Omari Hutchinson says he and his England U21s teammates have to look to dominate Spain in Saturday’s European Championship quarter-final in Trnava, Slovakia.
Lee Carsley’s side were beaten 2-1 by Germany in their final group game last night but still qualified second and now face favourites Spain in a rerun of the final two years ago, which England won 1-0.
Hutchinson created Alex Scott’s goal in the second half as the Young Lions improved having been two goals down before the break and has been one of the top performers in a team which has underwhelmed for the most part.
Having beaten Czechia 3-1 in their opening fixture, they drew 0-0 with Slovenia in their second match prior to the German defeat.
"We want to be dominant,” the 21-year-old said looking ahead to the game against the Spanish, who topped their group with seven points. "We’re going to have to try to take that away from them.
"We can be physically better than them. We’ve just got to physically outrun them and take them to the final whistle.
"Cars [Carsley] is big on that. He said last time they played each other it was a tough game for the U21s.
"Obviously they won it, but we just want to be able to dominate and win by two goals really. It’s probably my biggest game for England so I’m looking forward to it.”
Hutchinson, who says he’s readying himself for the possibility of a penalty shootout despite not having taken a kick for Town, reflected on his own displays in the tournament having started the Czechia and Germany games and come off the bench against Slovenia.
"I've been getting a lot of the ball around the edge of the box,” he added. "That's one thing I need to work on, being able to get a clearer shot off on target. I'll go and look at it again and try my best.”