England MU18s ended their domestic four-nation campaign unbeaten, following a convincing 2-0 victory against Korea Republic at Alfreton Town.
First-half goals from Manchester City’s Cole Palmer and PSV’s Nonso Madueke gave Ian Foster’s side a deserved lead and they saw out the second half in comfortable fashion and could have added to their tally.
The win completed an unbeaten tournament for the Young Lions, who opened up with a 3-2 triumph over Australia before a 1-1 draw with Brazil.
It was Korea who had the better of the opening exchanges, settling into the game quicker than England and they should have taken the lead when Moon Junho headed against the post inside ten minutes.
But it was largely a one-way affair from there on. Joe Gelhardt curled an effort just over before Palmer was denied not once, but twice, by Shin Songhoon in the visiting goal.
And it was Palmer who finally opened the scoring after 25 minutes, as a neat one-two with Madueke allowed the City youngster the space to slot a low finish into the far corner.
Madueke went from provider to scorer ten minutes later, firing home a spectacular bicycle kick from Alex Mighten’s looping cross into the box.
Korea did have a golden chance shortly after the break to halve the deficit but Kim Rynseong somehow fired wide from just a few yards out.
England were awarded the perfect opportunity to seal the game when Matthew Bondswell was fouled inside the box, but substitute Layton Stewart saw his penalty saved before he fired the rebound over the bar.
Another substitute, Miguel Azeez, forced Shin into a good save down low and Jensen Weir fired narrowly over as England went looking for a third.
Shin again thwarted the hosts with a superb double save from Layton and Fabio De Carvalho as England settled for a two-goal margin of victory.
England: 13 James Trafford (Manchester City), 2 Valentino Livramento (Chelsea), 3 Haydon Roberts (Brighton & Hove Albion), 5 Teden Mengi (Manchester United), 7 Nonso Madueke (PSV Eindhoven), 8 Yunus Musah (Valencia), 9 Joe Gelhardt (Wigan Athletic), 10 Cole Palmer (Manchester City), 12 Matthew Bondswell (Leipzig), 16 Lewis Bate (Chelsea), 18 Alex Mighten (Nottingham Forest)
Substitutes: 4 Miguel Azeez (Arsenal) for Bate 46, 15 Dynel Simeu (Chelsea) for Mengi 46, 14 Jensen Weir (Wigan Athletic) for Musah 46, 19 Layton Stewart (Liverpool) for Mighten 61, 20 Fabio De Carvalho (Fulham) for Gelhart 61, 6 Nathan Wood (Middlesbrough) for Bondswell 80
Substitutes not used: 1 Louie Moulden (Manchester City), 17 Ben Knight (Manchester City), 22 Nathan Broome (Stoke City)
Goals: Cole Palmer 25, Noni Madueke 36
Cautions: Haydon Roberts 16
Head coach: Ian Foster
