England U19s continued their bright start to the season on Thursday afternoon with a 4-1 victory over Portugal in Cova da Piedade.
The Young Lions, who began their campaign with wins over the Netherlands and Belgium last month, picked up where they left off as second-half goals from Emile Smith-Rowe, Felix Nmecha, Marc Guehi and Ian Poveda-Ocampo left their hosts with no answer.
And with their U19 Euro qualifiers coming up in Turkey next month, Keith Downing’s squad are building up some good momentum as they take their first step towards next summer's Euro Finals in Armenia.
England dominated proceedings throughout and Arsenal’s Smith-Rowe showed what was to come later, going close with two early efforts.
But Portugal thought they’d taken the lead just before the break, when a free-kick wasn’t cleared and the ball ended up in the net after a scramble but fortunately for the Young Lions the referee had spotted a handball and ruled it out.
England found their scoring touch after the restart though, when Smith-Rowe slotted his side ahead before substitute Felix Nmecha doubled England’s advantage moments later on his U19s debut.
The third arrived when captain Guehi was set up by Danny Loader before another substitute, Poveda-Ocampo, finished the scoring with a neat goal after a mazy run forward.
Downing’s squad will now head back to St. George’s Park, where they will face Macedonia on Tuesday evening.
England U19s: 1 Josef Bursik (Hednesford Town, loan from Stoke City), 2 Max Aarons (Norwich City), 3 Steven Sessegnon (Fulham), 4 Conor Gallagher (Chelsea), 5 Marc Guehi (Chelsea), 6 Jonanthan Panzo (AS Monaco) (C), 7 Emile Smith-Rowe (Arsenal), 8 Morgan Gibbs-White (Wolverhampton Wanderers), 9 Danny Loader (Reading), 10 Angel Gomes (Manchester United), 11 Callum Hudson-Odoi (Chelsea).
Substitutes: 17 Felix Nmecha (Manchester City) for Gomes, 20 Rekeem Harper (West Bromwich Albion) for Gibbs-White, 14 Tariq Lamptey (Chelsea) for Hudson-Odoi, 16 Ian Poveda-Ocampo (Manchester City) for Smith-Rowe, 21 Jake Vokins (Southampton) for Sessegnon, 12 Stephen Walker (Middlesbrough) for Loader, 15 Nya Kirby (Crystal Palace) for Gallagher
Substitutes not used: 13 Curtis Anderson (Manchester City), 18 Timothy Eyoma (Tottenham Hotspur), 19 Nathan Ferguson (West Bromwich Albion), 22 Joseph Anang (West Ham United)
Head coach: Keith Downing
Goals: Emile Smith-Rowe, Felix Nmecha, Marc Guehi, Ian Poveda-Ocampo
