England 3-2 Burkina Faso

Meridian Cup, Group Stages
Ismailia, Egypt
25 January 2003

England Under 18s began their UEFA/CAF Meridian Cup campaign with a victory in Port Said, but it was a close run thing

A goal in the dying seconds from David Raven gave Dick Bate's young side a 3-2 win against Burkina Faso.

England's youngsters opened the scoring in the 21st minute, when Liverpool youngster Raven slipped a ball through and Dorryll Proffitt finished clinically past Ibrahim Gnanou.

Adam Eckersley was the next England player to beat the Africans' offside trap three minutes later; the Manchester United defender fired emphatically into the roof of the net to double England's lead and leave them in a commanding position.

Eight minutes before the break however, Burkina Faso came back into the game when Abdramane Ouattara's shot from distance escaped the reach of Ross Turnbull.

The Africans' fighting spirit was on show again in the second half, but this time had less fruitful consequences. Two of their players earned second bookings to leave England a goal up against nine men with only a quarter of the match remaining.

Incredibly the nine men continued to come at England and Burkina were rewarded for their hard work one minute from the end when they earned a penalty which was elegantly converted by Mohammed Kinda.

This dramatic match had one last twist however and the last laugh was England's. In a physical penalty area exchange in the dying seconds, tackles flew in from all angles before the ball fell to Raven. The highly rated Liverpool midfielder kept his composure to beat a heartbroken Gnanou and give England a hard-fought victory deep into injury time.

England were understandably delighted to get off to a winning start. Goalkeeping Coach Ray Clemence summed up the mood in the camp, telling TheFA.com "In tough weather conditions against a highly physical African side, we are very satisfied to get a win under our belts.

"Playing in this competition is all about learning so coming up against new players and a new style of play will significantly benefit the players' development".

England's next game is against Mali on Monday.

England: Turnball, Biggins, Eckersley (Sankofa 90), Gardner, Raven, Hogg, Brown, Croft, Proffitt (Smyth 63), Long, Doherty (Guy 86)

Goals: Proffitt 21, Eckersley 25, Raven 90

Burkina Faso: Kielwasser, Fofana, Diallo, Balima (Bonou 64), Sakande, Derme (Coulibaly 85), Ouattara, Kinda, Ouedraogo, Sanogo, Traore

Goals: Quattara 37, Kinda 89 (pen)

Bookings: Turnball (England) 32mins; Sanogo (B Faso) 34mins; Fofana (B Faso) 35mins; Biggins (England) 47mins; Diallo (B Faso) 61mins; Traore (B Faso) 72mins; Ouedraogo (B Faso) 78mins; Smith (England 83)

Sendings Off: Traore (B Faso) 72mins; Ouedraogo (B Faso) 78mins

* The UEFA-CAF Meridian Cup is a competition featuring youth teams from Europe and Africa, and is part of the co-operation programme between UEFA and the African football confederation CAF

Related Links

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29/01/2003: Egypt 0 England 1