England have drawn 0-0 against the Czech Republic in their Under-21 European Championship Group B opening match at the Gelredrome in Arnhem on Monday.

Liverpool keeper Scott Carson made a couple of exceptional saves to deny the Czech’s, with England’s Leroy Lita missing a late penalty.

England slightly had the better of possession in the first-half, but never really tested Zdeněk Zlámal in the Czech goal. Meanwhile, Jan Kysela had two efforts blocked by Scott Carson after the Czech Republic counter-attacked well.

The second-half saw chances at both ends, with Kieran Richardson heading wide from close range for England and at the other end a long-range free-kick from Tomáš Jirsák was tipped on to the post by Carson in a world-class save.

The Czech’s defended to deny England any real chances on goal,and it was England who were left the more frustrated team at the final whistle as a crucial chance to seal a win went begging.

With just two minutes remaining England were awarded a penalty after David Nugent broke into the penalty-area, lobbing the ball over Czech captain Roman Hubník, who handled the ball to give England a chance of a late win.

But it was not to be as Leroy Lita wasted the chance to give England the win, shooting wide of Zlámal's right hand post.

The points were shared by the two teams, with the other teams in Group B, tournament favourites Italy and Serbia and Montenegro kicking off later this evening.

Bookmark/Search this post with:

delicious | digg | google | yahoo | technorati