EASTLEIGH’S Silverlake Stadium played host to England’s young stars this week, with Lee Carsley’s Young Lions using the National League club’s facilities for training.
England beat Andorra 4-1 in a match hosted at AFC Bournemouth’s Vitality Stadium on Friday evening, with Saints’ Tino Livramento helping to open scores when his pinpoint cross was converted by Folarin Balogun in the sixth minute.
With the Young Lions’ second game of the window taking place away in Albania, the decision to remain on the south coast in preparation led to the FA picking the Silverlake as the perfect training base.
Livramento and co. showed appreciation towards their hosts by posing with the Hampshire club’s home shirt.
📸 #Spitfires x #YoungLions 🦁💙
— Eastleigh FC (@EastleighFC) March 28, 2022
It's been a pleasure hosting the @England U21s at the Silverlake Stadium in their training camp last week! 🤝
A few familiar faces even took the time for a photo with the famous 🔵⚪️ before they left today 👀👋 pic.twitter.com/rl0qtkLyVS
In November of last year, England’s senior women team also used the Silverlake for training purposes.
After victory over Andorra, England are now well-poised in their qualifying group for the under-21 Euros being hosted in Georgia and Romania next summer.
Carsley’s side now occupy second place, which would guarantee advancement to the playoffs, but they do enjoy two games in hand over group leaders, the Czech Republic.
The Czechs are just one point above England, having lost 3-1 to the Young Lions at Burnley’s Turf Moore back in November.
Whoever wins the group will avoid the extra games in the playoffs, qualifying directly for the tournament.
It’s a big week at the Silverlake, with both the men’s and women’s Hampshire Senior Cup finals set to be played at Eastleigh’s ground.
In a stroke of luck, the Spitfires effectively have home advantage for their cup final with Farnborough this evening, whilst Portsmouth take on AFC Bournemouth in the women’s cup final tomorrow evening.
Saints women were due to face their eternal rivals Portsmouth, but pulled out of the competition due to a cong ested schedule.
Bournemouth, who lost 3-0 to Saints in the semi-finals, were reinstated in place of Saints.
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