England ended their campaign at the Maurice Revello Tournament with a convincing 4-0 win over Guatemala in the final placing match in Mallemort.
The result means the Young Lions secured ninth place in the final rankings, following on from their three group-stage defeats over the last week.
And Paul Simpson’s men certainly went out in style, with four first-half goals setting them on their way after earlier disruption saw the game venue and kick-off time changed following issues with the pitch at the planned venue.
The first arrived after 15 minutes, when Dwight McNeil’s superb cross picked out George Hirst in the middle and the OH Leuven striker headed home.
Eddie Nketiah doubled the advantage with a penalty in the 23rd minute to kick-start something of a goal frenzy for England.
The Young Lions quickly added another three minutes later when Hirst, captain for the night, headed home another cross, this time from Tom Pearce.
And McNeil then scored his first England goal in the 29th minute, as his shot found its way past the Guatemalan goalkeeper Barrios to seal three goals in the space of six minutes.
That proved to be enough too, with no further goals to show after the break, as England’s run of three successive Toulon titles came to an end.
Roll on next year!
England: 13 Nathan Bishop (Southend United), 3 Tom Pearce (Leeds United), 5 Marc Guehi (Chelsea), 9 Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal), 11 Dwight McNeil (Burnley), 14 George Hirst (OH Leuven) (c), 17 Jayden Bogle (Derby County), 18 Max Lowe (Derby County), 20 Josh Dasilva (Brentford), 21 Danny Loader (Reading), 22 Jamie Shackleton (Leeds United)
Subtitutes: 10 Marcus Tavernier (Middlesbrough) for Guehi 66, 16 Kyle Edwards (WBA) for McNeil 66, 19 Josh Sims (Southampton) for Loader 75, 15 Conor Gallagher (Chelsea) for Dasilva 75
Substitutes not used: 1 Ellery Balcombe (Brentford), 6 Trevoh Chalobah (Chelsea), 7 Eberechi Eze (QPR), 8 Joe Willock (Arsenal)
Head coach: Paul Simpson
Goals: George Hirst 15 & 26, Eddie Nketiah 23 (p), Dwight McNeil 29
