England 1 -0 Portugal

John Peacock named a much stronger team for this match, recalling many of the star talents in the England youth set up with the likes of Louis  Laing, Benik Afobe and Bruno Pilatos getting starts. Saido Berahino was rewarded for his two goals in the previous game by earning a start alongside Afobe in attack.

England could have fallen behind very early on in this fixture, Portugal producing an incisive move that ended with Sancadino Silva failing to beat Sam Johnstone one on one after good work by Esgaio bursting from midfield. England responded with a fairly tame effort from Saido Berahino after a brilliant turn just inside the box.

Despite a poor miss earlier on, Sancadino Silva looks like a very talented player on this showing with a mesmerising run and one two leaving him with a striking opportunity inside the area but from a difficult angle he curled just wide.

Manchester United’s Will Keane was next to spurn a chance, just clipping the crossbar with a powerful effort following a good cross and the starlet was in the thick of the action shortly afterwards too as a curled effort just went wide of the far post. Good work from Benik Afobe in the early stages of the second half gave Keane another chance to put England ahead but his side foot finish from the 6 yard box missed the target by inches.

That man Silva then cut inside dangerously before failing to get hold of his strike and Afobe should have scored with a volley from a deep cross but like Silva his connection was poor. Silva should also have converted moments later when he was teed up perfectly for a simple finish but he couldn’t find a way past the defenders on the line to give his country the lead.

The turning point in the game came when Chuks Aneke replaced Berahino and 13 minutes later the strong Arsenal
man produced a fantastic finish from 25 yards to win England the game. Those who bet online and had their money on England were in a celebratory mood.

England 2 Turkey 3

Peacock made 7 changes to the side that could only draw against Italy in the previous game, the likes of McEachran and Afobe missing out, but it took only 12 minutes for one of the replacements to stake a place for himself in the first choice side, West Brom’s Saido Berahino converting a Chuks Aneke through ball in a tidy finish.

Turkey picked up the pace after going behind and forced several opportunities to level the scores, a mixture of brave and solid goalkeeping from Jack Butland and a desperate goal line clearance keeping the home side in front. It only delayed the inevitable though and 12 minutes into the 2nd period Turkey got what they deserved through a deflected close range strike from Okay after great wing play by Gurbuz Gurbey.

Another great finish from Saido Berahino saw England regain the lead against the run of the play but once more Turkey would fight back, striker Artlin taking the ball past Butland before slotting home coolly. The Eastern European opponents could have instantly got a third as well, but had another goal line clearance thwart them. It was only a matter of time before the winning strike would come and when it did it saw the two goalscorers link up well, Okay pulling the ball back for Artlin to sweep home expertly.

England were unable to respond and now go in to the final game against Portugal playing just for pride, knowing that they are unable to win the tournament after Portugal’s win against Italy took them onto 6 points.

England 1 – 1 Italy

In a game of missed chances England failed to get off to the ideal start in the tournament, settling for a draw against a determined Italian side. England had already began to make their mark on the game and the Italians could so easily have fallen behind with a fantastic double save from Nicola Leali keeping Arsenal’s prolific front man Benik Afobe out. His club team mate Chuks Aneke had dragged a half chance wide just a few minutes earlier as the England boys started to put pressure on the oppositions defence.

Then the Italians took a surprise lead with a rare forway forward ending in a cross inviting Magnaghi to tuck away for the opener and the young Azzuri striker did exactly that with a smart finish from close range and it seemed that the goal could disrupt England’s early flow but it had the opposite effect on Peacock’s side and galvanised them into action for the rest of the match.

The momentum was still with England and with Chelsea starlet Josh McEachran pulling the strings a goal seemed pretty close by, Afobe lifting the ball narrowly over from a tight angle after a fantastic reverse ball played through byMcEachran in the final chance of the half.

Jake Bidwell replaced Chuks Aneke at the break and on the left flank caused a lot of problems for the Italian right back, another Afobe effort coming as a result from a ball across the box by Bidwell before his header teed up Afobe who beat his man before putting the ball on a plate for Morrison, but the United man could only see his effort come back off the post.

The goal came just after that but when it did it was not the result of any flowing play by England, a corner being lofted into the box and inexplicably pushed into his own net by the otherwise outstanding Italian goalkeeper. They all count though and there is no question that it was fully deserved.

England were still pressing for the winner and Benik Afobe, who won’t be sorry to see the back of the Italian goalkeeper, could have scored once again when he beat his man before seeing his strike blocked by Leali once more, before right back Bruno Pilatos blasted a half volley just wide of the target.

There wasn’t to be another goal though and the final chance fell to the Italians after an awful spill by goalkeeper Sam Johnstone gave Magnaghi a chance to double his tally but the English goalie got up well to smother the effort excellently and redeem himself.

The full fixture list for the England side:

26/08/09 – 7pm – England Vs Italy – Pirelli Stadium

28/08/09 – 7pm – England Vs Turkey – Sixfields Stadium

30/08/09 – 3pm – England Vs Portugal – Meadow Lane

It’s a strong side that has been named with several eye catching names to look out for in the future. Sunderland’s Louis Laing, Arsenal duo Chuks Aneke and Benik Afobe, Chelsea’s Josh McEachran and Liverpool’s Andre Wisdom have all been tipped for big things. The full 18 man team is below:

• Jack Butland (Birmingham City)

• Sam Johnstone (Manchester United)
• Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea)
• Luke Garbutt (Everton)
• Louis Laing (Sunderland)
• Bruno Pilatos (Middlesbrough)
• Jack Robinson (Liverpool)
• Tom Thorpe (Manchester United)
• Andre Wisdom (Liverpool)
• Chuks Aneke (Arsenal)
• Conor Coady (Liverpool)
• Josh McEachran (Chelsea)
• Ravel Morrison (Manchester United)
• George Thorne (West Brom)
• Benik Afobe (Arsenal)
• Jake Fowler (Middlesbrough)
• William Keane (Manchester United)
• Conor Wickham (Ipswich Town)