Nearly 12 months on from the Under-19 sides locking horns in the Euros final, England Under-21s and Israel Under-21s square off in Group C of the Under-21 Euro 2023 Championships on Sunday.

Lee Carsley's side laid down a marker with an opening 2-0 win over the Czech Republic on Thursday, while the Young Chosen Team head to the Ramaz Shengelia Stadium after holding Germany to a 1-1 draw with 10 men.

Match preview

How the Czech Republic and England entered the changing rooms at half time without scoring is anybody's guess, as in a frenetic battle between the Young Lions and the Little Lions, it was the former who dominated the lion's share of possession in the opening 45, albeit while giving up plenty of chances themselves.

However, Carsley's half-time team talk went down a treat, as a silky piece of link-up play between Jacob Ramsey and Anthony Gordon ended with the former curling home the opening goal in the 47th minute, before Emile Smith Rowe tapped in his country's second with the final kick of the game.

To say that England's opening three points were hard-fought would be an understatement, but Carsley's men have already established a healthy lead at the top of the rankings, and victory on Sunday would propel the Young Lions through to the knockout rounds with a game to spare.

Still searching for their first continental crown since the 1984 European Championships, England are already on course to avoid a sixth group-stage exit from their last seven appearances at the Under-21 Euros - falling at the first hurdle five times since 2011, including each of the last two editions.

Some doubts were harboured when the Young Lions lost to Japan and Croatia in their warm-up friendlies, but Carsley's men have now netted in 17 of their last 18 matches across all tournaments and must flaunt such attacking superiority if they are to best an inspired Israeli goalkeeper.

Having played with a man advantage for the entire second half, as well as restricting Israel to just 22% of the ball and firing 17 shots on goal, champions Germany will be waking up wondering how they failed to begin the defence of their crown with a maximum on Thursday night.

A chaotic first half saw Youssoufa Moukoko miss a penalty with just three minutes gone, before Dor Turgeman and Yann Aurel Bisseck made the net ripple for their respective nations, and two yellow cards inside the space of seven minutes for Eden Karzev saw him take the walk of shame.

Germany's unrelenting pressure would seemingly pay off when they were awarded another penalty 10 minutes from the end, but Israel goalkeeper Daniel Peretz replicated his heroics from 12 yards to keep out Jessic Ngankam and glean the unlikeliest of points for the Young Chosen Team.

However, Guy Luzon's side will enter the weekend outside of the automatic qualification spots in third place owing to their ill-discipline in that affair, and they have also now gone winless in five successive games in all tournaments, but credit where credit is due for thwarting the Germans in torrid conditions.

A handful of Israel players will be seeking vengeance after the heartbreak of losing the Under-19 Euros final to England last year, and the two nations have one win apiece at Under-21 level, but Sunday's game will mark the first meeting in 10 years since the Young Chosen Team prevailed 1-0 at the 2013 Euros.