England will be looking to get their Under-17 World Cup campaign off to a flying start on Saturday night when they take on Papa New Guinea in the opening match of the tournament.
Bright prospects
Neil Dewsnip will be hoping that his side will be the side that can break the new ground for the national side at this level for the tournament in Chile.
This will be the third time that England have participated in the tournament that has been around since 1985 qualifying in both 2007 and 2011 and have failed to reach beyond the last eight stage of the competition been knocked out by Germany on each occasion.
Tough test
Progression to the knockout stage will be easier said than done as Guinea have had previous final experience and have beaten current champions Nigeria in the qualifying stages for this competition.
They will also face tough tests in their final group games against Brazil and South Korea and if they are luckily enough to make it into the last 16 they have the potential to come up against Chile, Croatia, Nigeria or USA from group A.
Dramatic build-up
The Three Lions reached the tournament in some dramatic fashion as Leeds United stopper Will Huffer was called into action last May in the play-off against Spain helped in the 5-3 shootout that secured their plane to Chile.
Dewsnip’s side prepared well for this tournament with a behind closed doors at St George’s Park last Wednesday against DR Congo who they defeated 8-0 before playing the hosts Chile which ended goalless but ended up losing 4-3 on penalties.
Dewsnip commented on the preparation saying that the games were there to give them “experience” and the new structure of the side going forward is a “massive plus” and it will “absolutely” help them going forward.
Team News
It is expected that Dewsnip will rely upon Premier League players in the opening match of the tournament with the likes of Chris Willock, Marcus Edwards, Kaz Sterling, Tom Davies and Jay DaSilva all expected to take part in some capacity.
However, one major name that will be missing is West Ham’s Reece Oxford who has been left out of the squad after he made his first-team breakthrough for the Hammers making such an impact that the club are not willing to let him leave.
England will host Papa New Guinea at the Estadio Francisco Rumoroso Coquimbo on Saturday, October 17 with kick-off at 9PM BST.