Bryn Morris: 'Our character can help overcome Germany'

Bryn Morris believes the character of the England Under-20s squad can see them overcome their toughest challenge yet against Germany.

The Middlesbrough midfielder, who is on-loan at League One side Coventry City, captained the Young Lions as they came from behind with goals from Brandon Barker and Ryan Kent to defeat Turkey 2-1 on Saturday.

And having beaten Holland by 3-1 in their opening Mercedes-Benz Elite Cup match on Wednesday, Morris and his team-mates go into Tuesday’s showdown with Germany knowing a victory will ensure they win the competition.

"Turkey provided a much bigger test than Holland and they kept the ball well. They ratted about us at all times, the closest man to the ball was always closing you down, and so it was tough," admitted Morris to TheFA.com.

"We hit the bar in the first half and tested their keeper a few times but we just couldn’t seem to score. 

"But when they took the lead we knew we just had to stick at it. The last 20 minutes, we were really on top, made a few subs and began to dominate. Brandon came on and was really good as was Reece Brown, and then Kenty moved out to the right wing and was beating his man time after time.

"We knew it was coming and we showed good character to stick at it. We didn’t let our heads drop and at 1-0 anything can happen – luckily it was us who got the goal and we went on to add another."

Morris holds the impressive record of wearing the captain’s armband on his last 29 starts for his country, but with such a talented squad competing for a start in Keith Downing’s line-up, he knows he has his work cut out to continue that run against the host nation in three days.

That, however, has not stopped him dreaming of achieving a boyhood aim. 

Bryn Morris has captained England at U16, U17, U18, U19 and U20 level

"The squad has so many good players in it so I’m going to have to work hard before then to try and earn a spot in the team before I can even think about captaining the side again," he said.

"It’s always a great honour captaining your country and it would make it even more special if I was to do it whilst beating Germany to win the competition.

"I’ve only ever won the Victory Shield with England, so to win something again would be great - that’s what every kid dreams of. It might only be a friendly tournament, but that would be something new for me and if we can make it three wins out of three that would top off a good tournament."

Despite their two victories so far in the competition, the 19-year-old says he and his fellow Young Lions know that their toughest test lies in wait.

But with a number of the squad having already experienced success in younger age groups against Germany, Morris is confident England can end the tournament on a high.

"It’s going to be a great game and we are expecting an even bigger test than them and the whole group now are looking forward to it," he added.

"A few of us have experience of playing them before, I was in the team when we beat them at U18s and then we drew with them last year in the U19s, so we will go in with the belief we can do well."