Report: England WU20s 1-0 Canada

England women's under-20s continued their preparations for the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Canada at the Murcia Stadium in Spain.

Lydia Bedford's Young Lionesses created the better openings during a closely contested first half but were unable to find a breakthrough before the interval.

Vera Jones threatened midway through the opening period when she cut inside from the left before firing over from just outside the penalty area, while Katie Cox was called into action shortly afterwards to comfortably gather after Canada broke forward following an England throw-in.

The Young Lionesses continued to probe and came close on 28 minutes when Ava Baker delivered a cross from the right that found Jessie Gale, although the forward was unable to direct her header on target.

Canada responded with an opportunity of their own two minutes later, but their number nine fired over from inside the penalty area.

England's best chance of the half arrived on 34 minutes when captain Erica Meg Parkinson produced a clever pass to send Gale through on goal. However, the Canadian goalkeeper stood firm and made the save from a tight angle to ensure the sides went into the break level at 0-0. 

The Young Lionesses carried that momentum into the second half and Parkinson again went close on 55 minutes, creating space for herself on the edge of the area before firing over the crossbar.

England thought they had finally broken the deadlock just after the hour mark when Gale found the back of the net from another Baker delivery, but the effort was ruled out for offside.

Bedford turned to her bench as the second half progressed, introducing Lola Brown, Rachel Maltby, Cecily Wellesley-Smith and Laila Harbert before later bringing on Lily Dent, Vivienne Lia and Ria Bose.

With the game appearing to be heading for a draw, England found the breakthrough in dramatic fashion.

Bose delivered a cross into the box in stoppage time and fellow substitute Harbert was on hand to fire home the winner and secure a 1-0 victory for the Young Lionesses.

England travel to Poland for the FIFA U20 Women's World Cup in September 2026, and they have been drawn in Group B for September’s tournament alongside Brazil, Tanzania and Canada.

England WU20s next take on Japan, who are also bound for the World Cup, on Tuesday 9 June (11am BST). 

England: 1 Katie Cox (Chelsea, on loan to Aberdeen), 2 Mari Ward (Bristol City), 3 Chloe Sarwie (Chelsea), 4 Lexi Potter (Chelsea), 5 Zara Shaw (Liverpool), 6 Lucy Newell (Manchester United), 7 Ava Baker (Birmingham City), 8 Chloe Hylton (Carolina Ascent), 9 Jessie Gale (Arsenal), 10 Erica Meg Parkinson (Valadares Gaia) (c ), 11 Vera Jones (Chelsea)

Substitutes: 14 Lola Brown (Chelsea) for Parkinson 63, 15 Rachel Maltby (Aston Villa) for Jones 63, 18 Cecily Wellesley-Smith (Arsenal, on loan to FC Rosengård) for Shaw 63, 17 Laila Harbert (Arsenal, on loan to Everton) for Hylton 63, 12 Lily Dent (Brighton & Hove Albion) for Gale 76, 16 Vivienne Lia (Arsenal, on loan to Hammarby) for Baker 76, 19 Ria Bose (West Ham) for Sarwie 84

Substitutes not used: 13 Kaiya Jota (Stanford University),

Head coach: Lydia Bedford

Goals: Laila Harbert 90