England moved into the final four of the UEFA European Under-17 Championships, bagging a World Cup place in the process.
A 1-0 win over the Republic of Ireland, courtesy of Jadon Sancho’s first-half stunner, set up a semi-final date with Turkey on Tuesday.
However, there was extra reason to cheer for the Young Lions as their progression also booked a place as one of Europe’s five representatives at the FIFA U17 World Cup in India this October.
With Cooper having turned to the same starting XI for the fourth successive game, the Young Lions were in control of this quarter-final tie from the off.
Sancho produced something special to give England the lead in the 13th minute when he picked out the top-left corner from all of 25 yards. Having received Rhian Brewster’s pass-back in acres of space, the Manchester City ace weighed up the options around him before choosing to beat Brian Maher with a wonderfully-struck shot.
Despite eight attempts on target to Ireland’s one, England only held a single-goal lead at the break, having to contend with their opponents’ ultra-defensive approach.
The green rear-guard looked to have been broken for a second time barely 30 seconds into the second half when Brewster clipped an effort off the post, but the rebound was quickly mopped up.
In what was a rare attack from Ireland, there was a nervy moment for England in the 72nd minute as Rowan Roache’s corner from the right was flicked goalwards by Joseph Redmond but thankfully Tashan Oakley-Boothe was guarding the near post to make the vital block.
With Ireland’s deep-lying defence continuing to frustrate England, Phil Foden rattled the bar twice within the space of a minute with hopeful efforts from distance.
As the game drew to a close, Ireland were reduced to ten men with Aaron Bolger picking up a second yellow card.
England: 1 Josef Bursik (AFC Wimbledon); 2 Timothy Eyoma (Tottenham Hotspur), 5 Marc Guehi (capt; Chelsea), 6 Jonathan Panzo (Chelsea), 3 Lewis Gibson (Newcastle United); 4 George McEachran (Chelsea), 7 Phil Foden (Manchester City), 8 Tashan Oakley-Boothe (Tottenham Hotspur); 9 Rhian Brewster (Liverpool), 10 Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea), 11 Jadon Sancho (Manchester City)
Substitutes not used: 12 Reo Griffiths (Tottenham Hotspur), 13 Curtis Anderson (Manchester City), 14 Jake Vokins (Southampton), 15 Alex Denny (Everton), 16 Daniel Loader (Reading), 17 Aidan Barlow (Manchester United), 18 Emile Smith-Rowe (Arsenal)
Goal: Sancho 13
Head coach: Steve Cooper
