Report: England MU19s 0-1 Germany
Young Lions battled hard and went close to grabbing a deserved equaliser on several occasions
England men’s under-19s were unable to find the breakthrough their second-half dominance arguably deserved as they lost 1-0 to Germany.
The Young Lions started brightly, as Utrecht’s Adrian Blake got in down the left early on and had an effort blocked before firing over soon after.
It was Germany who took the lead though and in stunning fashion as midway through the first half, Mert Komur fired in an unstoppable strike first time from 20 yards.
The Germans almost grabbed another at the start of the second period following a goalmouth scramble before England then took charge.
Noel Buck, of New England Revolution, would have scored with an excellent header had it not been for a good save by the goalkeeper.
And Blake got in one-on-one in the inside left channel before the ball was smothered by the goalkeeper.
England dominated in the second half and showed plenty of endeavour as they searched for an equaliser but in the end Germany managed to hold on for the narrow victory.
England MU19s will be back at the Oliva Nova Football Centre in Spain on Saturday for their second and final game of the camp against Switzerland, with kick-off at 1pm BST.
England: 1 Luca Gunter (Tottenham Hotspur), 2 Sai Sachdev (Sheffield United), 3 Lino Sousa (Arsenal), 4 Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton & Hove Albion), 5 Max Alleyne (Manchester City), 6 Ashley Phillips (Tottenham Hotspur), 7 Romain Esse (Millwall), 8 Jobe Bellingham (Sunderland) ©, 9 Dominic Ballard (Southampton), 10 Kamari Doyle (Southampton), 11 Adrian Blake (Utrecht)
Substitutes: 22 Ben Cisse (West Bromwich Albion) for Gunter 66, 17 Bobby Clark (Liverpool) for Esse 66, 16 Noel Buck (New England Revolution) for Blake 66, 20 Amario Cozier-Duberry (Arsenal) for Sousa 66, 15 Calum Scanlon (Liverpool) for Doyle 66, 19 Omari Kellyman (Aston Villa) for Alleyne 75, 12 Ezra Carrington (Manchester City) for Phillips 75, 18 Lewis Miley (Newcastle United) for Ballard 75. 14 Alfie Dorrington (Tottenham Hotspur) for Hinshelwood 75
Substitutes not used: 13 True Grant (Manchester City), 21 Jamie Donley (Tottenham Hotspur)
Coach: Simon Rusk