Rio reflects on 'crazy feeling' after England debut

Rio Ngumoha says making his senior debut for England left him with a ‘crazy feeling’ after his second-half appearance in the win over New Zealand in Tampa.

The Liverpool forward was invited to join Thomas Tuchel’s senior squad in Florida for their FIFA World Cup 2026 preparations alongside four other youngsters in Alex Scott, Ethan Nwaneri and Josh King following the squad announcement in May.

And the 17 year old admits he never expected to be coming home from the USA with a senior cap to his name, after becoming player number 1300 to represent the Three Lions and also the fifth-youngest player to make his debut.

Having featured for the Young Lions at MU19 level this season, while also making his breakthrough in the Premier League with Liverpool, the Londoner explained his call to join the group came out of the blue.

“I was just at home and then I got a call from John [McDermott, FA director of football] and he just said: ‘Oh, how are you? Would you like to be like part of like the training squad in Miami, to help the pre-camp?’

“And I just said, yeah, of course. I came out here with an open mind, like when you get a call saying that you could be training with the World Cup squad as a young kid or just as anyone really, you would never turn down the opportunity.

“I knew what my role was, to come out here just to help the other players train, but also to show what I can do as well, but it's been great.

“On the pitch, obviously, you’re training with the best players in the world so you learn every day and you see how good everyone is and how top, top class they are.

“On the ball, everyone's sharp, everyone knows how to play, everyone just combines and clicks well together.

“And then off the pitch as well, everyone's very humble and no-one's over the top. Like everyone's so nice, everyone's so chill and no one's judgmental or anything.

“I think everyone forgets that footballers are just normal people, and everyone interacts well with each other and everyone's been so nice and friendly.”

Having settled quickly into the group over the week in Florida, Ngumoha was handed his debut by Thomas Tuchel when he swapped his whole team for the second half in Tampa after Harry Kane had headed home what proved to be the winner in first-half stoppage time.

And the youngster, who says Raheem Sterling was his England idol growing up along with the likes of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo, admits he was thrilled to get out on the pitch.

“Yeah, I’ll say it was a crazy feeling,” he revealed.

“I was happy, I was buzzing. I knew from when we had the meeting before that it was a first-half team and a second-half team so I was preparing.

“It's good that I didn't have much time to think about it, but I wasn't too nervous to be fair. I just wanted to play and just show everyone what I could do. And yeah, I just had fun.

Trying to have fun on the pitch is something which he admits has been a big part of his development so far, stretching back to his days in Newham, east London where he grew up watching his older brother’s grassroots team.

“I used to watch my brother play in his local team when he was like maybe 15 and I probably was four or five.

“It was a team called East Soccer Base and then I just used to go train with them or just watch them play, like the older age groups and that’s where I really fell in love with football.

“And then there was one summer where my brother just spent the whole summer working with me, just training and training and it’s just gone from there.

“I just think when you get a chance, like, don't be scared. Just play how you normally play, because football is still the same game but it's just obviously on a bigger scale and in front of more people.

“But I say just be you and never change, on the pitch and off the pitch and when you get a chance, you’ve just got to take it because you don't really get many.”

And with his mum, brother and best friend also in the stadium to see his debut, it’s certainly a day he won’t forget quickly.