beat Ukraine on the south coast on Friday night.

However, the three best second placed teams from across the nine qualifying groups will also receive automatic qualification, and the Young Lions currently have the best record of the teams currently in second, so will still fancy their chances of qualifying for Slovakia without having to participate in the play-offs.

Futcher, who has been promoted from England U20 manager to the U21s on a caretaker basis will the usual U21 boss, Lee Carsley, temporarily takes charge of the senior team, will still have his eyes on top spot the group regardless though.

A win for England on Friday would leave them two points shy of Ukraine with just a game to play, with the Young Lions taking on Azerbaijan in Bristol in their final match, while Ukraine face a tricky away test against Serbia.

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Ukraine have surprised many this campaign by winning all eight of their qualification matches so far, though do seem to have the two most difficult matches of the campaign still to play; away games against England and Serbia.

The achievement of picking up 24 points out of a possible 24 is made all the more impressive in the knowledge that all of their home matches have been played in neutral venues and away from their home crowd.

Led by the Spaniard Unai Melgosa, a draw in England would see them qualify for just their fourth ever appearance at the U21 Euros, though the nation did reach the semi final of the most recent edition in Georgia and Romania last year before losing out 5-1 to Spain.

The last time the two sides met was in the previous meeting in this same qualifying group for Euro 2025, when England came back from 2-0 to draw level through late goals from Noni Madueke and Charlie Cresswell, before Ukraine scored a 94th minute winner 12 months ago in Slovakia.

How to watch England U21 v Ukraine U21

Location: Vitality Stadium, Bournemouth

Date and time: Friday 11th October 2024, 7:30pm

How to watch: England YouTube, The FA Player

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