Young Lions lose opening game to Switzerland

Steve Cooper’s side played the first of three games at St. George’s Park this week and made the perfect start when Chelsea's Martell Taylor-Crossdale put the Young Lions into the lead with an emphatic finish in the fourth minute.

England played some neat football in the opening ten minutes too, passing out from the back and retaining possession with captain Callum Slattery and Andre Dozzell working hard in midfield.

However, it was Switzerland who mustered the best chances after the opener with goalkeeper Taye Hammond-Ashby being called into action on a number of occasions.

Unfortunately for the young Fulham ‘keeper though, he had to be replaced after a collision midway through the first half.

And despite pressure building from the Swiss, it was England who scored a second goal against the run of play as Newcastle United's Mackenzie Heaney struck a fantastic curling effort into the far corner with goalkeeper Lars Hunn given no chance. 

But England's resilience in defence came to an abrupt end in the later stages of the first half as Switzerland scored two quick-fire goals in two minutes to level the game. 

Firstly, Cendrim Kameraj pulled one back for the visitors with a fine header before Andi Zeqiri equalised through a low, driven shot after the Young Lions failed to clear. 

Heaney is congratulated on his goal by team-mates

The hosts were caught cold again just after the break with Kameraj scoring his second of the game to put the Swiss ahead with a well-worked goal.  

England settled into more of a rhythm after going behind and controlled possession for most of the second half, with Keanen Bennetts unlucky not to draw his side level, hitting the post from close range. 

The Young Lions will be in action again on Wednesday afternoon when they face Slovakia.

Head coach Steve Cooper and his side will take away a lot of positives from the game and look to learn from mistakes going into their game against Slovakia on Wednesday.

England U16s (4-3-3): 1 Taye Ashby-Hammond (Fulham); 2 Dujon Sterling (Chelsea), 16 Edward Francis (Manchester City), 6 Japhet Tanganga (Tottenham Hotspur), 3 Vashon Neufville (West Ham United); 4 Andre Dozzell (Ipswich Town), 8 Callum Slattery (Southampton) (c), 10 Mason Mount (Chelsea); 11 Keanen Bennetts (Tottenham Hotspur), 9 Martell Taylor-Crossdale (Chelsea), 17 Mackenzie Heaney (Newcastle United)

Substitutes: 13 Matthew Yates (Derby County) for Ashby-Hammond 25, 5 Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea) for Sterling 41, 20 Tyrese Campbell (Manchester City) for Taylor-Crossdale 52, 7 Sadou Diallo (Manchester City) for Mount 64, 18 Okera Simmonds (Liverpool) for Bennetts 74, 19 Anthony Scully (West Ham United) for Slattery 74.

Substitutes not used:  12 Jonathan Leko (WBA), 14 Lewis Thompson (Manchester United), 15 Jaden Brown (Tottenham Hotspur)

Switzerland U16s: 12 Lars Hunn, 2 Nicolas Herter, 3 Timo Ribeiro, 4 Kreshnik Hajrizi, 5 Kastriko Ndau (C), 6 Petar Pusic, 7 Noah Blasucci, 8 Nedim Bajrami, 10 Andi Zeqiri, 11 Mersim Asllani, 16 Cendrim Kameraj.

Substitutes: 15 Nicolas Eberle for Herter 41, 17 Giotto Morandi for Blasucci 41, 9 Frederico Antonio Da Costa for Asllani 55, 14 Jani Cucinelli for Hajrizi 55, 18 Rijad Saliji for Bajrami 55, 19 Bastien Toma for Pusic 68, 20 Karim Bertelli for Zeqiri 68.

Substitutes not used: 1 Lars Schadeli, 13 Luka Baratovic