It was the UEFA Friendship Cup final on Saturday in Nyon, the England Under 18s taking on their Spanish counterparts.
Both had perfect records in the group stage as they won all games they contested, which led to this showdown yesterday
Four young Newcastle United stars had been chosen for the England Under 18 squad to contest this UEFA tournament, a trio of 17-year-olds with midfielder Sam Alabi (pictured above) plus attacking players Kyran Thompson and Michael Mills selected. Plus 16-year-old NUFC goalkeeper Roman Dowell.
They had all played key roles in the England Under 18s winning the trio of group games but only Kyran Thompson selected to start this final.
Manager Will Antwi clearly pursuing a strategy of spreading the opportunities around his squad during this tournament. So rather than playing his very best eleven, the England Under 18s boss rotating the squad once again for this final against Spain.
You can’t help but feel that this backfired, as despite England showing up relatively well, they didn’t have enough to defeat Spain.
Spain deserved to go in at the break with the lead, Junior scoring late in the opening half.
England then fought hard for the equaliser throughout the second half but didn’t quite have the quality or luck going their way. Hitting the woodwork twice.
Then in the final seconds of added time, Spain punished England with a second goal to kill them off, Cruz the scorer.
Kyran Thompson played the first 69 minutes of Saturday’s final before getting subbed off, whilst the other three young Newcastle United stars remained on the bench throughout.
However, all of the United quartet can be well pleased with their contributions across the UEFA tournament.
This was the route to the final for the England Under 18s and the NUFC key contributions:
England 3 Colombia 2 (Roman Dowell man of the match, Michael Mills scoring the opening goal and Kyran Thompson an assist, Sam Alabi coming on as a sub in the second half)
England 2 Egypt 1 (England giving other squad members a chance with Dowell sitting this one out and the other three NUFC teenagers coming on as subs in the second half. Michael Mills had only been on the pitch five minutes when he raced clear of the defence before coolly beating the goalkeeper to score the winning goal)
England 2 Korea Republic 1 (All four United players started this final group game. Sam Alabi with a superb powerful strike from 25 yards to give England the lead. Roman Dowell though was once again clear man of the match, some stunning saves that helped England make it a perfect trio of group wins)
England: 13 Ben Vickery (Manchester City), 2 Oscar Sandiford (Tottenham Hotspur), 3 Calvin Diakite (Chelsea), 4 Freddie Lawrie (Manchester City), 5 Marlow Barrett (Manchester City), 6 Tyrese Noubissie (RC Strasbourg) (c), 7 Ryan Kavuma-McQueen (Portsmouth, loan from Chelsea), 9 Jashayde Greenwood (Chelsea), 11 Kyran Thompson (Newcastle United), 15 Hugo De Lisle (Leicester City), 18 Samuel Alker (Leeds United)
Substitutes: 8 Max Little (Southampton) for Noubissie 60’, 12 Jake Wain (Manchester City) for Diakite 69’, 17 Ajay Tavares (FC Barcelona) for Thompson 69’, 10 Erik Farkas (Liverpool) for De Lisle 92’
Substitutes not used: 1 Roman Dowell (Newcastle United), 10 Erik Farkas (Liverpool), 14 Michael Mills (Newcastle United), 16 Gabriel Sambou (Chelsea), 19 Phoenix Offiah (Tottenham Hotspur), 20 Sam Alabi (Newcastle United), 21 Reon Smith (West Ham United), 23 Oliver Wilkinson (Ipswich Town)