It’s been a busy week for our players on international duty for England’s youth sides.
Malachi Hardy and Luca Williams-Barnett were in action for the Young Lions as they began their Under-17 World Cup campaign with a 3-0 defeat to Venezuela in Qatar on Tuesday.
Defender Malachi played the full game while attacking midfielder Luca came off the bench in the 69th minute, but two quick goals at the end of the first half followed by a late third consigned England to defeat in Group E.
Malachi and Luca are our two sole representatives at the tournament after Elijah Upson unfortunately had to withdraw in the days leading up to the opening game. Jun’ai Byfield and Tynan Thompson also withdrew last week.
England next face Haiti on Friday (12.30pm UK) before taking on Egypt on Monday (3.45pm UK).
In addition to the World Cup, England’s youngsters have also been in European Under-17 Championship qualifying action in Scotland over the last few days, with Oliver Boast and Oscar Sandiford featuring across their three games.
Centre-forward Oliver scored a penalty in a 5-3 defeat to Sweden in their third and final match on Monday, but the Young Lions had already been eliminated by that stage after back-to-back 1-0 defeats against Scotland (28 October) and Lithuania (31 October).