It was jotted down in an FA notebook that if England were to get a second crack at Germany out here in Slovakia they’d beat them.
It was a short verdict, no more than a line or two, but was a sentiment shared throughout the camp, despite being unceremoniously beaten by Antonio di Salvo’s side in the group stage.
What that note didn’t have down was that this absorbing contest would run 120 minutes, would see England blow a 2-0 first half lead, having their crossbar rattled in the fourth minute of stoppage time in regulation, before scoring with the first attack of extra-time through substitute Jonathan Rowe.
At half-time of extra-time Carsley beckoned his players into a huddle, the families only metres away, and he delivered a gladiatorial speech to get them over the line.
Back to back European champions. Carsley a history-maker, matching the achievement of Dave Sexton, who won this tournament in 1982 and 1984. Champions – again.
Up in the stands England boss Thomas Tuchel roared and winced at the highs and lows of this contest. When Rowe scored with his first meaningful touch, a flicked header from a Tyler Morton cross, he delighted at seeing his motherland sucker-punched.
England won the 2025 European Under-21 Championship by beating Germany in an epic final
Manager Lee Carsley (centre) pictured hugging coach Ashley Cole (left) after the final whistle
Thomas Tuchel (top right), England’s senior team head coach, was in the stands on Saturday
Carsley went with an unchanged team from the one that dumped the Dutch out in the semi-finals and who could blame him? Since losing to Germany in the final group game in Nitra, his players look to have been building and building towards a big crescendo.
Germany arrived much changed to the one that beat England 11 days ago – nine to be exact.
They arrived confident, as many expected, as the tournament’s top scorers. Antonio Di Salvo’s had scored at least three goals in four of their previous five matches here. Tournament top scorer Nick Woltemade, who Stuttgart are demanding £85million for, the tournament top scorer.
But Germany started timid, none of the swagger that they showed getting off the team bus in the hours before kick-off.
Carsley’s tongue-in-cheek comment to Di Salvo after that group game defeat was that they’d ‘see them in the final’, a comment he said was making reference to England.
‘I didn’t know if they’d make it,’ Carsley said of Germany. He knew something we all didn’t.
England started with so much purpose and within five minutes they were ahead through Harvey Elliott.
Harvey Elliott (centre) got England off to a dream start by opening the scoring on five minutes
Omari Hutchinson made it 2-0 midway through the first half and he celebrated acrobatically
Elliott scored the first goal for England at this tournament against Czech Republic, scored in the quarter-final win over Spain, scored a brace to down the Dutch in the semis and got the ball rolling here with a clever left-footed finish.
He started the move by driving inside off the right wing and his attempted pass to the left inadvertently diverted off the back of Alex Scott behind the Germany defence and into Omari Hutchinson’s path.
His effort was initially saved but a haphazard poke away from Germany fell to Elliott who took one touch with his left before giving the defender the eyes to pick out the bottom corner.
Up jumped his dad and the rest of the family to punch the air as Elliott ran over to soak it all up. Advantage England.
Foot on the accelerator, England played like a side eager to exact some revenge after being outclassed in that Nitra contest.
Inside 20 minutes it should have been 3-0, first Charlie Cresswell guilty of missing a tap-in at the back post from a James McAtee effort fizzed across goal, then another McAtee drive that Jay Stansfield only needed to get a touch on. He looked to malfunction in a rare lapse of concentration.
That deserved second goal came in the 25th minute when Hutchinson, who Carsley has been urging to be more selfish, was teed up in the area by McAtee and he just drilled it low and hard into the back of the net. His somersault celebration was as impressive as this England start.
Hutchinson and Stansfield had more chances while German heads looked increasingly frazzled and while those efforts were a whisker wide of the post, here was England’s best performance of the tournament at the perfect time.
Striker Nelson Weiper sparked hope of a Germany comeback by scoring just before half-time
It was 2-2 on the hour after Paul Nebel curled home impressively to equalise for Germany
But Jonathan Rowe won a pulsating final for England with a diving header early in extra time
Only finals are never usually this straightforward and moments after Scott, who left injured and in tears after a clattering challenge by Eric Martel, went off, Germany made a game of it.
Paul Nebel whipped the first good German cross of the half in from the left and Nelson Weiper, who scored against England in the group with a header, nodded in with ease once again. Game on.
More missed chances arrived after the restart for England, McAtee fizzing one wide, and missed opportunities usually come back to bite, as it showed here.
Nebel, dynamite wide on the left for Germany, hung back after the breakdown of a corner and curled spectacularly into the top corner on the hour. The Germany bench emptied onto the pitch in celebration.
Carsley and his assistant Ashley Cole, who has been really motivational to this group behind the scenes, looked to rouse a last push out of the players and while there were tired minds and tired legs, England pushed.
Substitute Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s eyes lit up in the area when a Hutchinson cross picked him out. His effort was tame, though. Carsley could only look to the heavens.
In the end it wasn’t to matter, thanks in large part to the head of Rowe.
