Phil Jones has today said that England deserved to go out of the Under 21 European Championships. The English team failed to beat the Czechs in tonight's game in which England needed a win to proceed into the next phase, the semi finals, of the tournament.
Jones, 19, was captain for the night but England suffered a 2-1 defeat to the Czech Republic. "I'm gutted, we're so disappointed in there," he said.
"That's probably the best we've played all tournament but we can't really come out and say we were unlucky because we weren't good enough to stick the ball in the net on occasions when we should have.
"The lads are absolutely gutted in there but we've got to carry on from this and it will only make us strong and we can improve from it."
Danny Welbeck put England in front with 14 minutes remaining with a headed goal from a Daniel Sturridge cross, but a spectacular late collapse saw the Czechs get back into the game on the 89th minute, before producing a winner with the final kick of the game.
"It was just a matter of seeing it out and we couldn't do that," said Jones. "I'm speechless, I don't know what to say.
"Maybe we'll look back at it tomorrow when emotions have died down a bit but we're just so disappointed."
The Manchester United new signing added: "We were training well, we were well prepared for this tournament. I wouldn't say we didn't play well, but we didn't play as well as we could have done."
He also said: "It's a massive honour to captain your country at any level and tonight was brilliant for me, but it's been tarnished a bit by the result in the end."
