#GAME41 14/11/17 England Under 17s 2-1 Germany Under 17s

England Under 17s 2-1 Germany Under 17s

The Under 17 World Champions took on Germany’s Under 17s in an International Friendly played at Rotherham United’s New York Stadium. Tickets were only £1.50 and with the Stadium down the road from me (via the ten minute 137 bus ride) so I thought that was a no-brainer to come and check out the talent we may expect to see in the next couple of years.

England were the better of the two teams and had a lot of chances. Curtis Jones, who was a nuisance on the left-hand side until he went off injured, played a one-two with Laird and then passed it to Tulloch and the England number nine held up the ball. He waited till Jones had made an advance into the box and played him through. He took on the keeper and played the ball to the edge of the box where captain Thomas Doyle was there to hit it first time but his shot was blocked.

No sooner than a minute later Germany were on the back foot again. Firstly Germany’s Daniel Klein tipped Doyle’s curling freekick, which was heading for the top corner, over the bar and out for a corner. From the corner, Set-piece expert Doyle spotted James Garners run pinged the ball perfectly for Garner to head towards goal however the keeper held well.

A quarter of an hour in Mason Greenwood played a perfectly weighted ball down the line for Jones to latch onto, Jones took the ball towards the by-line and crossed it low across the face of goal. The keeper got down to catch it but ended up spilling it into the path of Tulloch but Jon Bongard blocked on the line to spare the keepers blushes.

Germany’s best chance of the half came just before the break when Ole Pohlmann skipped across the edge of the box to try and find an opening, no gaps appeared so he laid the ball off to Katterbach who rifled his shot inches wide of the post.

I didn’t realise that the half’s were only 40 minutes, I swear when I was playing Under 16 level we played a full 90 minutes but I suppose that was Fourth Division in Sheffield playing for the Sheffield Six’s, and both teams went in at halftime goalless.

Germany almost caught the home side out when Leon Dajaku was played the ball on the edge of the box from Oliver Batista Meier (what a name!) and the German forward sliced his shot wide of Arthur Okwonko’s post.

England took the lead on the hour mark when substitute Bobby Duncan cut inside from the right, he wrong footed Tom Krauß and tucked his shot into the bottom corner.

England thought they had doubled the their lead when Nolan gave the ball to goalscorer Duncan who spun and smashed the ball home however the linesman judged him to be offside and raised his flag.

Germany equalised on 71 minutes as a poor corner was attempted to be cleared by Doyle but he volleyed the ball directly into the body of Fabrice Hartmann, Okwonko got down superbly to keep out the deflection but Hartmann reacted quickest and pounced on the lose ball to level.

England showed the fight they showed in their World Cup triumph and got the winner five minutes from time. Greenwood won possession off of Katterbach and squared the ball across the face of goal where Jack Nolan was to tap in and win the game.

A superb performance from the England Under 17s who continue their great run and success story. Also a good night to write a blog.

Attendance: 7,754
England U17s: Arthur Okwonko; Vontae Daley-Campbell, Ethan Laird, Luis Binks, Louie Sibley; Arvin Appiah (Taylor Perry), Thomas Doyle, James Garner; Mason Greenwood, Rayhaan Tulloch (Jack Nolan), Curtis Jones (Babby Duncan)

Germany U17s: Daniel Klein (Lino Kasten); Lenny Borges (Per Lockl), Jordi Bongard, Kevin Vangu Phambu Bukusu, Noah Katterbach; Ole Pohlmann (Fabrice Hartmann), Tom Krauß (Maximilian Maier), Amid Khan Agha (Jonas Kehl), Can Bozodogan (Rene Biskup); Leon Dajaku (Kevin Grimm), Oliver Batista Meier