England U17s secure 8-1 victory over Germany in Croatia

England Under-17s finished the Croatia Cup in style on Monday afternoon, with an impressive 8-1 victory over Germany.

Steve Cooper’s Young Lions, playing at a local training ground after torrential rainfall rendered the pitch at Pula’s Aldo Drosina Stadium unplayable, made it three wins out of three at the competition following victories over Croatia and Greece last week.

After beating the hosts by 5-0 in their first game last Wednesday and then following that up with a 3-0 win over Greece, it was another impressive performance as a stunning first-half display saw England rack up six goals in 40 minutes to set the tone for the result.

Manchester United’s Angel Gomes got things underway when he opened the scoring in the fourth minute and Jadon Sancho of Manchester City added a second goal four minutes later.

Germany pulled one back through Luca Schlax in the 12th minute, the only goal conceded by England in their three matches, before Phil Foden restored a two-goal advantage in the 29th minute.

Chelsea midfielder George McEachran then made it 4-1 before Rhian Brewster of Liverpool added a quickfire double to give England a 6-1 lead at the break.

The flow of goals slowed down after the break, but Callum Hudson-Odoi scored in the 59th minute before Danny Loader completed the scoring three minutes before full time.

England finished the Croatia Cup with three wins from three games

Cooper’s side are next in action later in October when they travel to Romania for the first qualifying round of the European Championships, where they will face the host nation, Azerbaijan and Austria.

England Under-17s: 1 Curtis Anderson (Manchester City), 21 Kane Wilson (West Bromwich Albion), 3 Brooklyn Lyons-Foster (Tottenham Hotspur), 5 Joel Latibeaudiere (Manchester City), 6 Jonathan Panzo (Chelsea), 7 Phil Foden (Manchester City), 8 George McEachran (Chelsea), 10 Angel Gomes (Manchester United (c), 11 Jadon Sancho (Manchester City), 19 Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea) 18 Rhian Brewster (Liverpool)

Substitutions: 12 Marcel Lavinier (Chelsea) for Lyons-Foster 45, 14 Lewis Gibson (Newcastle United) for Panzo 45, 9 Danny Loader (Reading) for Brewster 45, 20 Alex Denny (Everton) for Foden 59, 15 Emile Smith Rowe (Arsenal) for Hudson-Odoi 64, 16 Ian Poveda-Ocampo for Gomes 64

Substitutes not used: 1 Thomas McGill

Head coach: Steve Cooper

Goals: Angel Gomes 4, Jadon Sancho 8, Phil Foden 29, George McEachran 31, Rhian Brewster 34, 37, Callum Hudson-Odoi 59, Danny Loader 76