Congratulations England Under 20's - World Cup Winners

[Cornish Piskie]

The England Under 20 team have won their world cup competition, beating Venezuela 1 - 0 in the final.

Calvert-Lewin scored the only goal of the game on 34 minutes and goalkeeper Freddie Goodwin saved a penalty in the second half to preserve the lead.

A special mention for Ademola Lookman, one of the youngsters developed at the Valley who played almost the entire match, being replaced in a defensive substitution with about 12 minutes to go. It's always good to see one of our own doing well even if we wish he was still with us at The Valley.

Congratulations to the whole team and I hope this is the start of a revival of England international fortunes as these players mature and, hopefully, go on to represent England in the future.

 

[RavenBish]

not to belittle the achievement (and I've seen enough of players like Lookman to know he's very good) but that's the first game I've watched and apart from Woodman and Onomah they were all absolutely terrible. The match had less quality than your average mid-week League 2 game.

 

[Dirk]

not to belittle the achievement (and I've seen enough of players like Lookman to know he's very good) but that's the first game I've watched and apart from Woodman and Onomah they were all absolutely terrible. The match had less quality than your average mid-week League 2 game.

Anyway. A win is a win is a ...

Congrats, England U20. Well done!

Always nice when an European team beats a South American one, not only at "Adult level".

 

[JimJams]

How many u20 sides do we have cos we just won the Toulon tournament as well?

 

[Stevencc]

CHAMPIONS OF THE FUCKING WORLD.

 

[Cornish Piskie]

not to belittle the achievement (and I've seen enough of players like Lookman to know he's very good) but that's the first game I've watched and apart from Woodman and Onomah they were all absolutely terrible. The match had less quality than your average mid-week League 2 game.

Fair comment, and I agree that these youngsters have a lot to learn. But it's a good thing to get a win of any kind to your name. Winning can be a drug. Once you've got a medal hanging around your neck, you want more.

Hopefully some of these players will acquire the sort of winning mentality that is essential for success in any sport. It will take time, but that's something those players have in their favour.

Rome wasn't built in a day.

 

[Super_horns]

Well done England Under 20s.

Hopefully this isn't another false dawn...

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

Three England sides have been at tournaments so far this summer, all three have reached the final and two have won. Would have been three but for a last minute Spanish equalizer at the U17 Euros and a penalty shoot-out defeat.

 

[St. Juste]

Winning is good. However, none of the previous teams to win this competition (it started in 2007) have gone on to win any international honours - besides Brazil winning the 2013 Confederations Cup.

In the Toulon tournament, also an Under 20s tournament which England won, Scotland beat Brazil.

In this U20 World Cup England drew with Guinea.

They might go on to be a golden generation, (along with the Venezuelan team I guess....). but history doesn't really back that up.

I think, rather, it's more likely that France will go on to the major international force going forward given their incredible depth of talent.

Or maybe Solanke will be better than Mbappe. Who knows.

 

[AFCB_Mark]

Winning is good. However, none of the previous teams to win this competition (it started in 2007) have gone on to win any international honours - besides Brazil winning the 2013 Confederations Cup.

In the Toulon tournament, also an Under 20s tournament which England won, Scotland beat Brazil.

In this U20 World Cup England drew with Guinea.

They might go on to be a golden generation, (along with the Venezuelan team I guess....). but history doesn't really back that up.

I think, rather, it's more likely that France will go on to the major international force going forward given their incredible depth of talent.

Or maybe Solanke will be better than Mbappe. Who knows.

Ah well then, that's that. We should just go back to ignorantly ignoring these competitions because St Juste points out that they don't always equate to senior success, and that France look stronger. After all our previous attitude towards these competitions (this and this compared with this and this) sending completely depleted squads given little resource or attention from senior levels - has been so fruitful for the senior side...

We slag the FA off all the time, so it's fair to give them some credit when increased investment of time effort and funds over recent years: getting coaches and players together centrally for more coaching time, and negotiating with clubs, has now resulted in some excellent youth results. As Ebeneezer points out it's not just this U20 WC squad, there's other decent squads England are putting together at youth level who are achieving tangible success, after being encouraged and backed to take competitions seriously.

Of course youth football is littered with endless potential that never makes the grade. It's quite possible many of these players will end up playing their careers out in the lower leagues. But surely aiming for and achieving success in youth competition gives future senior sides a better chance. After all we've had to change something, because clearly the way we used to treat youth football hasn't been working for the last god knows how many years.

Let's not get too giddy about it I agree. But who knows, if some of these lads can make it into the senior squad in years to come, we'll have some players who actually know how to win a knockout tournament match. We can dare to dream..

 

[St. Juste]

I think that's a fair post, there's nothing wrong with striving to the win but the media spinning this as a new golden generation feels a bit hollow to me. Indeed, I'd suggest the the U21 Euros is, in many ways, a better competition to win and England have actually done quite well in this recently, without translating it into senior success.

Meanwhile, any footballing aficionado is quite astounded by the depth of talent that France have at the moment, from youth to senior level. Anything but a few championships in the years to come will be a disappointment given their depth of talent.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

And yet France, who don't have their squad weakened by the U19 and U21 Euros this summer, were knocked out by Italy who England beat 3-1.

This is much less about the talent being produced at youth level and much, much more about the talent that will actually see senior first team football and continue their development from 19 or so onwards.

Something has to be done. Whether that means post-Brexit England-eligible quotas, or gametime-dependent earnings caps for U21s, or even big clubs buying their way into the pyramid with B Teams, we have to find a way to give these lads senior football.

 

[SALTIRE]

Solanke named player of the tournament. Hope its a good omen for Liverpool. Joins quite a list when you look at it.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

If you cherry-pick maybe, but I bet most people haven't heard of half the names on that list.

 

[St. Juste]

And yet France, who don't have their squad weakened by the U19 and U21 Euros this summer, were knocked out by Italy who England beat 3-1.

The is much less about the talent being produced at youth level and much, much more about the talent that will actually see senior first team football and continue their development from 19 or so onwards.

Something has to be done. Whether that means post-Brexit England-eligible quotas, or gametime-dependent earnings caps for U21s, or even big clubs buying their way into the pyramid with B Teams, we have to find a way to give these lads senior football.

It's almost as if results aren't the most important thing at this level.

Indeed, Englands result against Italy stands as the most impressive of the tournament - Italy are an outstanding footballing nation.

B team football is the start of the end of lower league football and should be resisted in all nations.

 

[Craig]

Libertadores FC