England U21 0-2 Portugal U21: England’s hopes for the euro hang on

England’s chances of qualifying for the quarter-finals of the European Under-21 Championship are hanging in the balance after a sluggish display and defeat by Portugal.

Dany Mota’s bad shot and Francisco Trinca’s penalty kick decided the game in the second half in Ljubljana.

England must now beat Croatia and hope that Portugal will defeat Switzerland in order to have any chance of advancing from Group D.

Even if England and Portugal win, then it would come down to a three-way match between England, Croatia and Switzerland for one place, probably settled by the difference in goals. Croatia beat Switzerland 3-2 on Sunday.

Warning signs were for England as early as the third minute on Sunday when Ben Godfrey was forced to repel Mott from his own goal line.

England did not listen to them or, more precisely, was mostly powerless to do anything against a far superior opponent.

Everton defender Godfrey had to do a similar rescue job in the last ditch later in the first half, again denying Moti a sliding strike near the post, while Aidy Boothroyd’s team struggled to maintain parity before the break.

Fabio Vieira and Vitinha fired from a wide range, while traffic was still flowing in one direction, it was only a matter of time before the deadlock would stop.

It was a dipping freekickby Mota but it didnt quite do enough and hit the bar after beating Pedro Goncalves and his despairing dive.

Trincao kicked the game out of England from the spot after Marc Guehi got stuck in his boot and caught Goncal Ramos ’substitution in the penalty area.

The qualifiers will also be out of them, unless they achieve a significantly improved performance against Croatia on Wednesday.

‘It’s still possible and we’ll fight to the end’

England U21 boss Aidy Boothroyd, speaking to Sky Sports: “It’s deeply disappointing. You have to give credit to the opponent. They are a very good team and we have them on a good day.

“We didn’t create close enough. Given the goals we scored so far, that was the real strength of this group. Creating chances and scoring goals is a big part of what we are, so it’s really disappointing to be corrected before the last game.

“We intended to take the game to Portugal. In the first half we stuck to the game plan – we wanted to be in the game at half time. In my opinion it’s not a penalty. We won’t make excuses. Now it’s about picking them up and going again.

“It’s still mathematically possible and we’re going to fight to the end. We came here to play three games and we intend to. We wanted to get into the final game with it still in our hands, and it’s not.”