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Thanks to the quirky Toulon Tournament setup (two round-robin groups of five for a two-week tournament), England U21s are scheduled for three games in the space of five days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) after playing just once in the last week. And then, should they finish in the top two, they would get to play on Sunday as well in the final or the third place match. Granted, matches are only 80 rather than 90 minutes long, but that's basically still the prospect of four matches in a week.
Good thing England have a deep squad and can rotate. And also that one of the games is against Guinea, who are, frankly, terrible. Not sure how they got into this tournament, but your local Sunday league side's C team could've probably done a better job.
This England vs Guinea game at Toulon is pathetic, 5-1 to England and they'll have faced tougher challenges during training.
— Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) May 23, 2016
The match actually ended up finishing 7-1, and perhaps the most surprising part was that a) it wasn't more and b) that none of Chelsea's youth actually scored. Nathaniel Chalobah, a half-time substitute in defensive midfield (just as in the first game) did provide a lovely secondary assist for England's 7th, releasing Duncan Watmore with a raking pass who then scared it for Cauley Woodrow's second of the day.
Kasey Palmer also came on as a substitute, while Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker sat this one out after their telling contributions in the first game. The only man to miss that 1-0 win against Portugal was John Swift and he started this one as part of a midfield three. He won the penalty for England's second, which James Ward-Prowse put away. Please give him a new contract, Chelsea.
Next up for England will be Paraguay on Wednesday, then Japan on Friday. Presumably, U21 boss Gareth Southgate will keep the rotation going.