Report: Japan 2-3 England MU19s

Written by:

Nicholas Veevers

England men’s under-19s made it two wins out of two in Marbella on Saturday, as a late winner secured a 3-2 victory over Japan.

The Young Lions had taken a two-goal lead in the first half through Jacob Wright and Will Lankshear only to be pegged back to 2-2 soon after the re-start.

But Simon Rusk’s side ended strongly before Jamie Donley notched a late winner to keep the winning run going after their 6-0 triumph over Romania earlier in the week.

England started brightly and took the lead after 13 minutes, when Romain Esse was brought down in the area after good build up by England. Wright stepped up to slot the penalty to goalkeeper Nakamuro Keisuje’s left after his staggered run up did enough to send the ‘keeper the wrong way

The lead was nearly doubled in the 32nd minute when Wright saw a stunning effort from long range arrow towards goal before rattling the top of the post.

Moments later, it was 2-0 as Will Lankshear calmly finished inside the area with a dinked shot, before almost doubling his tally before half time when his close-range shot hit the outside of the post.

Japan had shown signs of their danger in the first half, particularly on the break, and they caught out England just three minutes into the second half when Shiogai Kento was teed up for a simple goal after Japan beat the offside trap to advance in numbers.

Two minutes later, Kento had his second and Japan were level, this time with a shot from the edge of the area into the roof of the net.

England were rocked, but found their feet again to finish the game strongly and substitute Dominic Ballard saw a show cleared off the line in the 73rd minute after being set up well by fellow replacement Amario Crozier-Duberry.

Crozier-Duberry was looking lively, crossing again for Ballard whose glancing header dropped just wide, before he hit the post with a left-footer from inside the area.

But the winning goal arrived in the last minute, when Calum Scanlon skipped past his man on the left before his low cross left Donley with a close-range finish from inside the six-yard box to seal the win.

England will now round off their trip to Spain with a game against Mexico on Tuesday evening (5pm GMT)

England: 1 Luca Gunter (Tottenham Hotspur), 2 Kian Best (Preston North End), 3 Lino Sousa (Arsenal), 6 Max Alleyne (Manchester City), 10 Kobbie Mainoo (Manchester United), 11 Romain Esse (Millwall), 12 Jacob Wright (Manchester City), 14 Joshua Duffus (Brighton & Hove Albion), 15 Alfie Dorrington (Tottenham Hotspur), 18 Ronnie Stutter (Chelsea), 20 Will Lankshear (Tottenham Hotspur)

Substitutes: 4 Jack Hinshelwood (Brighton & Hove Albion) for Duffus 63, 7 Amario Cozier-Duberry (Arsenal) for Stutter 63, 9 Dominic Ballard (Reading, loan from Southampton) for Lankshear 63, 17 Calum Scanlon (Liverpool) for Best 63, 19 Leo Castledine (Chelsea) for Esse 69, 5 Ashley Phillips (Tottenham Hotspur) for Dorrington 76, 8 Jamie Donley (Tottenham Hotspur) for Mainoo 76, 16 Noel Buck (New England Revolution) for Wright 78

Substitutes not used: 1 Ben Cisse (West Bromwich Albion), 13 Elyh Harrison (Manchester United), 22 Matthew Young (Sunderland)

Head coach: Simon Rusk

Goals: Jacob Wright 13 (p), Will Lankshear 32, Jamie Donley 90