Report: England MU18s 0-2 Spain

England men’s under-18s were defeated 0-2 by Spain in the UEFA Friendship Cup in Nyon on Saturday afternoon.

After victories over Colombia, Egypt and Korea Republic over the last week in their group stage, the Young Lions sealed their place in the Final against their European rivals.

And they were desperately unlucky not to find a result in the Final, after fighting hard in the second half to find an equaliser before Spain scored a killer second goal in second-half stoppage time.

Spain had found the opener in the later stages of the first half, after winger Imga found captain Junior in the box to open the scoring.

Will Antwi's team tried to find an equaliser before the break, but they couldn’t convert from the couple of corners they had.

England then came out after the break in search of an equaliser, and some great combinations in the build-up resulted in two chances, which both went over the bar.

Ten minutes into the second half, England were forced into making a substitution when captain Tyrese Noubissie had to be stretchered off.

After the injury to their captain, England had a spell of pressure on the Spanish team, playing with control on the ball and an urgency to win it back when Spain won possession.

Spain upped their pressure after England’s double substitution, but the Young Lions responded well and had a good chance of their own when Ryan Kavuma-McQueen found Ajay Taveres who had a shot right inside the box, which required a diving save from Lopez in the Spanish goal.


Kavuma-McQueen found himself involved again when a short corner was taken, and the Chelsea youngster took his chance from range, but it was saved by Lopez.

Samuel Alker found Jashayde Greenwood down the right side, and after he dribbled past a few Spanish players in a brilliant run. The shot was aimed at the bottom right corner, but the post stood in the way of an equaliser.

Those close chances gave the Young Lions the momentum with ten minutes left to go as La Roja struggled to deal with the pressure, with England looking dominant.

But they were denied by the post again, when Kavuma-McQueen charged down the right flank and found Max Little in the Spain box.

And Spain doubled their advantage in the last minute of stoppage time, finding their second through Cruz to inflict a cruel result on the Young Lions.

England: 13 Ben Vickery (Manchester City), 2 Oscar Sandiford (Tottenham Hotspur), 3 Calvin Diakite (Chelsea), 4 Freddie Lawrie (Manchester City), 5 Marlow Barrett (Manchester City), 6 Tyrese Noubissie (RC Strasbourg) (c), 7 Ryan Kavuma-McQueen (Portsmouth, loan from Chelsea), 9 Jashayde Greenwood (Chelsea), 11 Kyran Thompson (Newcastle United), 15 Hugo De Lisle (Leicester City), 18 Samuel Alker (Leeds United)

Substitutes: 8 Max Little (Southampton) for Noubissie 60’, 12 Jake Wain (Manchester City) for Diakite 69’, 17 Ajay Tavares (FC Barcelona) for Thompson 69’, 10 Erik Farkas (Liverpool) for De Lisle 92’

Substitutes not used: 1 Roman Dowell (Newcastle United), 10 Erik Farkas (Liverpool), 14 Michael Mills (Newcastle United), 16 Gabriel Sambou (Chelsea), 19 Phoenix Offiah (Tottenham Hotspur), 20 Sam Alabi (Newcastle United), 21 Reon Smith (West Ham United), 23 Oliver Wilkinson (Ipswich Town)

Head coach: Will Antwi