England Under-20s suffer a narrow 2-1 defeat to Brazil

England Under-20s suffered a narrow defeat against Brazil in Kidderminster, as Aidy Boothroyd’s side began their World Cup preparations.

The Young Lions, who had previously drawn with the South Americans at St. George’s Park last week, were undone by two first-half goals at Aggborough.

It was just the sort of game which head coach Boothroyd had wanted as he looks to build up to next summer’s U20 World Cup in South Korea.

And whilst Brazil’s early opener was a goal worthy of any occasion, a missed penalty and uncharacteristic defensive error meant the half-time scoreline of 2-0 was a shade harsh on England.

But second-half substitute Dominic Calvert-Lewis capped off a whirlwind week for him with a debut goal to give the hosts hope and make the scoreline more of a fair reflection.

The young striker left hometown club Sheffield United for Everton earlier in the week before he was called into Boothroyd’s squad to face the South Americans.

And he capped a memorable week by scoring a fine header to hopefully impress Boothroyd going into the new campaign. 

Brazil had started the game with a real tempo and it didn’t take long for them to open the scoring when a flowing move down the right involving a back-heel from Caio Henrique and one-two saw Dodo feed Felipe Vizeu's burst into the box. His cross was deflected twice into the path of Lucas Paqueta, who stabbed home from six yards past Freddie Woodman.

England reacted well though, with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Adam Armstrong in particular proving troublesome to the visitors’ back-line.

England Under-20s' Adam Armstrong battles with Brazil captain Lyanco

And when Armstrong was felled in the box after 16 minutes, the referee had little option but to award a penalty. The Newcastle United striker, currently on loan at Barnsley, stepped up from the spot but Brazil’s giant keeper Caique guessed correctly and made the save.

England were made to pay shortly after that, when Cameron Borthwick-Jackson played an awkward pass back to keeper Freddie Woodman and when he mis-controlled, it allowed Malcolm to nip in and tap home from close range.

Boothroyd made five changes to his side at the break as they looked to find a way back into the game and the best chance bar the penalty came just after the hour mark when Kyle Walker-Peters played a ball into the channel for Ademola Lookman.

The Charlton Athletic man, who was one of those introduced at the break, was quickly onto it and into the box but his attempted cross for Calvert-Lewin was cut out and cleared by the impressive Brazilian captain Lyanco.

And Lyanco denied England again in the 67th minute, when Lookman’s clever pass picked out Maitland-Niles in the box only for the Arsenal man’s pull-back scrambled clear with Tafari Moore ready to pounce.

The England Under-20s line-up to face Brazil in Kidderminster

Calvert-Lewin then came closer, as he did well to shrug Cerqueira aside and place a low shot at goal with Caique again producing a fine stop to keep his clean sheet in tact.

England were enjoying their best spell of the game by this stage and they found themselves a lifeline with ten minutes to go when Lewis Cook’s cross was headed firmly home by Calvert-Lewin.

That set up a grandstand final ten minutes, as England pushed for an equaliser with Lookman and Maitland-Niles both forcing saves from the impressive Caique. 

After full time, a penalty shoot-out practice took place with Brazil also edging that with a 3-2 victory.

England U20s: 1 Freddie Woodman (Newcastle United), 2 Kyle Walker-Peters (Tottenham Hotspur), 3 Cameron Borthwick-Jackson (Wolverhampton Wanderers, loan from Manchester United), 4 Lewis Cook (AFC Bournemouth) (c), 5 Reece Oxford (West Ham United), 6 Fikayo Tomori (Chelsea), 7 Harry Chapman (Middlesbrough), 8 Josh Onomah (Tottenham Hotspur), 9 Adam Armstrong (Barnsley, loan from Newcastle United), 10 Ainsley Maitland-Niles (Arsenal), 11 Kieran Dowell (Everton).

Substitutes: 12 Tafari Moore (Utrecht, loan from Arsenal) for Borthwick-Jackson 46, 15 Dael Fry (Rotherham United, loan from Middlesbrough) for Oxford 46, 16 Taylor Moore (Bristol City) for Tomori 46, 19 Ademola Lookman (Charlton Athletic) for Dowell 46, 20 Ryan Ledson (Oxford United) for Chapman 46, 18 Dominic Calvert-Lewin (Everton) for Armstrong 63, 17 Axel Tuanzebe (Manchester United) for Tafari Moore 86

Substitutes not used: 13 Dean Henderson (Grimsby Town, loan from Manchester United), 20 Patrick Roberts (Celtic, loan from Manchester City), 22 Max Lowe (Derby County), 23 Luke Southwood (Reading)

Goals: Dominic Calvert-Lewin 80

Cautions: Ryan Ledson 60

Brazil: 1 Caique, 2 Dodo, 3 Gariel, 4 Lyanco (c), 5 Caio Henrique, , 6 Guilherme Arana, 7 Malcolmn, 8 Allan, 9 Felipe Vizeu, 10 Lucas Paqueta, 11 Maycon.

Substitutes: 20 Richarlison for Vizeu 57, 17 Gerson for Allan 57, 19 Caio Monteiro for Paqueta 68, 14 Robson for Maycon 68,  13 Raul for Dodo 75 , 15 Murilo Cerqueira for Gabriel 75, 16 Matheus Jesus for Henrique 75

Substitutes not used: 12 Daniel, 18 Matheusinho

Head coach: Carlos Amadeu

Goals: Paqueta 8, Malcolm 26