England claimed a spot in the 2024 ELF Men’s U20 Championship final four after a tough 14-7 win over Czechia in Wednesday’s quarter-final in Wroclaw, Poland.
Despite being 1-0 and then 2-1 down early in the first quarter, and with Czechia breathing down their necks for most of the game, the young lions showed their quality and resilience to overcome their most difficult 2024 U20 Euros opponents so far.
Star attacker George Shonfeld scored five taking his tally for the tournament to 16, putting him second in the 2024 U20 Euros top goal-scorers list after Poland’s Matthew Dyszkiewicz (19 goals).
Another of England’s brightest young talents, Hugo Peel chipped in with four goals of his own, putting him in third place in the top goal-scorers list with 12 goals.
In fact, four of England’s players are currently in the top 10 goal-scorers in the competition with captain Josh Clegg in fourth spot (11 goals) and Ellis Baythorpe in ninth (10 goals).
After a tense opening quarter which ended 2-2 after Shonfeld dragged England level at 1-1 and then 2-2, England settled into the game scoring three in a row through Finn Avis, Shonfeld, and Peel in the second.
Czechia were never far behind, however, and were able to pull themselves within a goal of England just over a minute into the third quarter when Tobiáš Formánek and Lukáš Kučera scored to make it 5-4.
From here, the game opened up a little more and England were able to claim a real foothold through goals from Shonfeld, Clegg, and Henry Smith who extended the men in white’s lead to four at 8-4.
Six more goals over the latter part of the third quarter and the whole fourth from Smith, Peel (x3), Shonfeld, and Clegg ensured a 14-7 victory and a place in the semi-final.
England will take on Germany in Thursday’s semi-final at 6pm UK time and can be watched live HERE.
England scorers: George Shonfeld (5G), Hugo Peel (4G, 1A), Josh Clegg (2G, 1A), Henry Smith (2G, 1A), Finn Avis (1G, 1A), Ben Jackson (2A), Drew Wilkinson (1A).