England U20s boss Paul Simpson urges his side to seal a first World Cup Final spot since '66

Wednesday 07 Jun 2017

Paul Simpson wants his Young Lions to take their opportunity and make history on Thursday by sealing a place in the U20 World Cup Final.

England take on Italy in Jeonju knowing that a victory would see a first World Cup Final appearance at any level since Sir Alf Ramsey’s side lifted the old Jules Rimet trophy at Wembley back in 1966.

And head coach Simpson knows that his side will have to be at their best to overcome an Azzurri side who knocked England out of the U19 Euros at the same stage last summer.

“It’s a game where we’re going to have to be absolutely spot on, but there’s no surprise there, we’re in a World Cup semi-final,” said Simpson.

“There’s a confidence, a belief and an excitement because these opportunities don’t come around very often.

“It was 1966 when we last got to a World Cup Final, so let’s go and grab the opportunity and I’m sure the Italians will be saying the same as me.

“There’s a real desire to go and put right what they [the U20s squad] felt was a wrong when they got knocked out by Italy last summer in the semi-final of the Euros.

“It’s really interesting to see though, because it’s not even a revenge thought in their minds which can give you different types of emotions and they’re not always positive emotions.

“It’s more a thought that Italy is the next challenge and they want to go and make sure we do it properly against them.”

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Italy secured their place in the last four with an extra-time victory over Zambia in a game which saw them reduced to ten men thanks to a first-half sending off.

And having reviewed that match as well as all of their previous games in the competition, Simpson and his staff know what lies in store for the players.

“I have watched all of their games back and I saw them against Uruguay,” he explained.

“We were fortunate when we arrived in Cheonan [for the quarter final] that we were able to go and watch the France game that they played in and we’ve seen them quite a bit.

“We know they’re a good side, they’re a typical well-organised and well-drilled Italian side who enjoy playing without the ball and defending, so it’s another different test for us.

“Hopefully it will be a good game of football and we will show everybody out there what we’re trying to achieve in changing the perceptions of what the world thinks of England as a football team.

“I think we’re in a good place, but we’ve got to go and show it again in the semi-final.”

Regardless of the result on Thursday, both teams will be in South Korea for the remainder of the tournament now as the losing nation will face a third-place play-off before the showpiece game in Suwon against South American opposition in the shape of Uruguay or Venezuela.

And Simpson admits that the competition has gone almost perfectly to script for him in terms of what they’ve achieved and learnt in the process.

“It’s been a massive education and a fantastic education so far, not just for the players but the staff as well,” he added.

“It’s fair to say we’re all in uncharted territory at the moment, getting through to the final stages and it’s exactly how we would’ve wanted it because part of the process with The FA is to get these lads experience of tournament football, in the knock-out stages.

“There’s been really tough tests in the group stage, then Costa Rica and Mexico, which was a really tough game for us.”

Thursday’s semi-final kicks-off at midday UK time and will be shown live on Eurosport 2.

By Nicholas Veevers Content Manager - FA Owned Channels

'Go and grab the opportunity'