Under 17 World Champions

[TipperaryBaggie]

Really pleased for the young lads on winning the under 17 World Cup this afternoon. Played the whole tournament with a refreshing attitude and produced some sparkling football. Let’s hope that these kids get a chance now at a higher level but judging by previous trends, they will probably never get a chance at the top clubs and end up in the lower leagues.

Most other countries would try to keep these players together but we don’t seem to trust the kids at international level.

[Acido]

Yes well done to the England lads, and the fact that we took them/Spain apart in the Final 5-2. And all this despite us going 0-2 behind in the first half.
Like I said earlier on this year when the U20s won the WC as well, it means something to me to be able to say we/England have won the footy Wolrd cup, even though its at a younger level. The question remains though, what will happen to these kids in the next 5 years for example, will the Premship & the Champship clubs give them a chance or will they keep buying expensive unknown jonny foreigners etc. ?.

[Leicesterbaggie]

I personally think that it's a sad endightment on football today that we are World Champions at two levels and European Champions at another level and yet our senior side is very ordinary. To me the problem is the Premier League. It's so full of foreign players and so money orientated that our obviously talented youngsters don't get a look in. Isn't it about time a limit is put on the number of foreign players any one club can have in their squad? Don't tell me that we didn't have excellent and exciting games prior to 1992. As I've said in previous posts I firmly believe that the Premier League and all its hangers on will eventually ruin football.

[WBA123]

I was working away this weekend so missed the Man City game. Got back to the hotel and the 2nd half of this game was just kicking off so I watched and was thoroughly entertained. That Phil Foden kid looks one of hell of a player.

Truthfully, I think a lot of investment has gone into youth football in the last few years and we're now reaping the benefits with our kids. It is entirely possible that young English talent just hasn't been good enough in the last 10 years.

I think if these kids from England U17 - U20 don't make it then we do have a serious problem with the premiership because they have gone out and proven they are the best young players in the world. You could not have said that of our youngsters 10 years ago.

[Yarmbaggie]

It is always a difficult one - are the kids just not good enough or are they not given enough opportunities? Personally I think it is the latter but who is to know.

I did some research looking at the England Under 17 squad from the World Cup in 2007. There are only 4 players from that squad who have played in the Premier League,
Danny Welbeck
Danny Rose
Victor Moses
Dan Gosling at Bournemouth
Only 5 had many games in the Championship namely, Jason Steele (GK), Alex Smithies (GK), Henri Lansbury (now Villa but mainly on loan from Arsenal), Tommy Smith (DF) and Jordan Spence both at Ipswich.

Not sure that proves anything except perhaps best chances are to be christened Dan, be a goalkeeper or play for Ipswich!! All in all 9 out of the squad have played in one of the top 2 leagues which doesn’t seem a lot to me but not sure if that is to be expected or not.

[9goals2hattricks3pen]

I watched the Under 20's beat Venezuela in their Final and although we won I wasn't too impressed. I thought Venezuela were the better team and we won with a bit of luck and a lot of graft.

This Under 17 team were very different. Even at 2-0 down v Spain we looked the better footballing team. Kept possession, used it well, individually better. Never thought I would say this of any England team ever again.

[WBA123]

It is always a difficult one - are the kids just not good enough or are they not given enough opportunities? Personally I think it is the latter but who is to know.

I did some research looking at the England Under 17 squad from the World Cup in 2007. There are only 4 players from that squad who have played in the Premier League,
Danny Welbeck
Danny Rose
Victor Moses
Dan Gosling at Bournemouth
Only 5 had many games in the Championship namely, Jason Steele (GK), Alex Smithies (GK), Henri Lansbury (now Villa but mainly on loan from Arsenal), Tommy Smith (DF) and Jordan Spence both at Ipswich.

Not sure that proves anything except perhaps best chances are to be christened Dan, be a goalkeeper or play for Ipswich!! All in all 9 out of the squad have played in one of the top 2 leagues which doesn’t seem a lot to me but not sure if that is to be expected or not.

I did see that list too. If I remember right, that team got knocked out in the quarter finals that year. This side has won it. The U19's and the U20's, the two age groups above them have won something too. I really think it will be exciting in the next few years for England.