England U16s were beaten 3-1 by Spain in the opening match of the UEFA Development Tournament at St. George’s Park thanks to three brilliant goals by the visitors.
Daniel Villanueva opened the scoring on six minutes, with Carlez Perez and Francisco Villalba adding their own superb strikes in the second half.
Kaylen Hinds' late strike proved mere consolation for Kenny Swain’s young side.
England U16s 1-3 Spain
UEFA Development Tournament
St. George's Park
Sunday 9 February 2014
For England, while the scoreline suggested a one-sided affair it was a performance that deserved more as they held their own against a well organised Spain side.
Indeed, the Young Lions almost got off to a perfect start on five minutes when Zacharay Dearnley forced Alejandro Santome into a fine save from six yards.
It was miss that proved costly, though, as the visitors broke quickly down the right with Gorka Zabarte.
The full-back showed an impressive turn of pace to get to the by-line and then even better vision to pick out Villanueva at the back post. Villanueva did the rest with a towering header.
The Spain forward could have doubled their lead on the half-hour mark but could only watch as his chipped effort beat Ryan Sandford but clipped the crossbar.
In the second half the hosts came close to restoring parity on a number of occasions with Herbie Kane, Tom Davies and Jonathan Leko all spurning good chances. And Spain punished England's failure to convert.
On 60 minutes a beautifully intricate move was finished off by Perez with an uncompromising drive from 25 yards, before Villalba added a third with an even better finish 10 minutes later.
The midfielder picked up the loose ball after a wayward Sandford clearance, took one touch with his right foot before unleashing an unstoppable drive into the far corner with his left.
To England’s credit, despite the scoreline they continued to push on in search of a goal and their efforts paid off when Jahmal Hector Ingram was brought down inside the box. Hinds stepped up to take the resulting penalty and fired it past Santome but against the upright.
The ball ricocheted to James Yates and the full-back showed good composure to play it back to Hinds who smashed it high into the roof of the net.
England's second game is against Denmark on Tuesday.
England
1 Ryan Sandford, 2 James Yates, Hayden Coulson, 4 Callum Gribblin (19 Jahmal Hector Ingram, 72), 5 Darnell Johnson, 6 Danny Collinge, 8 Tom Davies, 9 Kaylen Hinds (C), 10 Jonathan Leko (18 Sadou Diallo, 40), 11 Chris Willock (17 Andre Green, 58), 20 Herbie Kane.
Substitutes not used: 7 Zachary Dearnley; 12 Trent Arnold; 13 Aston Oxborough; 14 Yan Dhanda; 15 Ro Shaun Williams; 16 Marcus Edwards.
Spain
1 Alejandro Santome, 3 Marc Cucurella, 4 Jose Manual Hernando, 5 Pelayo Suarez, 6 Carlez Alena, 8 Francisco J Villalba, 9 Jose Luis Zalazar, 10 Carles Perez, 12 Andre Dulce (17 Gregorio Lopez, 54), 19 Daniel Villanueva (7 Daniel Olmo, 65), 20 Gorka Zabarte (16 Jon Sillero, 65).
Substitutes not used: 2 Maria Jose Amo, 11 Antonio Segura, 13 Bartolome Pocovi, 14 Antonio Moya, 15 Oriol Busquets, 18 Ruben Fernandez.
