July 19 2003

Wayne Routledge

Wayne Routledge scored one and set up the other in England Under-19s' 2-0 European Championship win over France, in Liechtenstein.

England went in front against the run of play when Liam Ridgewell headed home Routledge's left wing cross four minutes before the break.

In the second half, France went close to scoring on a couple of occasions before being reduced to 10 men when Emmers Fae was shown the red card in the 68th-minute for throwing the ball at Ciaran Donnelly.

England made their extra-man advantage count and went looking to increase their lead. It duly came in the third minute of injury time when Routledge steered the ball in at the far post from a Lee Croft cross.

England move to second in Group B, three points in front of France and the Czech Republic, with Austria already confirmed as group winners. Austria had already beaten England 2-1 in the first match on Wednesday.

England face the Czech Republic on Sunday where a win should secure them a place in the semi-finals. Full match coverage will be shown on Eurosport.

On the way to the final stages in Liechtenstein, England sailed through the first qualifying round in November, beating F.Y.R. Macedonia 3-0, Moldova 9-0 and Romania 4-0 to top Group 3.

In the second qualifying round, they beat hosts Republic of Ireland 1-0, Slovenia 3-0 and Switzerland 1-0.