Report: France 1-1 England MU18s

England men’s under-18s ended their trip to France with a 1-1 draw against the host nation on Sunday evening, before they won a penalty shootout to seal second place at the Lafarge Tournament.

The Young Lions came into their final game in Limoges on the back of draws with eventual winners Portugal and Switzerland, knowing that a victory by two clear goals would be enough to see them win the four-nation competition.

And while Liam Bramley’s team couldn’t get the win they needed for the title, they ended with a strong performance and were unfortunate to not win the game in 90 minutes, after Trey Nyoni’s second-half goal was cancelled out by a quickfire equaliser from Enzo Molebe.

An entertaining clash throughout, there was no shortage of chances at either end with both Douglass Lukjanciks in the England goal and his opposite number Ayoube Akabou producing a string of good saves.

It was the Young Lions who came closest to opening the scoring in the first half, when Carter Pinnington crashed a header against the bar from Jesse Derry’s corner before Akabou somehow scrambled it clear off the line.

It was England who started the better of the two teams in the second half and after a spell of possession, patient build-up and pressure, the Young Lions took the lead.

A fine piece of hold-up play and a neat turn from Chris Rigg saw him pass inside to Souleymane Sidibe, with the Stoke midfielder’s first-time pass into the area quickly latched onto by Nyoni and finished with aplomb into the roof of the net.

France hit back within two minutes though, as Enzo Molebe took advantage of a loose ball in the area before slipping a low shot past Lukjanciks to level things up.

Despite both teams attacking each other, they couldn’t be separated and the game was decided from the spot, with Lukjanciks saving France’s first two penalties with Jack Fletcher and Sidibe scoring either side of Mateus Mane’s effort being saved. 

But when France missed the target with their remaining kicks, England won the shootout by 2-0 and will return home happy with their performances this month.

England: 22 Douglass Lukjanciks (Everton), 5 Samuel Amissah (Fulham), 6 Carter Pinnington (Liverpool), 8 Joshua King (Fulham) (c), 10 Trey Nyoni (Liverpool), 11 Jesse Derry (Crystal Palace), 15 Airidas Golambeckis (West Ham United), 16 Leo Shahar (Newcastle United, 18 Ollie Harrison (Chelsea), 21 Divine Mukasa (Manchester City), 23 Alejandro Rodriguez (Olympique Lyonnais)

Substitutes: 7 Mateus Mane (Wolverhampton Wanderers) for Derry 46, 19 Christopher Rigg (Sunderland) for King 46, 4 Souleymane Sidibe (Stoke City) for Harrison 46, 24 Trevan Sanusi (Newcastle United) for Mukasa 46, 3 Harry Amass (Manchester United) for Golambeckis 46, 9 Baylee Dipepa (Southampton) for Rodriguez 56, 2 Jaden Dixon (Stoke City) for Shahar 56, 17 Jack Fletcher (Manchester United) for Nyoni 87

Substitutes not used: 1 Oliver Whatmuff (Manchester City), 7 Mateus Mane (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 13 Thorsten Spike Brits (Manchester City), 14 Saheed Olagunju (Chelsea), 20 Shumaira Mhueka (Chelsea), 

Head coach: Liam Bramley

Goals: Trey Nyoni 67