Embleton a star on day of joy for England U20s
Sunderland youngster Elliot Embleton was on target as England reached the final of the Under-20 Toulon Tournament.
The Black Cats midfielder played a starring role as England beat old rivals Scotland 3-0 – and they will meet Ivory Coast in tomorrow’s final in Aubagne (4.30pm kick-off ).
The 18-year-old bagged the second goal of the game as the Young Lions completed a comfortable victory.
Highly-rated Embleton was operating in an advanced role, and got on the scoresheet in the second half, in between a brace from Leicester City forward Harvey Barnes.
Embleton coolly slotted home left-footed from 10 yards out after receiving a pass from David Brooks.
Barnes now has four goals for the tournament, having opened the scoring against Scotland with a seventhminute drive from 18 yards. He curled home the third goal on 65 minutes.
Victory in France completed a good day for the England youth players, with the senior Under-20s reaching the final of the World Cup earlier with a 3-1 win over Italy.
England coach Paul Simpson hailed his side after they became the first Three Lions team to reach a World Cup final in 51 years.
Riccardo Orsolini put Italy ahead inside two minutesm but England’s dominance eventually paid off as two goals from Liverpool-bound striker Dominic Solanke and an Ademola Lookman strike in the final 25 minutes secured their place in Sunday’s final against Venezuela.
Simpson could not hide his delight, saying: “I thought the players were magnificent from goalkeeper right through to the guys who came off the bench.
“I thought everybody put in a performance that was worthy of winning any game of football and to win it in a World Cup semi-final against a team like Italy, it is a really, really big achievement.
“I have got to be honest with you, I don’t think there is an Englishman anywhere in the world that is as proud as I am this evening, I’m delighted with it. It’s massive, an incredible achievement.”
England face a Venezuela side that needed penalties to see off Uruguay in their semifinal – after Samuel Sosa scored a fine stoppage-time free-kick to equalise – and Simpson feels his players will reap the rewards if they continue their rich vein of form.
“Theplayershavejustbeen relentless in their preparation and in their professionalism and they have done everything I could have ask. When we came here, we talked about getting that first win. It’s been 20 years since we have won a game at Under-20 World Cup competition so we needed to get that out of the way.
“The reward will come out on Sunday when we go out into a World Cup final, but I have to say, the minute we got together on the field at the end of the game, our minds turned to preparing for Venezuela and going and doing the job against them.”
Newcastle keeper Freddie Woodman was in goal for England, while club-mate Adam Armstrong and Middlesbrough’s Harry Chapman were on the bench.