Neil Ryan draws U17 World Cup inspiration at SGP

England men’s under-18s head coach Neil Ryan says the inspiration for his Young Lions ahead of next month’s FIFA U17 World Cup sits on the walls of St. George’s Park.

The Young Lions spent ten days at the national football centre in Burton-on-Trent earlier this month in what was their final camp before they head to Qatar at the end of October for the tournament.

Ryan picked a 27-strong squad for the camp, which included two games against another nation heading to the Middle East in France, to run the rule over his options before he picks his final World Cup squad on Tuesday 21 October.

And he says that being able to work on the same training pitches as some of the squads who have come home with silverware in recent years is what can help drive the players.

“When you see the MU21s in the summer, winning the EUROs for the second time in a row and you look at the women winning the EUROs again, on the walls in the building you can see the pictures of those teams who have won titles,” he revealed.

“That's what we’re all striving for and now it's our turn to try and get a trophy.

“With this tournament, the players get tested at the highest level in their age group and it’s an experience that we can provide them on their journey to hopefully making the senior team.”

England’s last U17 World Cup adventure came two years ago in Indonesia, when a Young Lions squad featuring the likes of Myles Lewis-Skelly, Tyler Dibling, Ethan Nwaneri, Chris Rigg and Josh Acheampong, reached the knockout stage when they were knocked out by Uzbekistan.

But England's previous U17 World Cup campaign in 2017 saw the Young Lions win the title in India, when Steve Cooper’s team crushed Spain by 5-2 in the Final with the likes of Phil Foden, Marc Guéhi, Jadon Sancho, Morgan Gibbs-White, Angel Gomes and Conor Gallagher all featuring in that squad.

“There are so many players from that squad that have gone on to have really good careers,” added Ryan.

“I worked very closely with Angel Gomes at club level with Manchester United and he's done fantastically. You see Phil Foden too, he's had an amazing career since then.

“These are all inspirational moments for any players coming through our pathway.”

The October camp was a success both on and off the pitch too, with a 1-0 win and a 2-2 draw against Les Bleus as well as plenty of time on the training pitch inbetween.

"It was an important camp, because our September camp was more about preparation with the heat in Spain which we know we'll experience in Qatar,” he explained.

"We played different nations [in September] from the Asian champions in Uzbekistan, the African champions Morocco and Canada from North America, so there was a real World Cup feel to all those teams.

"And France are a high-level nation who produce a lot of good players and teams, and they brought a really strong group for us to test ourselves against which we did and I was pleased with our performances.

"We wanted to give minutes to all the players and give them an opportunity to show their qualities, both individually and also as a group.

"And there was a lot of lessons learned, it was a high-level challenge and a really good nation to come up against ahead of the World Cup.

"It was an opportunity, not just for us but for France as well because they're going to the World Cup, to look at players and to give everyone an opportunity to play and challenge themselves.

"We had the bonus of some players going across to train with the MU20s group and with the senior staff being able to get eyes on the players as well, which is excellent for the environment and for the boys to show everyone their qualities.”

England will kick-off their World Cup campaign against Venezuela on Tuesday 4 November (3.15pm GMT) before they take on Haiti on Friday 7 November (12.30pm GMT) and finish the group stage against Egypt on Monday 10 November (3.45pm GMT).

From there, the 48-team tournament progresses into the knockout stages, with a round of 32 and then 16 to follow before quarter-finals, semi-finals and the Final on 27 November.

All group and knockout games are being staged at the Aspire Football Zone in Doha and will be shown live on the FIFA+ channel, with the Final scheduled to be played at the Khalifa International Stadium.