U21 EUROS: Koné in quarter-finals, Netz eliminated

The France U21 national side, including Manu Koné, has qualified for the European Championship quarter-finals following their 4-1 win over Switzerland, finishing top of their group. Luca Netz and Germany have not made qualification after losing 2-0 against England.

France U21s

Manu Koné (Photo: imago images/NurPhoto) is in the quarter-finals of the U21 European Championship with France. “Les Bleus” celebrated a decisive 4-1 win (1-1) win over Switzerland on Wednesday evening and booked their ticket to the knockout stages as winners of their group, having won all three of their games. Koné started against Switzerland, but was forced off with an injury after just 19 minutes. Borussia’s midfielder picked up a knock on his knee, which will be examined fully on Thursday. Amine Gouiri (16’, P), Bradley Barcola (65’), Rayan Cherki (76’) and Maxcence Caqueret (81’) scored for France, while Dan Ndoye (35’) scored Switzerland’s only goal. France will now face Ukraine in the quarter-finals. Kick-off at the Cluj Arena is 21:00 CEST.

Sunday, 2nd July, 21:00 CEST, in Cluj-Napoca, Romania: France U21s – Ukraine U21s (quarter-finals)

Germany U21s

Luca Netz and the Germany national side had a less successful evening. In their last group game, they were beaten 2-0 (2-0) by England. Netz was substituted on for the second half, replacing Schalke player Henning Matriciani, but couldn’t overturn the deficit with his teammates. The “Three Lions” took the lead after just four minutes through Cameron Archer, and Harvey Elliot scored their second goal later on (21’). Since Israel beat the Czech Republic 1-0 in the other group game, Germany are eliminated from the tournament, finishing bottom of the group. “We didn’t start well in the tournament with the draw against Israel, even though we were dominant, took a tough loss against the Czech Republic and then the defeat against England was absolutely fair and justified,” said head coach Antonio Di Salvo.