Goals from Reece Brown, Brandon Barker and Sam Gallagher proved enough to get the Three Lions off to a winning start in Heidenheim.
Keith Downing’s squad met up on Sunday ahead of their trip to the competition, where they will also take on Turkey and the host nation over the next five days.
England 3-1 Netherlands
Mercedes-Benz Elite Cup
Wednesday 7 October 2015
Heidenheim Arena, Germany
England got off to a perfect start as Birmingham City midfielder Brown put his side ahead in the eighth minute.
And when Manchester City forward Barker doubled the advantage just shy of the half-hour mark, it gave England a deserved advantage at half time.
With a two-goal cushion England were able to add a third goal in the latter stages, as Southampton striker Gallagher, currently on loan at MK Dons, completed the scoring in the 79th minute.
The Dutch did pull a late goal back through substitute Augustine Loof in added time.
Downing’s squad will be in action again on Friday when they tackle Turkey on Saturday in their base city of Ulm.
England: 1 Joe Wildsmith (Sheffield Wednesday); 2 Ashley Smith-Brown (Manchester City), 5 Ola Aina (Chelsea), 6 Baily Cargill (AFC Bournemouth), 3 Harry Toffolo (Norwich City); 10 Reece Brown (Birmingham City), 8 Matt Grimes (Swansea City), 4 Harrison Reed (Southampton); 7 Alex Gilliead (Newcastle United), 9 Sam Gallagher (MK Dons, loan from Southampton), 11 Brandon Barker (Manchester City).
Substitutes: 12 Mason Holgate (Everton) for Smith-Brown 72, 15 Nathan Oduwa (Glasgow Rangers, loan from Tottenham Hotspur) for Gilliead 72, 13 Russell Griffiths (Colwyn Bay, loan from Everton) for Wildsmith 82, 20 Ryan Kent (Coventry City, loan from Liverpool) for Barker 82, 14 Bryn Morris (Coventry City, loan from Middlesbrough) for Reed 87, 16 Harry Winks (Tottenham Hotspur) for Brown 87, 17 Tyler Walker (Nottingham Forest) for Gallagher 87.
Substitutes not used: 18 Cole Kpekawa (Queens Park Rangers), 19 Reece Burke (Bradford City, loan from West Ham United), 22 Ted Smith (Southend United)
Goals: Reece Brown 8, Brandon Barker 29, Sam Gallagher 79
Head coach: Keith Downing
Netherlands: 1 Indy Groothuizen (Ajax), 2 Kevin Diks (Vitesse), 3 Damon Mirani (Ajax), 4 Abdul Bai Kamara (NEC Nijmegen), 5 Leeroy Owusu (Ajax), 6 Stijn Spierings (AZ), 7 Gervane Kastaneer (Den Haag), 8 Thomas Ouwejan (AZ), Pelle van Amersfoort (Almere City), 10 Bert Ramselaar (Utrecht), 11 Achille Vaamold (AZ).
Substitutes: 12 Augustine Loof (PSV), 13 Koen Muller (NEC Nijmegen), 14 Suently Alberto (PSV), 15 Roland Baas (Groningen), 16 Michael Verrips (Twente), 17 Pelle Clement (Ajax), 18 Bart Nieuwkoop (Feyenoord), 19 Cihat Celik (NEC Nijmegen), 20 Tarik Kada (Heerenveen), 21 Finn Stokkers (Sparta Rotterdam), 22 Vito van Crooy (VVV Venlo).
Head coach: Remy Reijnierse
