Report: Egypt 1-2 England MU18s

England men's under-18s qualified for the semi-finals of the UEFA Friendship Cup with a game to spare after beating Egypt 2-1 in Switzerland.

The Young Lions guaranteed their progress to the last four as group winners as goals from Ryan Kavuma-McQueen and Michael Mills ensured they made it two wins from two at the Centre sportif de Colovray in Nyon.

Having beaten Columbia 3-2 in the opening game, Will Antwi’s side took the lead when Kavuma-McQueen picked out the bottom corner with a superb strike from 20-yards.

The winger carried a threat throughout the first half, forcing a good save from the opposition goalkeeper following another mazy run and flashing an angled drive inches wide of the far post after good link-up play with Ayjay Tavares.

Egypt responded with chances of their own. Amier Hassan saw an effort cleared off the line before Daniel Tamer fired wide from distance in a closely contested opening 45 minutes. 

The two sides continued to trade chances after the break. 

Kavuma-McQueen and Phoenix Offiah both headed free-kicks over the bar for England, while Ben Vickery was forced into a brilliant reflex save from Hassan’s header.

That was a warning sign from the Egyptians and, moments later, they were level. Vickery produced another good stop to deny Khaled Mokhtar from close range but the striker followed up to scramble home the rebound with 11 minutes remaining. 

Egypt looked to be in the ascendancy but England would not be denied as they regained the lead three minutes later, with Mills and fellow substitute Jaydene Greenwood combining to wonderful effect on the counter attack.

Latching onto Greenwood's through ball, Mills raced clear of the defence and slid the ball under the goalkeeper to wrap up the three points.  

England are back in action on Wednesday 30 September, when they face Korea Republic in their final group stage game.

England: 13 Ben Vickery (Manchester City), 12 Jake Wain (Manchester City), 21 Reon Smith (West Ham United), 5 Marlow Barrett (Manchester City), 23, Oliver Wilkinson (Ipswich Town), 6 Tyrese Noubissie (RC Strasbourg), 18 Samuel Alker (Leeds United),15 Hugo De Lisle (Leicester City), 7 Ryan Kavuma-McQueen (Portsmouth, loan from Chelsea), 17 Ajay Tavares (FC Barcelona), 19 Phoenix Offiah (Tottenham Hotspur).

Substitutions: 16 Gabriel Sambou (Chelsea) for Jake Wain 65’, 8 Max Little (Southampton) for Hugo De Lisle 65’, 9 Jashayde Greenwood (Chelsea) for Phoenix Offiah 65’, 11 Kyran Thompson (Newcastle United) for Ayjay Tavares 65’, 3 Calvin Diakite (Chelsea) for Marlow Barrett 77’, 4 Freddie Lawrie (Manchester City) for Reon Smith 77’, 10 Erik Farkas (Liverpool) for Samuel Alker 77’, 20 Sam Alabi (Newcastle United) for Tyrese Noubissie, 14 Michael Mills (Newcastle United) for Ryan Kavuma-McQueen 77’.

Substitutes not used: 1 Roman Dowell (Newcastle United), 2 Oscar Sandiford (Tottenham Hotspur), 23 Oliver Wilkinson (Ipswich Town).

Head coach: Will Antwi

Goals: 15’ Kavuma-McQueen, 82’ Mills.