England have beaten Israel 2-0 in their second match at the European Under-21 Championship, getting goals from Anthony Gordon and Emile Smith Rowe either side of half-time. The win, coupled with the Czech Republic's 2-1 victory over Germany, means that England have clinched the top spot in their group.

Michael Dominski

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Summary

England have beaten Israel 2-0 in their second match at the European Under-21 Championship, getting goals from Anthony Gordon and Emile Smith Rowe either side of half-time.

The win, coupled with the Czech Republic's 2-1 victory over Germany, means that England have clinched the top spot in their group.

Manager profile: Guy Luzon

Guy Luzon has been Israel Under-21 manager since May 2022, taking over from Alon Hazan who stepped up to the senior team, with qualification to the Euro Under-21 play-off virtually assured.

Luzon's playing career was cut short due to injury, retiring in 1997 after making just 16 appearances for boyhood club Maccabi Petah Tikva, before joining the club's youth coaching staff.

Taking on the top job in 2001 his team consistently challenged for trophies and the European places before departing in 2007 but subsequently returning in 2008 and 2019 after ill-fated stints at Hapoel Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem respectively.

The former Maccabi Haifa and Beitar Jerusalem manager is best known in England for his spell under maligned former Charlton owner Ronald Duchatelet, being hired just three months after Duchatelet sacked him from Belgian side Standard Liege, before returning to the Israeli game.

(All photos by Getty Images)

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Manager profile: Lee Carsley

Lee Carsley was appointed England Under-21 manager in July 2021, replacing Aidy Boothroyd after a horrendous campaign at the previous European U-21 Championship.

Carsley, who made 40 international appearances for Ireland, has spent the entirety of his managerial career in youth football except for caretaker stints with Coventry City, Brentford and Birmingham City.

During his playing career Carsley, a central midfielder, made 548 senior appearances scoring 38 times, most notably for Everton were he formed strong partnerships with Mikel Arteta and Thomas Gravesen over his 198 appearances.

Carsley has been involved with the England set-up since 2015 working in several different roles across a number of age groups, previously splitting his time between club and national commitments while working with Manchester City and Birmingham between 2016 and 2018.

(All photos by Getty Images)

Record breaker?

Within 14 days Israel left-back Roy Revivo has:

• Played for Israel at the Under-20 World Cup (8 June)
• Played for Israel in Euro 2024 qualifiers (19 June)
• Played for Israel at the Under-21 Euros (22 June)

Had he appeared in the Under-20 third place play-off it would be 11 days!

Does anybody know anyone who has played for three different international teams in a shorter period? Let me know!

(All photos by Getty Images)

Everything you need to know

• The U-21 Euros are hosted every two years rather than every four like the senior competition.
• Players can be as old as 23, provided they were 21 on a specific date before the qualification campaign started.
• The competition is being dually hosted by Romania and Georgia, opening and closing the tournament respectively.
• Germany are the defending champions.
• England are in a group with the Czech Republic, Israel and Germany.
• England won their opening game against the Czech Republic 2-0.
• The final is to be held on the 8th of July.
• The top three finishing nations will qualify for the Olympics (other than hosts France and the ineligible England), with a play-off to take place if necessary.

(All photos by Getty Images)

Who is missed out on the tournament?

England have a number of players Lee Carsley would have loved to have called up like Bukayo Saka and Jude Bellingham but from but Djed Spence, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Rennes from Tottenham, was the key miss due to injury that would have almost definitely been called up.

Israel have substantially more concerns:

• Liel Abada: Celtic refused to release the exciting attacker for international duty, perhaps fearing an injury could harm their chances of selling the attacker.
• Mohamad Kanaan: The two-cap international, Ashdod attacking midfielder misses the tournament with a ruptured cruciate ligament.
• Ido Shahar: The defensive midfielder spent the season in Cyprus with Apollon Limassol on loan from Maccabi Tel Aviv but also misses out due to injury.
• Or Israelov: Lemkin's centre-back partner at Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israelov played at the Under-20 World Cup but misses the Under-21 Euros with injury.

(All photos by Getty Images)

Early Israel team news

Left-back Roy Revivo, may be rested for today after featuring in Thursday's game shortly after making his international debut in the 2-1 win against Andorra on Monday. Should he be rested, midfielder Ilay Hajaj is most likely to be used out of position to fill in, but he missed the Germany draw with illness.

Maccabi Netanya's highly rated midfielder Omri Gandelman is expected to continue at centre-back to accommodate for the lack of depth available to Guy Luzon.

Israel will have to do without their most important midfielder Eden Karzev who received a red card for two bookable offences last time out.

(All photos by Getty Images)

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Early England team news

Lee Carsley's team is expected to have a clean bill of health.

Djed Spence, who spent the second half of the season on loan at Rennes from Tottenham, would have made the team but for a knee injury opening the door to Ben Johnson.

However, England are boosted by Emile Smith Rowe recovering in time to be included in the squad.

(All photos by Getty Images)

Israel full squad list

GOALKEEPERS:

• Daniel Peretz (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Shareef Kayouf (Maccabi Haifa), Tomer Tzarfati (Maccabi Netanya)

DEFENDERS:

• Gil Cohen (Ashdod), Or Blorian (Hapoel Be'er Sheva), Karem Jaber (Maccabi Netanya), Ziv Morgan (Ironi Kiryat Shmona), Stav Lemkin (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Ilay Hajaj (Maccabi Haifa), Roy Revivo (Maccabi Tel Aviv)

MIDFIELDERS:

• Eden Kartsev (Istanbul Basaksehir), Arad Bar (Zurich), Omri Gandelman (Maccabi Netanya), Oz Bilu (Maccabi Netanya), Yoav Hofmayster (Ironi Kiryat Shmona), Eitan Azulay (Maccabi Netanya), Oscar Gloukh (Red Bull Salzburg), Ayano Preda (Hapoel Jerusalem)

ATTACKERS:

• Hisham Layous (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Idan Gorno (Maccabi Petah Tikva), Dor Turgeman (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Mohammed Abu Rumi (Ironi Kiryat Shmona), Anan Khalaily (Maccabi Haifa)

England full squad list

GOALKEEPERS:

• Josh Griffiths (West Bromwich Albion), Carl Rushworth (Brighton & Hove Albion), James Trafford (Manchester City)

DEFENDERS:

• Max Aarons (Norwich City), Jarrad Branthwaite (Everton), Levi Colwill (Chelsea), Charlie Cresswell (Leeds United), Taylor Harwood-Bellis (Manchester City), Ben Johnson (West Ham United), Luke Thomas (Leicester City)

MIDFIELDERS:

• Tommy Doyle (Manchester City), Harvey Elliott (Liverpool), James Garner (Everton), Angel Gomes (Lille), Curtis Jones (Liverpool), Jacob Ramsey (Aston Villa), Oliver Skipp (Tottenham Hotspur), Morgan Gibbs-White (Nottingham Forest)

FORWARDS:

• Cameron Archer (Aston Villa), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle United), Noni Madueke (Chelsea), Cole Palmer (Manchester City), Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal)

Good morning 👋

Hello and welcome to The Athletic's live coverage of England vs Israel in the European Under-21 Championship group stage.

In addition to coverage of the game we will also be bringing you all the build-up, team news and post-match reaction straight from Kutaisi, Georgia.

England come into the game having beaten the Czech Republic 2-0 in the opening fixture as Jacob Ramsey and Emile Smith Rowe got on the scoresheet.

Israel opened their campaign earning a point from a 1-1 draw with Germany as Daniel Peretz saved two penalties.

The game gets underway at 5pm BST (14.45pm ET, 11.45am PT) and will be broadcast live on uefa.tv.