Freddie Woodman paid tribute to his England U20 team-mates after the Young Lions marched into the World Cup semi-final at the expense of Mexico.
The Young Lions keeper kept a clean sheet as Dominic Solanke’s second-half goal proved enough to beat a spirited El Tri side.
But following a harsh second caution for midfielder Josh Onomah, ten-man England came under some intense pressure for the final 15 minutes as Mexico threw caution to the wind with Woodman and his defence forced into some vital saves and interceptions.
“Tonight, we had to dig in at the end but I thought we played well otherwise,” said the Newcastle United youngster.
“The decision didn’t go our way with the sending off, but I felt that we dealt with it well afterwards and we knew they were going to come at us and put crosses in the box.
“The lads in front of me were excellent and we’re happy with the result, but it’s easy for me when you’ve got a great set of players in front of you, ten guys who are willing to put their body on the line and defend.
“It looks good with the clean sheet for a goalkeeper, but it’s about the boys in front of me who make the job easier.
“I just work hard on focusing my emotions and I try to play the game every five minutes, if we get to 95 minutes and we’ve got a result then I’m buzzing.
“I felt like we were always in control, we knew they were going to throw everything at us because it’s the quarter final of a World Cup, but we just had to keep doing what we were doing.”
The result means Paul Simpson’s squad will now return to familiar territory for their semi-final with Italy in Jeonju, at the same venue where they have already beaten Argentina and Costa Rica and drawn with Guinea during their games so far.
And the tie also brings back memories of last year’s U19 Euro semi-final in Germany, when the Azzurri beat the Young Lions to seal their place in the final with Portugal.
“We lost that game 2-1 and it hurt at the time,” added Woodman, who has also been capped at U21 level this season.
“But we had to quickly move on and we’ll just approach it as a World Cup semi-final.
“There’s no sort of revenge, we’re just looking forward to another game, another good opponent and a chance to get to a World Cup final, that’s how we’ll approach it.”
